Byte of the Week

Today’s Byte is a little geeky. So for folks who aren’t involved with Facebook pages I have a quick hit. It’s my new favorite non-techie TED talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY – Jamie Oliver on the importance of teaching kids to eat and cook healthily.

On to Facebook Changes…

Facebook just made a bunch of changes – for the most part it seems as if the changes relate to the pages more than personal accounts. At this point if you are a page admin, you can opt into “upgrade”, but on March 10, all pages will be upgraded. I administer a few FB pages. Here are some of the changes I’ve noticed:

• The layout of the page has changed. It now more closely mirrors the personal profile pages. That includes increased prominence of images – so perhaps an incentive to get more pictures on your page.
• You can modify the posts on your wall even more. You can have the most popular posts rise to the top.
• Pages now can act like personal accounts to some degree. My favorite change – it’s easier to get notifications when someone posts on your page or posts. Also you can now “like” other pages and posts comments on other pages as a page. I like this change a lot too. I think it will make it much easier to interact with other pages, which should make it easier to promote your page with thoughtful interactions.
• If you are Admin to multiple pages, you can still login as page to choose featured likes and make comments as an individual page.

So if I’m administering a Facebook Page/Strategy, what does this mean? To start, my plan is to like, feature and comment on other key Facebook pages. The first step is to find the pages that I think are good links, which means my fans will be intersted in what they say and their fans are people I want to reach. Then find an organic way to interact with that page (as a page). I’ll probably start by sharing their posts. Who doesn’t want to be sahred?

November 16 is Give to the Max Day in Minnesota. For readers outside Minnesota, GiveMN (http://givemn.razoo.com/) is a big fundraising web site. They funnel funds to area nonprofits. They promote Nov 16 as a day of giving. I think it’s a great idea.

Nonprofits can set up their own pages on GiveMN and are encouraged to reach out to donors to give on the designated day. Last year GiveMN matched funds raised; though the participation was much larger than expected and the match was then quite low. This year they are offering hourly kind-of random bonuses.

GiveMN allow for easy online engagement. They offer easy “sharing” options but also individuals are invited to set up personal campaign sites for their favorite charities. You can upload photos, videos and of course text. Then you can easily share your site via email, Twitter, Facebook and other channels. It takes about 10-15 minutes to set up – it requires more writing (or photo or video) skills than technical skills and it’s a fun way to help promote your favorite charity.

So today is a total Byte cheat. I did want to tell folks about the program in time for you to send up your own campaigns for Nov 16 – but also it gives me a chance to send you to mine in case you were looking for an opportunity to give:
http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Give-Voice-To-Under-Heard-Audiences

Clearly no expectations here – but feel free to test it out

Last week I spoke with the Communications Technology Association about how to use social media to promote your personal brand – or get a job. I’ve posted the slides on the Byte blog.

We talked about how social media can be great for making connections. Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks can help you capitalize on the folks you know and it makes it easier for them to introduce you to more folks. But tools such as blogs and Twitter are places where you can make your own connections.

Many people have Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts set up so that they receive an email each time Google tracks new material that includes their name or company name. So if you blog about someone, there’s a decent chance they’ll see it. With Twitter you can use the hastag (#) and ReTweets (RT) and callouts (@) to help the folks you want to find, find you.

I know I’ve talked about Good Search before – but this is such a good time of year for a reminder of Good Search. Here’s the quick take:

Use Good Search as your search engine http://www.goodsearch.com and your favorite charity will get a penny. You have to specify your charity; you can get a list here: http://www.goodsearch.com/charitylist.aspx. If you are/have a charity to add you can look here: http://www.goodsearch.com/addcharity.aspx  

Also they have coupons on their site. If you use one your charity gets a bonus.

My friend reminded me of Good Search because the school where she teaches just joined two days ago. Already they’ve earned more than $5. So it’s a get rich slow plan – but an easy plan. (f you want to just test it out you could designate her school as your charity: Sobriety High Charter School St Paul MN.)

Other people’s articles are rarely the impetus for the Bytes – but I ran into a great article today that I really liked: Google won’t remove pages about you: http://tinyurl.com/aqka4s

I occasionally get calls from people wanting to have info removed from Google. Well, as Google says, they don’t own the Internet. (Though I think they’d like to.)

So what can you do? Google (http://tinyurl.com/dalm6q) suggests that you contact the web site owner and ask her to remove the content or put “don’t index” code on the site to prevent the search engines from finding the info.

If they do remove it, I suggest you submit that new page to Google immediately: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl – that will help remove the info from the Google index.

If you can’t get that info removed, you best bet is to flood the market with other info. So that the unflattering web page gets bumped from the first page of search results to the bottom of a long list. You can do that by simply creating more info on you online. Don’t link to the unflattering info though! Once you link to them you help them with the search engines.

From Google’s page it looks like they might consider action if the site you want removed includes social security and/or credit card details. Short of that you’ll have to work it out yourself.

Today’s Byte is probably of most interest to folks in MN – but it’s an idea that could be replicated elsewhere.

E-Democracy (http://www.e-democracy.org) is a Minnesota nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes online civic discourse by providing space for online discussion.

This year E-Democracy is sponsoring an online debate among the MN gubernatorial candidates. We did this in 1998 (the year Jesse Ventura won in MN) but haven’t done an online debate since. (I am a longtime E-Democracy volunteer.) As of yesterday, all of the major candidates just agreed to participate. So we’re pretty excited.

Citizens are invited to submit questions e-debates@e-democracy.org. For more information you can visit the E-Democracy web site (http://www.e-democracy.org/wiki/Minnesota_Gubernatorial_E-Debate_2006).

The online debate is sponsored by the Blandin Foundation as part of their Next Generation Broadband conference (http://www.blandinfoundation.com/bbsummit/).  In the spirit of full disclosure I should let you guys know that I am helping with the conference. So, if you plan to come I’ll see you in Alexandria MN in October.

I am very pleased to have a guest Byte writer this week. Some of you know the author; many will recognize the name – Mary Treacy as she’s my aunt. I’m posting this a little early so that anyone interested in attending the event at St Kate’s will have time to RSVP. If you want more details on the event at St Kate’s, please let me know and I’ll pass them on.

Thanks! Ann

The calendar notwithstanding, the week of March 13-19, 2006 is Sunshine Week, thus declared by a host of press, library, education and government watchdogs committed to Freedom of Information. The week wraps around Freedom of Information Day, historically celebrated by these same groups on March 16, the birth date of James Madison, fierce defender of access and an informed citizenry. (Local note: The faithful will gather at Coeur de Catherine Center at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul on the evening of March 16 (6:00-8:00) to honor the awardee and commemorate the occasion.)

Seems like a good time to consider a wide range of issues – the role of a free press, public libraries as an essential resource, privacy, open government, information access and information literacy in a democracy.

There are countless resources on the web: Many that were originally developed for the press of practical use to a broad constituency. The Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri (www.foi.missouri.edu ) is a good starting point, reflecting the diverse National Freedom of Information Coalition. Two other sites concentrate on the press angle, but offer tools that can be used by any organization or individual interested in forging through the legal, technological and political jungle.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rofp.org)  and the Student Press Law Center (www.splc.org) both offer concrete tips and useful tools for anyone who wants info on open records or meetings FOIA or issues in the post 9/11 era. There’s a ton of information, including the essential “How to File an FOIA Request,” on the First Amendment Center website (www.firstamendmentcenter.org)

Anyone who intends to instigate some local action should check the Sunshine
Week website (http://www.sunshineweek.org) for a downloadable copy of the 72-page “Bright Ideas” book featuring promo ideas in every format for any audience. Watch for PSA’s on TV and radio and a PBS NOW one-hour special on March 17 which will focus on the erosion of open government through the stories of whistleblowers. (If March 17 isn’t a TV-news-viewing-night for you, it will most likely be broadcast.)

Submitted by Mary Treacy for the Minnesota Coalition on Government
Information (MnCogi) www.mncogi.org

Newsgroups and email lists are both online discussion groups. You can access newsgroups through your web browser or with a news reader. You access email lists through your email box. Newsgroups generally do not require registration so the participation comes from a wider audience. Email lists are based on subscription and therefore often have more of a community feel.

Here are some of my favorite newsgroups & mailing lists:

Nonprofit Tech Talk is for techies in the nonprofit sector. Some members are really experts; some are just learning but folks are respectful and helpful with questions from both ends.

Hidden Tech is a list of tech-related business owners in Western Massachusetts. People ask good questions, get good answers, and I’ve seen some interesting business deals getting started here.

E-Democracy hosts a number of mailing lists for local political and policy discussion. There are lists in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Iowa, and now in the UK. (If you’re not in one of those areas – you can always check with this volunteer-based group about starting a group in your area.)

Minnesota Fishing Forums gathers fishers from across the state to talk about fishing. The hot topic these days is ice fishing. I love it because so many people include pictures!

You can find a Yahoo Sponsored newsgroup here; Tile.Net is still the best list of email lists I know. Sometimes getting involved in a public discussion can be a great way to promote your web site – if done very carefully. (In other words just be helpful and include your URL in your email; don’t try to post ads, they are rarely well-received.)

Google News is a repository of news. They compile news from 7000 new sources in a searchable database. The news is selected, compiled, and fed to users though computers. There are no human editors at Google making judgment calls on which stories to add and which to delete.

So it seems funny that when you search for “John Kerry” on Google News you will find more conservative stories than liberal stories. When you search for “George Bush” there is a more balanced representation of stories.

How does this happen? The answer may help us all better use Google as a search tool and a promotional tool for our own web sites.

Mainstream and more liberal news sources tend to refer to John Kerry once in an article and then abbreviate to Kerry; conservative sources tend to refer to Kerry by his full name through a story. Using Google’s method of matching articles to searchers, an article that contains John Kerry throughout is going to rank higher as a better match for a search for John Kerry than an article that refers to Kerry.

It serves as a good reminder to those of us with web site – try to include on your web pages terms that your customers would use to find you through Google or any other search engine.

The primaries were yesterday. Did you vote? I did – in the rain with two kids dragging behind me. I won’t bore you with my political views – but I do implore you to get out and vote on November 2. To help you prepare I am listing some fun political resources:

E-Democracy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan information resource on local politics in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Iowa, and Winona. The best part of – Democracy is the online and email discussion among citizens – anyone is welcome to join and share their opinions respectfully.

MyBallot is another Minnesota resource. You type in your address and it will tell you who’s on the ballot and where you should go to vote.

Balanced Politics is an interesting site that appears to outline the pros and cons of major issues as well as links to less neutral sites on the topics and reader comments.

Remember to register. There are plenty of places to do that online, such as the Rock the Vote. And remember to vote!