Social Media | Ghost of Midnight

Big Local Online Event… any Locals onhand?

Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Looks like a great event shaping up next week… all about local online: DRILLING DOWN ON LOCAL ’07 – The Annual Silicon Valley Summit. Organizer Peter Krasilovsky blogs about it here. Most of the mainstream heavy hitters appear to be on the agenda. I wonder how many locally based entities will attend and/or speak vs. national and global efforts that deliver “local” from afar?

Put another way, how much “local online” is delivered by local business (and other entities)? Might be an interesting question for the good folks at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and my friend and author Michael Shuman (Going Local, The Small-Mart Revolution).

Regardless, I wish I could be there next week… sounds like a powerful conference.

Social Networks squeeze NGOs?

Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

David Wilcox writes from London this week about how nonprofits, associations and trade unions are surrendering ground to social networking websites. Reminds me of online citizen journalism taking a bite out of newspapers. Wilcox:

It used to be that you joined associations because it was a way of meeting like-minded people and getting help, facilities, information and other things difficult or costly to organise for yourself. These days it is much easier to find people and resources online, and to mix and match these assets into project teams, communities of practice, and informal networks.

Further, he cites a forthcoming report from the NCVO ICT Foresight team:

The connections that ICT facilitates suggest that some organisations may increasingly be bypassed and that power may shift away from top-down hierarchical organisations and towards more fluid and participative networks where there is less need for a centralised ‘bricks and mortar’ coordinating organisation.

Leon Benjamin, author of Winning by Sharing, is even more explicit:

I think the problem is leadership. The reality is that leaders of VCOs and NGOs aren’t equipped to lead in the 21st century’s networked economy. And this isn’t their fault, but they need to accept help from people who can create the conditions that enable leaders to emerge, and then step aside. This isn’t their time now.

Just before he died, Peter Drucker said at Davos in Switzerland, “community-building talent is the single most precious resource in the modern world.” Let me briefly explain why.

Online community service poviders like Ezboard and CommunityZero, and Bebo and MySpace, to a certain extent have created leaders who in some cases, have literally started movements, with huge numbers of supporters and advocates. EzBoard has over half a million discrete ‘clubs’, each with a leader, covering a vast array of subject matter. These leaders often deliver an experience that enriches people’s social and professional lives. More so than the associations and unions that are supposed to serve them. These are our leaders of the future.

Smalltown and i-neighbors going places

Posted on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Smalltown.com landed $3M in new funds recently to ramp up it’s model of local online. Peter Krasilovsky reports:

Smalltown [is] an IYP site with social aspects via reviews, calendars and (now) Top 10 lists. Five months after launching SME-oriented sites in San Mateo and Burlingame, Smalltown has announced three new Bay Area locales, added video uploads, hired a VP of Sales, and begun a Google campaign.

This is a very interesting effort:

Usage-wise, Rucker says he’s got 3.5 percent of the launched communities visiting on a weekly basis. About 1.8 percent have registered, which gives them the right to review sites, etc. Rucker is aiming for a registered base of three percent.

After six months, Front Porch Forum has about 17% of Burlington, VT registered.

And I just heard that i-neighbors has a new version of their service up and running, although I don’t have any details.

Monthly Sampler: Neighborhood Poker Game

Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

So I tried listing a week’s worth of message titles a couple times (here and here), and now a month and nearly 2,000 new messages have slipped by… too many to list. Let’s go with some samples of what Front Porch Forum members wrote in February:

Let’s get a neighborhood poker game started in the King Maple area of Burlington.
Dog lost in the big box parking lots. Dog found!
Did anyone else’s propane price go up nearly 50% last month in Hinesburg?
Warm maple-cinnamon buns delivered to your Charlotte home for school fundraiser.
New baby coming and hand-me-downs needed in the Five Sisters.
Lots of ideas discussed for underutilized corner store space on St. Paul Street.
Neighbors stepping up to reclaim ailing pocket park at S. Winooski and St. Paul.
Seeking kombucha tea culture… I have no idea what this is.
Snowpants needed for Somali Bantu kids sledding this week.
Details of emergencies sent to specific neighborhoods from Burlington Fire Department.
Discussion about changing Barlow Street to one-way in Winooski.
Intervale car break-ins reported and discussed.
South End car ransacker nabbed; police ask forum members to reclaim recovered loot.
The usual array of housing, cars, furniture, contractor, etc. postings.
Free couch, iMac, printers, linens, baby stuff, desk, slip cover, ficus plant, misc. electronics, etc.
Lots of discussions about broadband and TV options across the county.
Lots of Town Meeting lead-up announcements and opinions.
Lots and lots snow-related requests, offers, complaints and thanks.
Oh… and there’s always cats. This month’s tip… look under your porch after a blizzard. Several folks found snowed-in kitties eager to get out, get fed and get warm!

Build Igloo for Chocolate… before it’s too late!

Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

A group of Lakeside Neighborhood Forum members in Burlington’s South End recently formed the Lakeside Climate Club… or something to that effect. They gather to take a hard look at global climate change and discuss a personal and neighborhood response.

But this group isn’t letting a little cataclysmic manmade disaster get in the way of some fun. Witness their first action… a neighborhood igloo building contest… “before it’s too late!” I love it.

And the kicker, all neighborhood participants (kids and adults) will get a treat from neighboring Lake Champlain Chocolates, with the grand champion carting home something even better from this favorite local sponsor… a chocolate polar bear? Have to wait until Sunday’s judging to see, I guess (March 4 at noon).

And this isn’t the only neighborhood group forming locally to address global climate change. Others in the South Union, Five Sisters, The Addition, and Lakewood Neighborhood Forums have met at least once. Some are using a program called the Low Carbon Diet from the Empowerment Institute.

In fact, my wife just told me that we’re hosting the second meeting of just such a group in our neighborhood this weekend… but, alas, no mention of igloos or chocolate. Gotta work on that.

Anyone in Chittenden County interested in getting something going in his/her neighborhood, it’s simple… post a notice on your neighborhood forum, hold a first meeting/social event, and get rolling. Use the Low Carbon Diet, watch Al Gore’s award-winning movie, or forge your own path.

Saying “Thank You” says a Lot

Posted on Friday, February 23, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

We’ve seen a run of “thank you neighbor” messages in various forums. Not only is that a lovely gesture to counter a good deed, but it spreads the good will even farther. I’ve had several Front Porch Forum members (not involved with the good deeds in question) tell me that reading these thank you notes encourages them to act the
Good Samaritan role themselves. Examples:

I want to thank all those who have been so markedly supportive to my kids and me. My house stood burning and the kids and I were surrounded by you my neighbors who enveloped us with love and humor and so so much kindness. When I arrived on the scene my knees were giving out and I could barely stand… Teenagers on the street came to hug me. Parents would show up with such good intentions and humor that calm and possibly a half a smile showed on my face. Hats and gloves and blankets and leggings were placed on my person. I could regroup. The generous gift cards have saved my butt on a couple of levels but more importantly I was able to get the kids some new things at Old Navy which served quite well in the shopping therapy arena. Again a sincere thank you to everyone who has so generously reached out to all of us. -M.K., Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum

And the Valentine’s Day blizzard generated lots of this. First, a senior citizen received help from a neighbor, K.R., when the snow blocked even her attempts to let her dogs outside. She was grateful and posted a thank you and request that the K.R. stop by to receive the pay she felt she owed her. K.R.’s response:

I’m glad to have helped out shoveling your deck and side way. I’m pleased the dogs can go out and get some fresh air. No need to pay. I was happy to do it for you. What are neighbors for? -K.R., The Orchards Neighborhood Forum

Other examples:

I just wanted to send out a thank you to everyone who has been helping with this crazy amount of snow we have. Yesterday when I was attempting to unbury my car from a huge snow drift on the side of College St., numerous people stopped by to help or just to encourage. We’ve also watched from our windows as people rallied together to push cars up the hill or out of stuck driveways. Our neighborhood is coming together during this blizzard and it is wonderful to see 🙂 B.G., Buell Neighborhood Forum

The recent calls for help during and after the snowstorm reminded me of how much we count on our community to come together during times of need. I’m a single mom of a four year old. When we were getting buried last week, I resigned myself to shoveling in 5 minutes spans — going back inside to make sure she was still safely occupied with her dolls. So imagine my surprise and gratitude when I returned outside to see that someone had shoveled half my driveway when I wasn’t looking. And imagine my greater surprise and thanks when a couple of other neighbors joined to help me find my car inside a giant drift and finish the whole shoveling job. So amid the calls for assistance on this forum, I wanted to post public thanks for assistance given to my daughter and me… thank you. You are good neighbors. -C.C., The Addition Neighborhood Forum

So, thanks to all the great thank-you note writers!

Forum Members answer Call to Shovel

Posted on Monday, February 19, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Dozens of Front Porch Forum members requested help from their neighbors in the wake of the blizzard… most in need of snow removal. Others posted generous offers to help. We also were glad to help spread the word about Operation Snow Shovel… apparently to good effect:

Thanks so, so much for posting the message about Operation Snow Shovel throughout Burlington. The response was incredible! Can you believe that I’ve heard from 57 people willing to volunteer to shovel? 57! (That’s in addition to the 33 permanent volunteers who shovel for a particular person each time it snows– many of them were recruited through Front Porch Forum, too.) A large percentage of volunteers said they’d heard about the need through their neighborhood forum.

As of right now, every single elderly or disabled person in need of help that contacted OSS has been accommodated. And those I’ve yet to hear from will get help quickly. What a wonderful resource these forums are! Many, many thanks!

Angie Spong
The Center for Community and Neighborhoods

WCAX covered this story on the evening news too.

Citizen Media Survey

Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Wow! I just waded through the new study about online citizen journalism by the Knight Citizen News Network at the University of Maryland (thanks to the Local Onliner for the link). They surveyed a gaggled of local news/blog sites and wrote up their findings.

Front Porch Forum is a second cousin to this type of site, but not a sibling. Some comparisons:

Overall there was little accountability built in for content contributors: 73% of all respondents said their sites didn’t require users to register; 69% said a valid e-mail was not even required before posting. Only 40% of 141 respondents said their sites required contributors to use their real names; 60% said their sites allowed either anonymous posts or the use of “screen” names.

Front Porch Forum requires first and last names, street address and email address.

Asked whether their sites edited contributions before they were posted, 40% of 149 replies said content was edited; 48% said it was not and 12% just didn’t know. Half (50% of 131 replies) said offensive or inappropriate content was filtered out before posting. Most respondents (66% of 119 replies) said their sites removed offensive or inappropriate content after it was posted; but 17% of the respondents said such content was not removed, and 17% just didn’t know.

Front Porch Forum does not edit content, but it does screen all postings, add headlines and clean up formatting.

Half the respondents reported that 26 or fewer people overall were contributing content or skills to their enterprise, although site operators say many of those are just occasional contributors.

When we analyzed our flagship neighborhood forum that covers an area of 350 households, we found that about:
-300 households subscribe (after six years)
-200 households have posted at least one message
-100 households have posted at least six messages

For the past five months we’ve been hosting 130 neighborhood forums covering the Burlington, Vermont area. More than 15% of the city’s households have joined already. I’m not sure how many of those people are contributing, but I’d guess that it’s significantly greater than on many of the surveyed sites.

Based on their own definitions of “success,” 73% of our survey respondents pronounced their sites to be successful.

Well, it’s early, but I’ll give Front Porch Forum a thumbs up on the “success” question at this point. It seems most of the sites in the survey focus on success around journalistic goals of informing and engaging the public. Our purpose is to help neighbors connect and foster community within neighborhoods. Local news from our members to their neighbors contributes to that process, but it’s not the end goal.

Does anyone get paid? Of the 78 who replied: 33% said their sites had no paid workers; 33% said only one or two workers got paid.

We’re in the 33%. 😉

Using Neighborhood Forums to Broadcast

Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Front Porch Forum gets a steady stream of requests from local nonprofit organizations, schools and the like asking that we post their announcements across all of the neighborhood forums that we host. Regardless of how important or compelling their work, we must decline. Simply, our members don’t join to get a flood of public service announcements in their inboxes.

However, if they get an occasional such message about a fundraiser for a local youth center or a note about Girl Scout cookies AND it comes from a neighbor, then that seems to be okay and even appreciated.

So, a growing number of local groups are learning how to work with Front Porch Forum. They send their message to their list of supporters, staff, directors, etc. and ask each of those people to post the announcement on their own neighborhood forum. In this way, the message reaches a good number of people AND it’s coming from a nearby neighbor so it gets a bit more attention.

I noticed a posting last week started popping up all across Chittenden County. An alternative school was spreading the word about their annual open house, and the parents were sending out the message, each to his/her neighborhood forum. Turns out, this was the second time they tried this method, as one of the parents noted:

Glad to hear that the school community is making good use of the forums — it is amazing how many more people knew just what I was talking about (as compared to the fall). Very exciting!

Another sign that Front Porch Forum is growing and that people are tuning in!

Small steps toward Neighborliness

Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Kevin Harris writes this week:

I’m trying to write a paper about neighbourliness and have been thinking about the reciprocity of acts of neighbouring… research has found that… sometimes one neighbour helps out another without getting much in return, and keeps doing so.

However, the researchers only included… “favours” in their study, and it seems to me that other, intangible forms of interpersonal behaviour which are in some way supportive – for instance a sympathetic chat on the doorstep to provide comfort in the face of bad news, or the sharing of information about local services – are likely to be viewed by neighbours as valid contributions to the same exchange relationship.

Many years ago I recall rushing out of my house shouting when I saw from my window a neighbour’s toddler stepping into the road, as the mother was getting the shopping from her car. For this simple act I was rewarded almost immediately with a bottle of wine from the shopping bag. It was clear that I had to accept it, not least because there was probably a confused swelling wave of guilt as well as gratitude in her expression of thanks. But it was also, of course, a recognition of the non-obligatory, but potentially vital, role of neighbour.

This begins to get at what’s unfolding in some of the areas served by Front Porch Forum‘s more successful neighborhood forums. Some how the accumulation of lots of little items are creating an environment more welcoming of overt “good neighbor” acts, like baking a cake for a neighbor in need of boost. That’s an odd move if you’ve only interacted with the person once or twice, but is more reasonable if you’re both subscribed to the same small and lively neighborhood forum.

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