Charting ‘The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator’

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who come alive” – Howard Thurman (1899 – 1981)

When David Rowan, editor of Wired Magazine, invited me to write a short article for “Ideas Bank” in the spring of last year, it gave me a great opportunity to share something I’d been witnessing on an increasing scale since my days at Stanford University in 2007. The article had to be short – 600 words – and because of that I invited only a couple of friends to contribute their stories. But the seed of an idea was born, as was the concept of “reluctant innovation.”

It was that seed which, one year on, would turn into a book set for launch in a couple of months’ time. You can read the original Wired piece that inspired it.

The new book features the likes of Medic Mobile, WE CARE Solar, Ushahidi, PlanetRead and DataDyne, and comes with a foreword from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator” highlights the personal stories of 10 social innovators from around the world. Ten social innovators – ordinary people – who randomly stumbled across problems, injustices and wrongs and, armed with little more than determination and belief, decided not to turn their backs but to dedicate their lives to solving them.

Take Brij Kothari, for instance. Watching yet another Spanish movie in his friend’s apartment to avoid writing up his doctoral dissertation, Brij makes a throwaway comment about subtitles, which plants the seed of an idea and spawns a literacy initiative that has had, in Bill Clinton’s words, “a staggering impact on people’s lives.”

Worried about the political turmoil in Kenya, and concerned at the lack of information that is forthcoming from his adoptive country, Erik Hersman mobilizes his own five-strong army to conceive, create and launch a Web-based facility that revolutionizes how breaking news is disseminated worldwide.

Parachuted into the middle of sub-Saharan Africa with a brief to collect public health data, and confronted with a laborious, environmentally wasteful paper-based system, pediatrician Joel Selanikio finds the perfect outlet for the skills he acquired as a Wall Street computer consultant.

Intending to ground himself in the realities of global health during his internship in rural Malawi, Josh Nesbit discovers that it is hard to sit on the sidelines and soon finds himself proposing a solution to overcome the difficulty of connecting patients, community health workers and hospitals.

After watching local doctors and midwives struggle to treat critically ill pregnant women in near-total darkness on a Nigerian maternity ward, where an untimely power cut can mean the difference between life and death, obstetrician Laura Stachel delivers a solar-based solution that enhances survival prospects.

Observing how well the autistic son of a close friend responds to the therapeutic effects of a Chinese massage technique that she has advocated using, Louisa Silva is convinced that the treatment has the potential to benefit thousands of others, but she needs to prove it.

Haunted by the memory of being separated from her older sister during a childhood spent in foster care, and disturbed that other siblings are continuing to suffer the same fate, Lynn Price resolves to devise a way to bring such people back together.

An unexpected conversation over dinner leads Priti Radhakrishnan to build an innovative new organisation with a mission to fight for the rights of people denied access to life saving medicines.

Until a visit to the dermatologist turns her world upside down, Sharon Terry has never heard of pseudanthoma elasticum (PXE), but when she discovers that research into the disease afflicting her children is hidebound by scientific protocol, she sets about changing the system with characteristic zeal.

Encounters and conversations with leftover people occupying leftover spaces and using leftover materials, at home and abroad, led architecture professor Wes Janz to view them as urban pioneers, not victims, and teach him a valuable lesson: think small and listen to those at the sharp end.

Written with younger people interested in social innovation in mind

The book is aimed at a general audience, although I’m hoping it will particularly appeal to younger people interested in social innovation and social entrepreneurship, and schools, colleges and universities teaching the subject. It fills what I believe is a much-needed gap in the market, one which is currently dominated by books which – often at no fault of their own – give the impression that meaningful change is only possible if you’re an MBA, or a geek, or have money or influence, or a carefully laid out five-year master plan, or all five. Let’s be honest – you don’t need qualifications to change the world.

By highlighting the stories of 10 ordinary yet remarkable individuals, and the impact their work is collectively having on hundreds of millions of people around the world, “Rise of the Reluctant Innovator” will show us that anything is possible, planning isn’t everything, and that anyone anywhere can change their world for the better.

The book will be out on 20th November 2013, with a holding page up at reluctantinnovation.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @ReluctantsBook.

Thank you.

“If we can help anyone on their journey, then we should. Whether that be giving advice or a positive critique on an idea, helping raise awareness through blog posts, giving tips on fundraising, making introductions to other projects and people with the same interests, or offering to be a future soundboard as their ideas grow and develop. These are all things I didn’t have when I started out, and using them productively now that I do is one of the biggest contributions I believe I can – and should – make to the future growth of our discipline. Our legacy shouldn’t be measured in the projects or tools we create, but in the people we serve and inspire.”

— Enabling the Inspiration Generation, December 2009

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Chris Brogan offers three big rules for your online presence

In the 8-minute video above, marketing icon Chris Brogan, co-author of “The Impact Equation,” “Google+ For Business” and “Trust Agents”, talks about three rules of the road that nonprofits should keep in mind when thinking about their online presence:

• How nonprofits can make good first impressions online – for instance, how do you get people to notice what you’re doing? how do people interact with the information you provide?

• How nonprofits can make donating, subscribing and volunteering easier for people (Chris says, “I am forever baffled by people who create a donation site and make it really hard to find the donate button.”

• How nonprofits can focus on two metrics that really matter.

Chris gives some insight into the business of nonprofits, why trust is a critical component in relationship building, and the importance of your organization’s online storefront.

The post How nonprofits can build better relationships appeared first on Socialbrite.

5 easy steps for using an ebook to publicize your cause

Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, brands, educators, Web publishers, individuals.

Guest post by Amanda DiSilvestro
Content writer, Resource Nation

If you run a successful nonprofit organization, chances are you’ve tapped into both Internet and traditional marketing approaches. However, there is one sector of the marketing world that does not quite fit into either category: ebooks.

While many conventional, printed books have been converted into ebooks, smart organizations are beginning to take advantage of the new phenomenon by creating books for the digital screen focused on their area of expertise. Increasingly, consumers are starting to realize that using an ebook reader is significantly more pleasant than staring at a computer screen or having to carry around a newspaper, and it is becoming yet another outlet for finding information or opportunities in their community.

Socialbrite has previously published a guide to publishing a successful ebook and a guide to turning your nonprofit’s blog into an ebook . See below for related articles.

Here are tips on how to get started creating your own ebook and the best ways to use it to publicize your nonprofit’s cause.

5 tips for creating an ebook

Expect to give your ebook away for free
1 Most organizations that create an ebook give it away to their group members for free. The goal should be to establish credibility and get people reading your ebook as opposed to selling the material. In the end, the exposure will generate more new customers for your business (ebooks typically cost an average of 90 cents). By offering the ebook for free, more people will be inclined to join upcoming events you may be hosting or help with volunteer work.

Write ebook content relevant to your audience
2 Be sure your content sounds informative rather than sounding like begging, and use lots of subheadings and lists to make it easy to read. When it comes to choosing a topic, look through the different types of feedback your group members or customers have given and find a topic that a majority of those people find interesting. Additionally, if you have a new event or volunteer opportunity coming up, you can focus your ebook on that subject. At the end of your ebook, be sure to include your contact information for those interested in learning more.

Ebook vs. Mini report specifics
3 Many nonprofit organizations offer free ebook mini reports as opposed to a book. A mini report is usually more specific and answers a question. While mini reports may be easier to write, do not count out writing a book. The term “writing a book” sounds intimidating, but your book does not have to be long. Simply choose a topic to write about and cover all aspects of that topic; this should be more than enough information to create a book. Having a full book will help build your overall credibility and show that you really are someone passionate and knowledgeable about the particular cause.

Make sure the public can find your ebook on your website
4 Your ebook is something that should be featured on your website. Consider giving a sneak preview of the book by including the first few paragraphs, the first chapter, a list of chapter topics, or a combination of all three. Soon, everyone is going to catch onto the fact that an ebook reader is lighter and smaller than a laptop or a big textbook. Better yet, a free ebook will get readers even more excited about using their ebook readers. In the end, you want to be that free ebook that gets consumers excited.

Making the ebook available
5 As discussed above, ebooks are usually offered and publicized on an organization’s website. If someone sees the free offer and wants to download the ebook, they must provide their e-mail address and name. The next step is simple, and if you use e-mail marketing, then making an ebook available will be second nature to you. If not, don’t sweat it. Use an auto responder e-mail service such as AWeber, and let the software do the work for you. It will send out your ebook to anyone who signed up for it on your website; it’s as simple as that!

Has your nonprofit created an ebook? What has your experience been with this marketing tool?

Related

• Guide to publishing a successful ebook (Socialbrite)

• Turn your nonprofit’s blog into an ebook (Socialbrite)

• Self-publishing: Tell your story in print (Socialbrite)

• Better book buying: 10 socially conscious online bookstores (Socialbrite)

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Most nonprofits that jump into social media have one goal: To see how hot or cold the water is.

Only when they’ve gotten their feet wet do they scratch their heads wondering: “Why are we in this pool anyway?”

Geoff Livingston (1/4 of Zoetica Media) shared a chapter from his book “The Fifth Estate” — due out next week — about four different types of social media strategies:

1. Participating with People – This strategy focuses on creating real dialogue with your stakeholders. Think Zappos (pictured at top).
 
2. Serving with Content – This strategy focuses on using valuable and interesting content to attract and retain fans.
 
3. Engage Influencers – This strategy focuses on leveraging real connections you might have with “influencers” (air quotes). You too should put air quotes around “influencers” because one’s influence isn’t half as valuable as their interest.
 
4. Empowerment – This strategy focuses on empowering your fans to create and share their own content. One of the best examples of nonprofits that do this is Epic Change.

Of course, all these strategies can be used in combination. And, of course, you would start with your goals.

You can pre-order Geoff’s book here.

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Acouple of months back, some smart folks came together in San Francisco to provide creative technology and marketing strategies for DonorsChoose.org in a first of its kind “social hackathon.” DonorsChoose raises funds for public classrooms. Several of my friends were there — Beth Kanter, Chris Brogan, Chris Messina, Ben Parr, Kathy Sierra — as well as representatives from Bing, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, REI, Twitter and WebTrends.

Out of this gathering, put on by marketing agency Deep Focus, came a free ebook, Goodness Engine: Driving Greater Social Impact in the Digital World, which aims to help nonprofits — and, yes, businesses — learn about how to use social media for social good, including topics ranging from driving online traffic to creating dynamic content and managing online engagement.

From the introduction of the 54-page ebook:

“We are now more connected than ever before. Power in numbers — especially online — has become our everyday reality. Rallying, organizing and motivating are no longer hurdles, but life-changing opportunities. Passions become movements. Movements make impacts. Impacts re-shape our world. In the spirit of connecting for good, Microsoft’s Bing and Hotmail teams brought together luminaries within the tech industry to help DonorsChoose.org address its ongoing technology and marketing challenges. Deep Focus attended the event and distilled the best ideas, tactics and creative solutions into an in-depth analysis that can serve both nonprofit and for-profit companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.”

Download the free book

Also check out Microsoft’s Citizenship efforts: Microsoft.com/Citizenship website; @msftcitizenship on Twitter and Facebook.com/MicrosoftCitizenship on Facebook.

Related

• Bing post on the Goodness Engine.
• Interview with DonorsChoose founder Charles Best (Socialbrite)

The post ‘Goodness Engine’ ebook: A social hackathon for DonorsChoose appeared first on Socialbrite.

Where to find nonprofit, independent & progressive booksellers

Most of us in the philanthropic and social good communities face the recurring question: Where should I buy my books — online or in the local community? And: How much more am I willing to pay to buy from an indie publisher or a green publishing house?

Let’s begin with offline. For the socially conscious, buying at a local store is preferable because it keeps money in the local community, supports independent enterprises and reduces your carbon footprint. There are a number of sites that make it easier to find and support local independent bookstores, where you can thumb though good old-fashioned print books. Chief among them:

• IndieBound.org: Find bookstores and other independent retailers near you. Says Indiebound: “Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.”

• BookWeb.org: Search for a brick-and-mortar bookseller in your community that belongs to the American Booksellers Association.

Other book resources:

• WorldCat: Search for a book title at your local library.

• Bookshare provides accessible books and periodicals for readers with print disabilities.

10 socially conscious online bookstores

While buying a print book locally is a commendable approach, it’s not always possible in practice. Some communities don’t have local bookstores, so buying from an online retailer may be your only real option. In the past few years, socially conscious online bookstores have come into their own. Better World Books, Good Books and Chelsea Green are a few of our favorites. We know there are others out there, so please share your favorites in the comments!

Better World Books: Supporting global literacy

1Founded in 2002 and now boasting more than 1.5 million customers, Better World Books takes in used books from schools, libraries, students — anyone with old books — and resells them online at low prices. A triple bottom line company and a founding B-Corporation, Better World Books donates a portion of its profits to 80+ nonprofit literacy development programs around the world as well as local libraries — they’ve donated $9 million so far, and they’ve reused or recycled 40 million books to date. The company, which employs about 200 people, offer a 100 percent money-back guarantee and ship worldwide for free in a “climate-neutral” way. In May 2009, Business Week readers voted for Better World Books as the best U.S.-based social enterprise that is both making a difference and earning a profit. Follow @bwbooks on Twitter.

Sample title: The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken ($4.48 paperback, plus shipping). We’ve found Better World Books to be most valuable with older titles.

Good Books: All profits go to Oxfam

2Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Good Books’ business model is simple: Every time anyone buys a book through the Good Books website, 100% of the retail profit from every sale goes to support communities in need through Oxfam projects: funding projects that provide clean water, sanitation, develop sustainable agriculture and create access to education. No one at Good Books is paid and the firm has “zero operating costs.” The site says: “All time, professional services and resources are donated. … Each time you buy a book through us you challenge traditional barriers that prevent commercial involvement in reducing poverty.” Delivery worldwide is completely free, and Good Books has more than 2 million titles in stock in its catalog. Impressive. Follow @GoodBooksNZ on Twitter.

Sample titles: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History by Michael Pollan ($24.30 NZ, $18.65 US paperback, free shipping)

Half Price Books: Save trees, books & money

3Through its Marketplace, Dallas-based Half Price Books offers new, used and out-of-print books, music and movies, stocked by independent sellers from 45 countries around the world. These sellers — such as Alibris, BargainBookStores and Paperbackshop — set their own prices and ship your order directly to you. The vast majority of the books and other items sold are priced at half the current list price or less. Half Price Books is committed to promoting literacy and being kind to the environment, so it donates or recycles any books they don’t sell. “Throughout our history, we have been able to donate millions of books to nonprofit groups in our local community and worldwide,” the site says. Half Price Books promotes hands-on Green Team projects, a bagless initiative, a year-round Educator Discount (10 percent discount for teachers and librarians) and, since 1982, an annual Banned Books Awareness Week. Follow @halfpricebooks on Twitter.

Sample title: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (99 cents used, plus shipping)

Biblio.com: An eco-friendly online bookseller

4A nonprofit founded in 2005, BiblioWorks’ mission is to provide books to communities in need while adhering to the principles of environment, profit, independence and community (EPIC). Its Biblio was the first bookselling marketplace to offer carbon-offsets on all shipped orders. The program, ecosend, is accomplished in partnership with Native Energy, whose projects include building sustainable communities. Biblio also offsets carbon emissions from internal operations, practice recycling, energy efficiency, compost and paper reduction where possible, and it encourages buying local. The site says: “With increased globalization and big box companies reducing competition, we’re doing what we can to revitalize the small business economy by creating quality connections between readers, collectors and booksellers, and promote healthy business competition. The words ‘consumer’ and ‘supplier’ are not used around our office.” Like Half Price Books, Biblio is more of a directory of online bookstores and booksellers rather than a direct online merchant.

Sample title: My book Darknet ($6.12 hardcover, plus $1.97 shipping)

Chelsea Green: Small but vibrant publishing house

5For 27 years, Chelsea Green has published titles on the politics and practice of sustainable living. A founding member of the Green Press Initiative, Chelsea Green has been printing books on recycled paper since 1985. It carries more than 400 titles with a focus on renewable energy, green building, organic agriculture, eco-cuisine and ethics in business. It prints 95 percent of its books on recycled paper and strives for a triple bottom line practice. Follow @chelseagreen on Twitter.

Sample titles: Don’t Think of an Elephant! by George Lakoff ($10 paperback, plus shipping) and The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, Michael McCurdy and Andy Lipkis ($17.50 hardcover), an ecological fable.

Sustainable Insight: Focus on eco-friendly books

6Sustainable Insight is an Australian online bookstore that specializes in sustainability and environmental books, DVDs and educational resources. Topics include gardening, agriculture, environmental management, organics and sustainability. Follow @SustainInsight on Twitter.

Sample title: The Chaos Point by Ervin Laszlo ($35.96 Australian, $35.74 US, plus $17.95 shipping to the US)

City Lights: Advancing ‘deep literacy’

7Alongside Powell’s (below), San Francisco-based City Lights Booksellers is a venerable independent bookstore with a well-known online brand. It’s internationally known for its expert selection of books and for its commitment to free intellectual inquiry. Browse a selection of featured books, new releases and recommended titles from the City Lights staff that you can order online. It created the nonprofit City Lights Foundation “with the goal of advancing deep literacy, which is not only the ability to read and write but fluency in the knowledge and skills that enable us to consciously shape our lives and the life of our community.” Follow @CityLightsBooks on Twitter.

Sample title: The Political Edge, edited by Chris Carlsson ($12.57 paperback, plus approximately $8 shipping)

New Society Publishers: Carbon neutral

8Since 1996, British Columbia-based New Society Publishers’ mission has been to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment. New Society acts on on its commitment to the world’s remaining ancient forests by printing its books on Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper stock and by going carbon neutral. 80 percent of its book sales come from the United States. Follow @NewSocietyPub on Twitter.

Sample title: Choosing a Sustainable Future by Liz Walker ($19.95 paperback, plus shipping)

Development Bookshop: International reach

9Development Bookshop, operated by Practical Action Publishing, offers a wide range of titles on international development and related issues. The UK-based publishing house ships more than 20,000 books a year to more than 100 countries.

Sample title: The Sustainability Handbook for Design & Technology Teachers, Ian Capewell (editor) (£10.76, $17.06 US paperback, plus international shipping)

OR Books: Print on demand

10OR Books is a fascinating new model of the 21st century bookstore. It makes only a handful of titles available for purchase and prints them as orders come in. While there are a lot of print on demand publishers, the New York-based house “embraces progressive change in politics, culture and the way we do business.” OR Books publishes just one or two books a month, combining established authors with new discoveries. Founded only a few months ago, the company currently has just 13 titles on hand. Follow @ORBooks on Twitter.

Sample title: Wikileaks and the Age of Transparency by Micah L. Sifry ($17 paperback, $10 ebook, both ship in February).

Donate your unused books!

Most of us have stacks of little-read books on our bookshelves or taking up space in the closet or garage. Big Hearted Books collects unwanted media — books, DVDs, CDs, records — and redistributes them to people who can use them. Says Kevin Howard: “Our primary goal is to keep books out of landfills and to get them back into the hands of people who can use them. We only recycle books that are of no use to anyone. We sell 10-15 percent of the donations to cover our costs either online or to local book stores, and everything else is given to nonprofits. We donate to town libraries throughout New England for their anual book sales, to the prison book program, to schools, senior centers, etc. We pay the hosts of our donation bins for allowing us to collect books on their property, which allows quite a few churches and schools to earn some much-needed money while helping us with our cause.” Now 2 years old, Big Hearted Books plans to apply for nonprofit status this year.

More online book resources

Here are some additional online book resources:

• Addall: A book price comparison engine that searches 40-plus websites and 20,000 sellers.

• isbn.nu offers a quick way to compare the prices of any in-print and many out-of-print books at over a dozen online bookstores.

• TRUSTlibrary.org helps everyone improve their day with a free book they can read, review, then give away. Follow @TRUSTlibrary on Twitter.

Note: We covered ebooks — which are coming into their own for reading on a Kindle, iPad, Nook or your favorite mobile device — in our Guide to publishing a successful ebook. ManyBooks.net offers 29,000 free ebooks for download, and the new Google e-bookstore partners with independent booksellers to offer 3 million ebooks.

Certainly a word needs to be said about self-publishing services like LuLu, Author Solutions and Blurb, which are more eco-friendly because the books are printed only when a specific order comes through — this seems like the future of online book publishing to us. See our roundup of self-publishing services.

Independent bookstores

Here are some additional independent and progressive online stores to consider:

• Powell’s Books is a progressive, family-owned, unionized independent bookstore. In addition to its well-known online store, Powell’s operates in seven locations in the Portland, Ore., area.

• Geared to educators and progressives, Teaching For Change’s Busboys and Poets Bookstore seeks to ensure that the next generation has the skills, information, and commitment to play an active role in their communities and in civic society. Both a brick-and-mortar store in Washington, D.C. and a Web store, the organization offers a curated list of New and Featured titles in page of our webstore for the latest releases and featured titles for children, young adults, teachers, and progressive readers. The site makes it difficult to browse, so use the Search button if you know the author or title. “Our focus is to provide books that activate your mind and community,” says the site’s About Us page.

• Open Books is an award-winning nonprofit social venture that operates a wonderful bookstore in Chicago, provides community programs and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy. They accept donated books (50,000+ in stock). Online orders are through Better World Books and Amazon.com.

• Launched in 1999, Earthprint is the official online bookshop of the United Nations Environment Programme. A number of prominent international organizations have since joined this initiative to provide a central location for environmental and agricultural official publications.

• Antioch University’s Activist Bookstore: Check out books centered on advocacy for social justice and sustainability.

• Strand Book Store remains a fiercely independent family business with more than 200 employees, more than 2.5 million used, new and rare books, a renovated main store in New York and an online presence.

• Parallax Press: As a nonprofit, this online publisher relies on volunteers to fulfill its mission of promoting engaged Buddhism throughout the world.

• National Novel Writing Month has a list of dozens of independent online bookstores nationwide.

Some of these sites can’t compete with the prices offered by the big-box retailers, which often sell books at a loss. Just remember: Price is not the only factor worth considering.

Thank you for the bookstore suggestions, Andy Sternberg, Stephen Harlow, Neil Milliken, Mimi Poinsett, Ted Newcomb, CCS_Fundraising and Andre Blackman.

What online bookstores do you frequent? Leave a comment below!

Related

• Guide to publishing a successful ebook (Socialbrite)

• Self-publishing: Tell your story in print (Socialbrite)

• Twitter as a force for social good (with partner Room to Read — Socialbrite)

• Top mobile apps for college students (Socialbrite)

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Guest post by Beth Kanter
bethkanter.org

During 2010, I been able to read, blurb, write reviews, do blog giveaways, or author guest posts and interviews for a lot of terrific books that would be useful to nonprofit professionals in the social media, marketing, and ICT areas. Many authors generously sent me review copies . I also have a small pile of books sitting on my desk that I wanted to blog about. So, to close out the year, I thought I’d share this list of books with you, especially if Santa gave you an Amazon gift card.

Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets The Needs of Emerging Markets by Salesh Chutani, Jessica Rothenberg AAlami, and Akhtar Badshah

1I read the manuscript over the summer so I could blurb this book. The book looks at how ICT can help solve global poverty issues in a range of fields, including disaster relief, health education, micro finance, and education. It is filled with great examples and stories from around the world. The book is well-researched and offers frameworks for thinking about how to link technology to a theory of change. More about the book here. The authors were kind enough to give me a copy to give away on this blog, so if you leave a comment you could be the lucky winner of a book!

Digital Activism Decoded: The New Mechanics of Change, Mary Joyce, Editor

2Digital activism is defined by the Meta-Activism Project as “the practice of using digital technology for political and social change.” Mary Joyce is one of the thought leaders in the field. She is the founder and executive director of the Meta-Activism Project. I first met Mary in 2005 through my connection with the Global Voices community and can say that Mary is among the most knowledgeable and experienced digital activists in the world. I’m honored to be working with her on a training project that I’ll share more about in 2011. The book is available on Amazon or as a free download.

Hands-On Social Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing Change for Good by Nedra Kline Weinreich

3Nedra Kline Weinreich is a social marketing whiz kid. I’ve been a fan her work since 2006. Her book is fantastic workbook that will lead you through six fail-proof steps to social marketing success. I love the checklists, her thoughts about the impact of social media and behavior change, and the DIY market research techniques. We were lucky enough to have Nedra stop by the Zoetica Salon and share some thoughts about how to measure social media outcomes. The book is available on Amazon.

The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising by Mazarine Treyz

4I met Mazarine Treyz three years ago in Portland, Oregon, when I facilitated a one-day social media and nonprofit workshop for the Meyer Memorial Trust. She’s been a regular commenter on this blog. Her book is perfect for small nonprofits who are looking for practical and tactical tips and wisdom in developing a fundraising plan. You can get a copy here.

Zilch by Nancy Lublin

5Nancy’s book launched the same month as the Networked Nonprofit. I read it on long plane rides and ended up doing a book giveaway at one of my book talks! Non-profits are told to learn from business; in insightful and humorous book, Lublin, over at DoSomething.org, tells the for profit sector what it can learn from non-profits, particularly about how to thrive with virtually no money. The book made Philanthrocapitalism’s Books of the Year List (so did Networked Nonprofit). Pick up your copy of the book on Amazon.

ShareThis! by Deanna Zandt

6Deanna Zandt is a blogger who writes about social media, civil society, and activism. Her book, futuristic look at how social media will change the world, launched the same week as the Networked Nonprofit and we kept passing each other on the book talk circuit. Her book kept me company on a number of a long plane trips this year, and if you haven’t read yet it, go get a copy at Amazon.

Open Community by Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant

7I read the manuscript this summer and provided blurb. This small book is filled with big ideas and practical tips for managing an online community in the context of social networks. See my interview with the authors and buy your copy here.

The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith

8This one of the best ever book parties for an amazing book that gives you quick and effective ways to use social media for social good. You can pick up a copy here. (See JD Lasica’s review.)

The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon

9While Nina’s book is geared for the museum sector, there are lots of useful frameworks, tips, and stories that can teach all of using social media about how to effectively engage our stakeholders using social media and other channels. Check out this guest post that Nina wrote about the Science of Participation. You can read an online copy here.

The Nonprofit Marketing Guide by Kivi Leroux Miller

10Kivi’s book is filled with the practical and tactical marketing ideas for small nonprofits. Here’s a guest post she wrote about easy methods for implementing a digital content strategy.

And here’s one more to add to the list, Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding by Jocelyne Daw and Carol Cone. And you have until the end of the year to leave a comment and win a copy of this thoughtful book.

What were your favorite nonprofit books of the year? What books should be on the list?

Updates:

• Here’s TechPresident’s List from Micah Sifry
• CoolPeopleCare: Stories That Need Telling
• Marion Conway’s Nonprofit Book List of 2010

This post originally appeared at bethkanter.org.

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And 7 services that let you earn income for your works

Target audience: Authors, journalists, researchers, nonprofits, cause organizations, NGOs, educators, Web publishers.

By Kim Bale
Socialbrite Senior Writer

Becoming a published author is easier now than it’s ever been, particularly if you’ve got the itch to write an ebook. With more than 50 digital readers competing for consumer attention, the market is ripe for affordable Web-based writing and there is no shortage of ebookstores to sell it in, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, a short story collection or scintillating set of essays.

If you’re a nonprofit or a social cause organization, think about some of the materials, studies and reports that you’ve produced and consider whether they can be organized into an ebook that offers value to the community.

Google’s entry into the ebooks marketplace last week will likely provide new opportunities for authors and readers, given that its open platform is not tied to a proprietary ebook reader.

In an effort to make sense of the e-publishing landscape, we’ve compiled this list of user-friendly websites guaranteed to help your ebook reach an interested audience.

Some tips to prepare your ebook for publication

Before you begin to scout publishing options, you’ll need to do some research. Take the time to clearly define your subject, skim the work of your peers and potential competitors and craft a unique angle to position your book.

Make sure you acquire quality artwork and cover art. This will set your ebook apart from the thousands of others in the sector. Once completed, we suggest that you put your ebook through a sort of quality assurance testing by showing it in advance to fellow authors, publishers and agents.

Two writing and editing services you should know about:

• Authonomy by Harper Collins is a great site for writers to glean feedback on their work in excerpts or its entirety. The Authonomy community can recommend books for the “editor’s desk,” or top five, where they’re granted face time with industry professionals and have the potential to be published in a more mainstream environment.

• WeBook invites authors and readers to share their work, connect with agents and take part in writing challenges. Community members can rate stories, earn badges based on ratings and comment on each other’s writing – it’s like crowdsourced editing in a fun, virtual environment.

Sifting through electronic publishing services

What would any industry be without competition? The Web abounds with ePublishing services eager to hold your hand through the intimidating process of self-publishing – from idea formation to thoughtful illustration and cover art – and in many cases you don’t have to choose just one. Just remember, even these services are optional: You can create an ebook by publishing it as a PDF or Word document and uploading it to your own site.

Smashwords: 25,000 ebooks on the shelf

1Smashwords is arguably the most appealing free service to help take your work to the iPad, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo and more. With more than 11,000 published authors boasting more than 25,000 original works, Smashwords is a good choice for anyone new to ePublishing.

• File formats accepted: Microsoft Word file in compliance with Smashwords Style Guide (it’s a free, useful resource even for those who choose to publish elsewhere!)
• Distribution: Apple iPad iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Diesel and other retailers. Document must comply with guidelines outlined in the Smashwords Premium Catalog.

• Fees: Free.

• Royalties: Authors can expect to earn 85% of net sales at the Smashwords.com retail site and 60% of the list price from major ebook retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, Sony, etc.) — the retailer gets 30% and Smashwords takes 10%. You name the price of your ebook and can change it anytime.

FastPencil: ebook publishing made simple

2FastPencil uses professional book templates to simplify the writing, publishing and selling process. A variety of publishing packages are at your fingertips, offering professional help with graphics and cover art to detailed editing while leaving you in control of the entire process.

• File formats accepted: Any! Just input your content into the Publishing Wizard and your ebook will automatically be formatted into ePUB and PDF, two very popular file extensions.

• Distribution: Depending on which package(s) you choose, your title could wind up on the virtual shelves of more than 32,000 online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Distribution costs range from $9.99 to $149.

• Fees: Free to sign up and offers a variety of publishing packages and individual services ranging from no cost to several hundred dollars.

• Royalties: FastPencil recommends that no book be priced more than $9.99. Based on this price, you earn about 80% of net sales from their marketplace and 55% of the list price from mainstream retailers.

Amazon: Get onto a Kindle

3Amazon’s Digital Text Platform allows authors to self-publish their titles straight to the Amazon Kindle Store – for free! The Kindle now produces more sales than Amazon’s hardcover books, Newsweek reports.

• File formats accepted: Kindle supports HTML, MP3, PDF and TXT files, though when publishing through the Digital Text Platform, it is best to upload your content as HTML, ePUB or TXT, as DOC and PDF are complex and may lose formatting in the conversion.

• Distribution: Amazon Kindle Store.

• Fees: None.

• Royalties: Amazon offers a 35% Royalty Option or 70% Royalty Option for digital works. When choosing the 35% Royalty Option, your ebook has a minimum list price of 99 cents, with this cost increasing based on file size and maxing out at $200. When choosing the 70% Royalty Option, your book must be priced from $2.99 to $9.99, and you can only collect 70% from sales in the United States, with foreign sales earning 35%.

PubIt: Get your work on the Nook

4PubIt! By Barnes & Noble gives authors the opportunity to sell their works with the world’s No. 1 bookseller, ideal for the Nook eReader. In three easy steps, your book will go from dream to ebook reality.

• File formats accepted: PubIt! Will convert your DOC, DOCX, HTML, RTF, most images and TXT files to the popular ePUB format used with the Nook.

• Distribution: Sell your books alongside famous authors at http://www.bn.com.

• Fees: None.

• Royalties: Your ebook must be priced between 99 cents and $199.99. For ebooks priced at or between $2.99 and $9.99, authors collect 65% of the list price. For ebooks priced less than $2.99 or more than $9.99, authors earn 40% of the list price.

Google eBooks: Do it yourself — literally

5 Both a bookstore and a library, Google eBooks is a big new electronic playpen for book lovers. It offers nearly 3 million books for free downloads (generally old public domain titles) and hundreds of thousands of titles for sale, ranging from new releases and bestsellers in every category to classics. Its singular achievement is that it’s an open platform, so that Google eBooks works with myriad devices — tablets, smartphones, computers, even most e-ink devices.

Google eBooks come from a Partner Program and the Library Project. To date, its partners have been traditional and small publishers (as well as universities and libraries), and it’s not really currently set up as a do-it-yourself ebook solution. Google assumes you already have a completed ebook in hand and want to use their marketing muscle to distribute it.

• File formats: Google’s ebooks are store in the cloud and can be read on your computer, tablet or smartphone directly within a browser or application. Alternatively, authors can upload a variety of formats to be read on an eReader (though not the closed Kindle).
• Distribution: You can purchase Google eBooks directly from the Google eBookstore or from a number of independent booksellers and retail partners such as Indie Bookstores, Alibris and Powell’s Books. A Google eBooks application can be downloaded for the Apple iPad and iPhone.
• Fees: Free for authors to add their works to the Google eBookstore.
• Royalties: Uncertain and evolving. Best Ebook Readers has a good primer on how authors can add an ebook to the Google eBookstore, however, there’s no discussion of setting prices. And while Google eBooks says authors can earn money from sales, it doesn’t detail how it works.

Lulu: Publish to the iPad

6Lulu is better known for letting you self-publish print books, but Lulu eBooks will have your work in Apple’s iBookstore — where 150,000 books are available on the iPad — in three easy steps. As of Aug. 1, more than 1,000 Lulu titles were available in Apple’s iBookstore, racking up more than 5,000 purchases and $23,000 in author royalties. (Most of the iBookstore titles come from traditional publishers.)

• File formats accepted: DOC, RTF, WPS, ePUB, PDF, PS, JPG, GIF, PNG., though the iBookstore prefers ePUB.

• Distribution: Sell your ebook in Lulu’s marketplace and in the iBookstore.

• Fees: None.

• Royalties: When selling through Lulu, you retain 80% of the net sales. When selling through the iBookstore, Apple gets 30% of the list price, leaving you with 80% of the remaining 70% of the list price. (Our calculator says that’s 56%.)

BookLocker: No-frills self-publishing

7BookLocker is a no-frills way to affordably publish your ebook. Simply fill out a short form used as log-in information, submit your manuscript and begin marketing your book however you see fit.

• File formats accepted: To list your ebook in its marketplace, BookLocker requests that you submit it in PDF form. You can do this on your own at http://createpdf.adobe.com/ (or another free service) or they will do it for you for a $35 fee.

• Distribution: BookLocker leaves this largely up to you, though will list your ebook on their system.

• Fees: BookLocker charges nothing to list your ebook on their system, though they require your book be priced at $5.95 or higher.

• Royalties: On ebooks priced $8.95 or higher, authors will earn 70% of list price. Royalties on ebooks priced lower than $8.95 will be 50% of list price.

Of course, there are many other online sources for ebook reading and publishing ebooks. One of our favorites is Diesel, the largest independent ebook store with over 2.2 million titles.

Have we missed any of your favorites? Please leave a comment below!

Related

• Self-publishing: Tell your story in print (Socialbrite)

• Turn your nonprofit’s blog into an ebook (Socialbrite)

• 6 business reasons for nonprofits to publish a magazine (Socialbrite)

The post Guide to publishing a successful ebook appeared first on Socialbrite.

Editor’s note: Nick Cooney is author of the new book Change of Heart: what Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change. Below is an introduction he wrote for Socialbrite and a chapter from his book:

The non-profit world is filled with competing theories about how to create change, with many of those theories revolving around one key question: what motivates people to change their behavior? Whether you’re trying to increase donations, recruit new volunteers, or get members of the public to make a specific change in their lifestyle like eating healthy, whether you will succeed or fail depends in large part on your understanding of human psychology. As a non-profit director myself, I decided that I wanted facts and not just theories on how to more effectively influence others. I spent a year combing through the scientific record to learn proven techniques for how non-profits can more effectively persuade the public and succeed in their mission. The result: my new book, Change Of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change. The following excerpt shares research on the role that social networks (and social networking sites) can play in helping non-profits succeed.

Excerpt: ‘Using social networks to spread change’

In taking a hypothetical look at the spread of vegetarianism, we made an assumption that the average person has about ten friends, each of those people has about ten friends, and so on. But in the real world, the number of friends a person has varies significantly from individual to individual. People who are particularly social might have many dozens of friends. Someone who is shy and reserved may have only one or two. Malcolm Gladwell uses the term connectors to describe people who have large numbers of friends and acquaintances. Other authors call these people hubs. Either way, these highly connected individuals sit at the center of vast social circles.

It’s because of connectors that the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game actually works. For those not familiar, this is a pop culture game where you try to connect actor Kevin Bacon to any other actor or actress based on the movies they’ve been in. For example if Kevin Bacon was in a movie with Danny DeVito, and Danny DeVito was in a movie with Jim Carrey, then Bacon would be two degrees away from Jim Carrey. In fact, Bacon can be connected to almost any other American actor or actress in only 3 to 4 links. This reason for this is connectors—the small number of actors who have been in a large number of movies (Barabasi).

Researcher Stanely Milgram wanted to find out how many links it would take to go from one randomly selected person in the United States to another. In other words, he wanted to find out how connected we are. To do so, he mailed out letters to randomly selected individuals in Nebraska and Kansas. In the letters he described the experiment and instructed the recipients that their goal was to get those same letters to a target person in Boston. The target’s name and information were given, but recipients were instructed to forward the letter to that person only if they knew him personally. Otherwise, they were instructed to forward the letter to whatever friend of theirs they thought most likely to know the target person in Boston. And so the letter was passed on from one friend to another, getting closer and closer to the target person. Want to take a guess as to how many times each letter was forwarded on before reaching its intended recipient?

On average, the letter reached the target person after being forwarded on only six times. So there are about six degrees of separation between any two randomly selected people in the United States. It is a small world after all—thanks in large part to connectors. Of the letters that reached the target person at his home, two thirds were sent to him by one man, a prominent clothing merchant. Of the letters that reached the target person at his office, half were sent by two other men. Connectors such as these individuals make the world a much smaller place (Travers and Milgram 1969).

One of the fundamental properties of the human social network is that most people have a small number of links (that is, friendships) but a small number of people have a large number of links. In fact about twenty percent of people hold about eighty percent of the links (Barabasi and Laslo), and research has found that genetics play a significant role in how connected a person is (Christakis and Fowler Connected 233). This 80/20 principle of uneven distribution holds roughly true for other issues as well, including the distribution of population among cities in the U.S., the size of businesses, the length of rivers (Rank–size distribution 2010) and the distribution of wealth (as of 2007, twenty percent of the U.S. population controlled ninety-three percent of the financial wealth) (Domhoff 2010). Networks like the human social network, in which links are distributed unevenly, are called scale–free models.

We’ve discussed how traits like obesity, recycling and caring about world poverty can spread through social networks, so that when one person changes their behavior they make others more likely to do the same. We’ve also discussed how some people—connectors—are linked to many more people than others. Putting these two facts together, we can see that connectors are much more influential than the average person. When they change a behavior, it will have much more of a ripple effect because they are within three degrees of separation of many more people than the average individual. Connectors are often the ones that help push trends forward, and they can make or break the success of a new idea.

Connectors who bridge different groups of people also play a vital role in the spread of ideas. Think of a randomly selected friend of yours. Now think of another randomly selected friend. Do those two friends know one another? Chances are they do. Most of us have social networks filled with friends who know one another and who share similar attitudes. An analysis of social networks on Facebook found that both altruistic and non–altruistic people had similar numbers of friends, but that they were embedded in separate networks of like–minded people (Christakis and Fowler Connected 300). The altruists stuck mostly with other altruists, and the non–altruists stuck mostly with other non–altruists. Tightly clustered groups are good for enforcing group behavior; if a lot of your friends are commenting to one another that a new health care bill is good, chances are you will agree with them. What tightly clustered groups are not good at is adopting new ideas. This is where connectors come in.

Though some connectors sit at the center of a dense cluster of friends, others are linked to a number of different clusters. For example a group of environmental activists in a small town might include one activist who is also a Republican committeeperson and a prominent member of a local church. That activist is particularly important because they can help transmit the behaviors of the environmental activists to other social circles via links of close friendship.

Some activists, particularly those who perceive themselves as having very progressive viewpoints, only want to collaborate with people who have virtually identical beliefs as them. Some activists will even refuse to work with anyone who doesn’t agree with them on an entire list of social issues—feminism, gay rights, animal rights, capitalism, etc. This attitude will create a tiny group with very similar views, but won’t help spread any of those views to the wider public. Instead of rejecting those who inhabit different social circles or have different viewpoints on other issues, we should embrace these connectors as particularly important for spreading our message to new audiences. A college social justice organization might be taken aback when a hard–partying fraternity brother shows up for a meeting, and be tempted to not take him seriously. But that person could help spread new behaviors to those in his own social circle, and might also provide the social justice organization access to a new pool of volunteers.

‘Activists should focus on changing the behaviors of connectors’

In trying to create social change, activists should focus on changing the behaviors of connectors. Because connectors are linked to so many people, or provide bridges between very different groups of people, getting a connector to make a change will have a much large ripple effect than getting an average person to make a change. For example, getting five connectors to spay or neuter their companion animal will lead to many more animals ultimately being spayed or neutered (as the effect filters to their many friends, to their friends’ friends, and to their friends’ friends’ friends) than getting five average people to do the same. Connectors spread new behaviors far (reaching a large number of people) and wide (reaching new social clusters), speeding up the spread of social change. But how can we activists find these powerful connectors?

The rise of online social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace means we now have access to detailed maps of who is linked to whom and who the major connectors are—those with the largest number of friends or followers. A small portion of these people may be friend collectors who don’t personally know as many people as their profile suggests. But for the most part, those who have more online friends really are more connected to others. This doesn’t mean that someone with one thousand Facebook friends has one thousand meaningful links through which new behaviors can be spread. As was discussed earlier, changes spread only through deep social connections. But users with a large number of friends on Facebook usually have a larger number of meaningful online connections than users with a small number of friends. Research published in The Economist found that Facebook users with one hundred fifty friends maintained a relationship with nineteen to twenty-two other users on average, whereas Facebook users with five hundred friends maintained a relationship with thirty-nine to forty-seven other users (the range in each answer represents the difference between men and women, with women being more communicative) (The Economist 2009; Byron et al.). If you’re going to be promoting your cause online, finding the major connectors and focusing some of your outreach efforts on them can create a major ripple effect.

For example, imagine that a college environmental club has started a Facebook group called “We Want Ohio State to Switch to Wind Power!” In trying to get as many group members as possible (which would show student support for the initiative), naturally those in the environmental club will first approach their friends about joining the Facebook group. But the outreach needn’t end there. By browsing through friends’ profiles and the profiles of friends of friends, club members should be able to identify 20 of the most well–connected students at the school. Club members can then befriend those individuals, and after chatting them up for a few days can tell the connectors about the wind power campaign and ask them to invite their many friends to join the group.

Mapping out networks of our friends and our friends’ friends on these sites was made a little easier by the development of applications that automatically create such maps. The Twitter Mention Map Application (Mention Map) shows which other users a tweeter is talking about. The Facebook Social Graph application (Social Graph) plots a graph of all of your Facebook friends and their connections to one another. One major limitation of this and similar applications for Facebook and MySpace is that those currently in existence only allow you to look at users with one degree of separation from you. So you can find which of your friends are the most well–connected to other friends of yours, but you can’t see which of your friends are the most well–connected to the wider world. Furthermore, you can only look up your own social network map, and not anyone else’s. Perhaps more advanced applications will be developed in the future to allow mapping to at least two degrees of separation.

Despite their limitations, the graphing applications currently available can still be useful in helping increase your influence as an activist. For example, let’s say you’re holding a major conference and you want as many people from your social network as possible to come out. Naturally, you’re going to invite all of your Facebook friends to come to the event and post about it repeatedly on your wall. However after mapping which of your friends are the biggest connectors in your social circle, you can contact the five or ten most connected individuals and ask them to also post about the event to their wall. That way many of the people in your social circle will be hearing about the event not just from you, but from several other of their Facebook friends—making it more likely they’ll attend.

There are doubtlessly other ways to locate and use connectors to promote your activist cause. Think about the people you know and pick out those couple friends who seem to know everyone. Make a mental (or written) note of who these people are, and be sure to put special emphasis on talking to them when promoting an event, a behavior change, a fundraising drive or anything else.

Moving on from our immediate friends, there are other very visible connectors in society. Politicians, prominent businesspeople and civic leaders are major connectors, interacting with and befriending a wide variety of people. Whatever behavior an activist organization is promoting, it would make sense to put special emphasis on getting campaign materials in the hands of connectors like these. If an average person decides to go vegetarian, several dozen of that person’s friends will find out and maybe think about doing the same themselves. If a city council member goes vegetarian the many hundreds of people that the council member interacts with will find out about it, creating much larger ripples.

Preventing a behavior from spreading

Some activist organizations aren’t trying to spread a particular behavior, they’re trying to prevent a behavior from spreading or reduce its prevalence in society. Examples include efforts to stop the spread of AIDS, to reduce the number of smokers and to reduce the number of obese Americans. Here too, targeting the connectors in a network will lead to much greater success than targeting the general population. AIDS prevention efforts should focus first on providing condoms and doing regular HIV testing of the biggest connectors: prostitutes and others with large numbers of sexual partners. By working with the most–connected one percent of the population, a non–profit can do as much to stop the spread of AIDS as they would have by working with a much larger percentage of the general population (Barabasi 139–142).

Christakis and Fowler conducted some theoretical research on how to deal with the spread of new diseases when widespread immunization takes a lot of time and a lot of money, and when there may not be enough supply to go around. For example the 2009 swine flu pandemic went on for months before vaccines were made available to the general population. Until there was enough supply to vaccinate everyone, what should federal health agencies have done? Reserved vaccines for those most susceptible to the illness, such as young children? Reserved them for those who had money to pay for them? Or distributed them on a first–come, first–served basis until they ran out?

Christakis and Fowler looked at what would happen if instead of immunizing everyone against a disease, the government focused on immunizing those who were most connected. The pair found that immunizing the thirty percent of the population that is most connected would do just as much to prevent the spread of the disease as immunizing ninety-nine percent of the population at random (Christakis and Fowler Connected 133).

Researcher David Bahr and colleagues wondered if they could create a model to replicate the way that obesity spread through the Framingham Heart Study participants. They created a computer simulation with several hundred thousand fictitious people, inserted a small percentage of obese individuals in to the mix, and let the simulation begin. Slowly, obesity began to spread through the simulated population in a way similar to how it had happened among the Framingham participants. Now that Bahr and his team had created a good model for the spread of obesity, they turned to their main question: how could the spread of obesity be stopped, or reversed?

One solution that worked extremely well in the simulated model was to have people diet not with friends but with friends of friends. That way the social norm of dieting was spread further through the social network and its influence was wider–reaching. It also put particular social pressure on the mutual friend (the person who knows both dieters) to make a similar change. When Bahr and his colleagues plugged this technique into their virtual society, the obesity epidemic began to reverse itself. In fact they found that it could be reversed quickly with only one percent of the population initially going on a diet, as long as the dieters were placed in the right spots throughout the social network (Bahr et al. 2009). Of course, such precision is not possible in the real world. But the fact remains that focusing on friends of friends can have more of an impact at spreading change than focusing on friends, and that it doesn’t take a large percentage of people to initiate sweeping social change.

What appears to be most effective stands in contrast to the initial impulse most of us have upon changing our own behavior, which is to talk about the change with those close to us. When a person learns about the environmental impact of plastic bottles, they’ll typically want to let their co–workers, friends and family members know about what they’ve learned and encourage them to stop buying bottled water. The same is true for a person who has just donated to the victims of a natural disaster or bought a hybrid car. Yet the research indicates that instead of focusing on these people, if we really want to spread that behavior we should focus on their friends.

Online social networks make connecting with friends of friends extremely easy. For example, if you post the following update on your Facebook page or Twitter feed, a couple hundred people might see it: “Undercover investigation: male chicks are ground up alive by egg industry! Video at http://tinyurl.com/mzamns. Please don’t eat eggs!” On the other hand, if you ask ten friends to post it on their Facebook pages or Twitter feeds then several thousand people (friends of friends) will see the posting, and your ten friends will be very likely to watch the video as well. If both you and a friends’ friend stop eating eggs, not only will that behavior ripple out across a much wider set of networks, but your mutual friend becomes more likely to stop eating eggs as well.

Alternatively, activists could contact friends of friends directly via social networking websites. “Hi, my name is Nick, we’re both friends of Michael Brown. I wanted to let you know the non–profit I work for is having a walkathon to help animals next month; if you’re interested in taking part here’s the website…” Not only do you reach a wider audience, but you also make it more likely that your immediate friends will come out to join the walkathon as well. Even if you don’t use social networking sites you can put this technique to use the old–fashioned way by asking your friends to put you in touch with friends of theirs who might be interested in your cause.

We might also set up situations where we introduce to one another two friends of ours who are making a similar change but who don’t know one another. For example an environmental activist might have two acquaintances who are both in the process of trying to reduce their home energy use. By introducing these two acquaintances to one another the activist provides them additional social support, which makes them more likely to succeed and helps the ripple effect of their changes get spread over a wide social network. It’s also possible that the two budding environmentalists have other mutual friends who could become influenced to reduce energy usage as well.

In working for social change, we as activists need to recognize that connections matter when it comes to spreading new behaviors through society. By focusing outreach efforts on connectors, befriending new connectors and involving friends of friends in our efforts, we can create large ripple effects that create more change more quickly.

The post Using social networks to spread change appeared first on Socialbrite.