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How We Use Twitter at Forum OneMonday, November 23. 2009 We have described previously on this blog how Forum One approaches social media in general, as well as our experience with SlideShare and Scribd. In this post, we'll discuss the current glamour child of social media, Twitter.Twitter is impossible to ignore. It has been embraced by celebrities (Britney Spears, Oprah), adopted by journalists (Anderson Cooper, Nicholas Kristof) and appropriated by politicians (Nancy Pelosi, Sarah Palin). More importantly, it has grown quickly (from 5 million to 50 million users this year) and is becoming a fixture with the influential organizations and individuals with whom we work. In response to Twitter's influence, we have launched five company Twitter feeds, @ForumOne, @OCReport, @DataMasher, @Legistalker, and @ProjectSpaces (a combined feed is here). These feeds currently have a total of about 15,000 followers, up from 4,000 in August. A number of staff also have personal accounts they manage (on their own time) which include a lot of company re-tweets and information and represent another 15,000 or so followers. We feel like we've made good progress on all of the "current priorities" listed above. With respect to meeting our principal goals, we have little question that we've strengthened our ties to clients, learned about social media, and raised our company profile. We aren't yet sure about our first (and most important) goal of increasing consulting services or product sales directly attributable to Twitter. Connecting the dots from "marketing" to "sales" is always difficult. We have anecdotal information which is encouraging, but nothing unambiguous. Jim Cashel is Chairman at Forum One. Feel free to follow him on Twitter at @Cashel or write him at Cashel@ForumOne.com. 
6 Governments Who Set Their Data FreeTuesday, November 17. 2009
By now, most folks in the web development and Gov 2.0 communities (and readers of this blog) have heard about the federal government's Data.gov initiative (and the winner of a certain Apps for America competition using these data sets). But local and state governments are also setting their data free. Here are a few examples:
What are your favorite examples of government data applications and mashups? Tell us in the comments.
Open Government: "Strategies and Tactics from the Playbook"Tuesday, November 17. 2009
Should Your Organization Use Scribd?Wednesday, November 11. 2009 Many of our clients at Forum One produce large numbers of PDF documents (reports, studies, policy briefs) which then are placed in a "documents" section on their web sites. The challenge these organizations face is then making these documents as widely accessed as possible.One way to increase attention to documents is to use Scribd, a third-party document sharing site (or in shorthand, "YouTube for documents"). We have had good luck at Forum One using Scribd for our clients. For example, one of our clients produced sixty well-crafted, arcane reports on medical technologies. The reports were getting about 11,000 "views" per year on the client's site. We put them on Scribd, where they quickly received about 50,000 "views" per year. It is difficult to precisely compare web site traffic to Scribd traffic because the notion of "view" may be different (on Scribd it can mean a quick visit to the document's description page). Nonetheless, at relatively little cost, the documents clearly got a lot of new attention. There are three ways in which Scribd increases "views" of your documents. First, users of Scribd can find your documents through the site's internal search or "related documents" links. Second, Scribd documents generally come up higher in search engine results than documents on your site. Finally, Scribd documents can be easily embedded in third party web sites through the Scribd viewer. Happily, all of these extra views should be complementary to ongoing traffic on your web site. In addition to increasing traffic, Scribd offers another service of relevance to many organizations. Documents can now be sold via the recently launched "Scribd Store". The store charges a 20% commission, a lower figure than competitors. For all of its benefits, Scribd does have one drawback: how do you pronounce "Scribd"? (Answer according to Scribd staff: short i.) So in short, we have found Scribd to be a useful service for organizations seeking increased attention to their documents. Scribd's core services are free, work well, and are worth a try. Future post: Twitter. Jim Cashel is Chairman at Forum One. Feel free to write him at cashel@ForumOne.com .
Policy 2.0: Can Online Collaboration Lead to Better Public Policy?Friday, November 6. 2009First came "Web 2.0" in which we (the people) got the power to publish, share, comment, friend, follow, tag, and organize online. Then came "Gov 2.0" and the trumpets sounded for transparency of government data and innovation. Now, Hope Street Group (a Forum One client) has opened up the policy making process with a new collaboration platform: Policy 2.0. The concept is simple. The three steps are:
"Recommendations like this generally come from researchers and policymakers, administered top-down in states, districts, and eventually schools," according to Monique Nadeau, Executive Director of Hope Street Group. "But Hope Street Group recognizes that teacher and administrator input is critical in designing and implementing teacher evaluation systems, and this project really brought their voices to the table." The pilot team comprised 22 K-12 educators, 6 private sector professionals, and 8 participants from the civil society sector across 17 states. They collaborated online on the Jive community platform, the recommendations were published in a report, and the results were presented at an October 26 event at the National Press Club. Hope Street Group and team leaders from the pilot project then took their recommendations to Capitol Hill. What's most exciting about this platform is that it puts the power to craft real policy solutions in the hands of the engaged citizen, whether that citizen is a teacher who wants to have input in the policy that impacts his/her livelihood, or a community member motivated by a desire to improve a failing school district. In the coming months, Hope Street Group and its Policy 2.0 community will be busy identifying targets and implementing its teacher evaluation recommendations in 10 or more districts, expanding its policy focus into health reform and looking to the public for the next great policy area to tackle.
Forum One's Experience with SlideShareMonday, November 2. 2009 We recently described how we use social media at Forum One. Today we'll talk about the category leader for posting and sharing PowerPoint presentations, SlideShare.Since we're a consulting firm, we (and many of our clients) produce a lot of PowerPoints. Some of them are not too bad. We've used SlideShare actively for the last three years posting our better efforts, as well as presentations from many of the events we host. The Forum One channel on SlideShare currently has 64 presentations. The good news about SlideShare is that it is free, relatively easy to use (we'd give it a B+ for usability - some uploading is tricky), and seems to attract a lot of traffic. Our presentations have had about 90,000 views, with 5000 new views per month. This is more than they receive when posted on our own site. (A "view" means someone went at least to the landing page of the presentation, but didn't necessarily open it.) We assume that this attention is useful for propagating our firm's name and ideas. The bad news is that we don't see SlideShare as a significant source of referral traffic to our web site. We're careful about including contact information in all of our presentations and on the presentation description pages, but despite our efforts we don't see much impact. About 30% of the traffic to our site is "direct" (that is, somebody already knows us and types in our URL), so it is possible that some of that is due to SlideShare. Our overall conclusion is that for relatively little effort we can post presentations, refer to them in our daily correspondence which is useful, and (probably) benefit from their broader exposure on SlideShare. Feel free to post your experience in comments below! Next up: Scribd
A Compass for CongressWednesday, October 28. 2009 I want to tell you about a fantastic new (and developing) resource for congressional staff.Back in September, Forum One was one of the sponsors of CongressCamp, an informal "barcamp" unconference here in Washington. For two days, attendees exchanged ideas on how social media and collaboration tools could increase citizen engagement with Capitol Hill. As conversations came to a close, a session's focus turned toward creating something of lasting value. Hill communication folks are smart folks, but things are changing fast. Each Hill office typically has one person focused on social media. They depend on external advice and lack a single common resource for finding (and suggesting) the best tools and practices. Even once the event ended, CongressCamp participants wished to help bridge the gap between citizen knowledge and congressional needs. They asked themselves, "How can we help Hill staff make their internet sites and services more useful for citizens?" The result is the "Compass," a guide to online communications for Congressional offices. Led by Wayne Moses Burke of the Open Forum Foundation, the Compass is just getting off the ground, and we could use your help. Hill staff are already using it and are anxious to receive feedback and expertise. Wayne has created an open wiki that anyone can edit. Questions of interest to Congressional staff will be posted and answered. For example, we are currently authoring an article that answers the question: "What widgets are available to display social media content on a representative's website?" I know we all have something to contribute. Get on over to the Compass and help improve Congress' ability connect with citizens!
Global Health Essay Contest -- Please ShareTuesday, October 27. 2009This opportunity may be of interest to Influence followers or your colleagues:  The CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health is seeking essay submissions that answer the following question in 500-800 words by midnight, November 20th 2009:"What is the most important thing the U.S. can do to improve global health over the next 15 years?" We are looking for fresh, innovative approaches to global health problems. The author of the winning essay will receive a $1,000 scholarship with a chance to be published in the Commission's final report. Read complete details on their website. The CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy focuses on practical solutions that maximize efficiency, produce measurable results, and engage the American public. This essay contest is one way we're expanding the conversation to include the ideas and opinions of people who are passionate about global health issues. I hope you'll forward this opportunity along to students, friends and colleagues.
Watch Bill and Melinda Gates Live Online TonightTuesday, October 27. 2009 Tonight, (Tuesday, October 27) at 7 PM (EST), Bill and Melinda Gates will give a multimedia presentation to challenge the current problem-based global health narrative through illustration of success stories. The presentation is brought to us through the ONE Campaign Team. I just RSVP'd to watch and get a special reminder email when the video and chat go live on Tuesday night. I thought others would like to check it out too: Sign up for a link and a reminder here. The presentation will offer evidence that current U.S. investments in global health are working, and will demonstrate progress against global health challenges. Bill and Melinda will share their optimism that through sustained commitment to global health issues, the U.S. and its partners around the world have the potential to save and empower millions more lives. Sounds very interesting, and I love the idea of tuning in to a live event with Bill and Melinda--so I thought I'd share.
How We Use Social Media at Forum OneTuesday, October 27. 2009 At Forum One, we spend a lot of time thinking about social media: we run the Online Community Research Network, we lead many social media events every year, and we have provided consulting services to several hundred organizations. We have even published the Online Community Report newsletter for 13 years (yikes).So when it comes to designing our company's own social media strategy, it should be simple, right? While it's true we have a big head start, social media are changing so quickly, we need to strategize and experiment just like everyone else. Here is how we currently are approaching social media as a company. Goals Before we are overwhelmed by countless opportunities in social media, we need to be very clear-headed: why are we doing this stuff? In our case we have four specific goals for our social media efforts: 1) Enhance our marketing efforts for consulting services, events, and products we sell such as ProjectSpaces; 2) Strengthen our ties with existing clients and colleagues; 3) Learn about social media, so we are in better position to advise others; 4) Increase Forum One's overall visibility. All of our social media efforts need to tie clearly to one or more of these goals. Channels We currently manage 14 digital media channels at Forum One:
We periodically review each channel to evaluate if efforts are tying to our corporate goals, and to analyze costs / benefits. At this point our efforts are prioritized into three categories:
Our corporate circumstances are different than many of our clients. We don't really use YouTube or Scribd internally, for example, but have had good luck with clients that produce lots of video or documents. Metrics and Reporting Social media offer great opportunities for gathering useful metrics. While it is hard to directly tie social media to outcomes (do our blogs really drive sales?), it is possible to watch outputs (posts, tweets, etc.) and actions (clicks, re-tweets, etc.). We have set up comprehensive social media reporting systems for a number of clients. We confess that internally we do something lighter weight than we typically advise others -- quarterly channel reviews to prioritize upcoming efforts, and quarterly performance tracking on a relatively small number of metrics which demonstrate reach. In all of this it is necessary to experiment. At any one time we have a half dozen totally experimental new services underway (anyone else using Yammer, for example?). We also do what we can to learn from others in our own professional events and other events. Things are moving so quickly, other practitioners are really the only source of useful information. (The Online Community Research Network also provides this sort of information sharing.) In the future, we'll be posting more detailed information about various channels, including those which seem to be performing best for us and our clients. We'd also love to hear any of your advice on this topic in the comments below.
Vote for Our Sessions: 2010 Nonprofit Technology ConferenceTuesday, October 13. 2009 It's that time again. Folks are getting excited about next year's Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta. Last year, Forum One brought you great panels in user experience, data visualization, digital storytelling, and who could forget: Iron Chef!This year, we have nominated a number of great new sessions. But they won't get selected unless people score them highly. Voting ends this Friday, October 16, so time is short. Our list of proposed panels is below. We'd love to hear what you think, and of course, we'd appreciate your vote! Voting is easy and doesn't require registration. You just click the stars to vote. It will take you just a few minutes. Creating a Culture of Storytelling We know that storytelling is the most powerful way to get your organization's message out there, heard and remembered. We know that compelling stories inspire action and change. But how do you get your organization to commit to storytelling? In this session -- a continuation of last year's "Better Online Storytelling" panel -- we'll explore successful, specific techniques to get your organization started finding and telling its best stories. From stories to emails, blogs to social media, you can create a culture of storytelling. Level: Intermediate. Leads: Roger Burks and Michaela Hackner. Vote for "Culture of Storytelling" now! Storytelling Techniques in Practice This session will be the culmination of a webinar series leading up to the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference. During the session, participants from the webinar will share their experiences in getting buy-in from their organizations, collecting stories, packaging them and sharing them with the world. These participants will read their stories to the group, share lessons learned and solicit feedback. We will also name the winner of the webinar series storytelling contest. Level: Beginner. Lead: Michaela Hackner and Roger Burks. Vote for "Storytelling Techniques in Practice" now! Do You Want Fries With That?: Adding Value to User Experience Users' priorities aren't always our priorities. They come to our sites looking to "buy" one thing when we wish to "sell" them something else. How can we serve their needs while also engaging users with our missions? How can we create online products and services that will keep our constituents -- whether advocates, donors, or members -- coming to our site again and again? Level: Intermediate. Lead: Sophie Campagne. Vote for "Do You Want Fries With That" now! Big Things in Small Packages Once again, your organization faces a short deadline and needs to come up with an application or campaign in record time. How can you do it? And more importantly, how can you do it well? We'll hear from several web managers who deployed a web site, internet application or interactive campaign in a few weeks from start to finish. Level: Intermediate. Lead: Michaela Hackner. Vote for "Big Things In Small Packages" now! Set Your Data Free: How to Let OTHERS use YOUR data to make an impact Data is sexy again, and setting it free with open API's, feeds, and open standards is transforming the way other people can use your data to help you make progress on your mission. This session will look at nonprofits that have choosen to let set their data free on the web, how they did it, and how it's helping their mission. Level: Intermediate. Lead: Kurt Voelker. Vote for "Set Your Data Free" now! Online Community: Real World Lessons for Supporting Meaningful Constituent Engagement Online To build or not to build (your own community features)? That is the question. When it comes to building engagement about your issue online, we all know that interaction and community matter. But how do you balance between building community on your site, and throughout the social web? What online community tactics work best? And most importantly, how have others tackled this problem and succeeded. Level: Intermediate. Lead: Kurt Voelker. Vote for "Real World Lessons" now!
"Real Time Web" Summit - Thursday, October 15, Mountain View CATuesday, October 13. 2009 We're pleased to be partnering with ReadWriteWeb on an exciting conference this week - "The Real Time Web Summit". If you will be in the SF Bay area you should really think about going!The real-time web is creating new opportunities in business, media, communication and collaboration. We are bringing together industry leaders using the real-time web in social networks, financial services, media and nonprofit groups to discuss: The event will be an unconference format - leveraging users' interests to drive the sessions, and ensuring plenty of time for interactions. REGISTRATION Click here, and enter discount code: forumone to save $50. Forum One's Chief Community Officer Bill Johnston will be there and has also blogged about essential reading on the topic of the real-time web.
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QuicksearchAboutInfluence covers innovations in communication, Internet technology and strategy to generate influence on important public policy issues. Chris Wolz manages this blog with the help of his colleagues at Forum One Communications, a web strategy/technology firm with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco and Seattle.
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Friday, December 11 2009 Institute of Medicine - Hiring Manager of Web Communications Thursday, December 3 2009 How We Use Twitter at Forum One Monday, November 23 2009 6 Governments Who Set Their Data Free Tuesday, November 17 2009 Open Government: "Strategies and Tactics from the Playbook" Tuesday, November 17 2009 Should Your Organization Use Scribd? Wednesday, November 11 2009 Policy 2.0: Can Online Collaboration Lead to Better Public Policy? Friday, November 6 2009 The Voter Information Project Tuesday, November 3 2009 Forum One's Experience with SlideShare Monday, November 2 2009 A Compass for Congress Wednesday, October 28 2009 Search Our Blog NetworkLijit Search
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We're seeing exciting trends in governments making data more available — and valuable — for the public. Whether on crime, education, or the environment, governments are putting more data on the web. And they're doing it in ways that allow people to build web applications on top of the data. 
Hope Street Group pilot tested its Policy 2.0 model this past summer with a project to craft recommendations that improve teacher evaluation systems nationwide.
