That set of faces, top left: FaceMap

For the new nodestone banner, I made a little application that goes and builds that set of faces that you see on the top-left banner of the nodestone.com. This post is all about the why and how of that.

We were looking for a way to visually represent the human nature of social media. We’ve got the nice, nodey logo, but where are the people? All the people. All the faces, so that leads us to a bunch of avatars or icons with people’s faces.

Now there is a facebook app called FriendGrid which goes some way there:

But, too big and not enough faces for what we are looking for.  We needed something wide to fill that banner space.  Also, those question marks send the wrong message, no?

So, then, how hard is it to get that set of avatars photos, scale em down and place them in a single image?   Not hard at all, it turns out.

I turned to Twitter.  Twitter users are prety good at uploading avatars, and accessing them via the API is pretty straightforward, so I wrote a quick app with Google AppEngine to accept a twitter username and password and then fetch the avatar URLs and display them in a block.  It worked nicely, so I meddled with the display of the images, got them in a suitable sized block in a browser and screen captured them. I used the Gimp to manipulate the image a bit and make the fractured right hand end. Done.

Next features I’ll add:

• Add more source twitter IDs, so the starting set can be our friends, not my friends.
• Follow friends of friends until we have enough unique faces, this avoiding duplicates
• Remove the ‘no avatar’ images
• Do the actual image manipulation to build a single image from all these.
• Auto-update the nodestone banner once a week or something as friends change,

Sometime over summer I’ll tidy up and publish the app over to AppEngine and let you all know.

Free tech resources for social/eco enterprise – and others

Social enterprises and non-profits need all the help they can get. These times require us to think smart and work together like never before.

This year we plan to give this sector even more leverage. Thank goodness hyperlinks subvert heirarchy and web 2.0 allows smaller or less resourced organisations to take on the Goliath of global warming and social justice.

Larger organisations within the sector like Greenpeace and Oxfam are already doing good stuff with blogging. (I wonder if they are aggregating and editing together blog posts coming from around their stakeholder blogosophere? Might be nice for bloggers to see their posts featured on the “mother ship” and get some cred, hits and feedback that way…)

To start the ball rolling, here is a solid list of technology-based resources to help you take action, no matter what your budget is.

Conduct research

• Survey Monkey - is our preferred tool so far. Lets you design, collate and analyse up to 10 questions for zip. Any other recommendations, just leave us a comment and we can update this post.

Fundraising

• eBay – Giving Works
• eBay – MissionFish (not entirely sure what the difference but let us know how you go)
• PayPal Donations
• Network for Good (partnered with Yahoo!) Charity Badges (widgets you can drop on your site)
• Global Giving (works for international)
• Charity.com

Build & host a blog/website

• Wordpress.com. Free blogging software alone can meet the needs of most organisations’ online presence.
• There are many other blogging platforms (blogger, typepad etc). We primarily work with and recommend Wordpress but sometimes use others and can support you in these in needs be.

With a wide range of templates to chose from and inbuild content management, you can build, host and maintain your website with a £0 budget. If you need training or support, we can offer it, specially designed for you in dialogue with your sector. Apply for a free or subsided place on our tailored training programme if you are a micro enterprise poised to make a big difference. Just drop me a line.

Even with training included, your total outlay over the first two years might be half the cost of a simple custom built website, with nearly no ongoing costs. Whenever you want to change the site, you have the power to do it. In an instant. In your own way, in your own time.

Web 2.0 tools built to fit your ideas

• Internet Artizans – Social Innovation Camp - Be quick. First event is 4-6 April and call for ideas has already opened. Let the team solve it for you.
• £5 app – ongoing project to build simple software tools.
• More to come… the world is buzzing with talent ready to support what you are doing. Don’t be shy. Engage partners wherever and whenever you can.

Understanding Social Media

E-books, blogs, events

• Authentic Blogging – search around this website to find out about blogging and other social media stuff. Our e-book on The Essence of Authentic Blogging is a good place to start. We will be doing a range of speaking engagements within social & environmental enterprise networks this year, so let me know if you want to go on the mailing list (website upgrade coming soon with subscribe for newsletter) or feel free to invite me to speak at your event.
• Nixon McInnes - e-books on social media, RSS, etc plus their blog and regular speaking engagements.
• Geek Habits for Non Geeks – will be veery useful. First one is on 13 March in Brighton, but register on upcoming to be kept in touch.
• Video Blogging – a monthly free event (in Brighton) to find out all about the wonderment of video blogging. If you want to get started right now, check out Free Vlog.
• Loads more around and regular, often free, events to support your learning and networking. Go along and see what budding talent you can find to help realise your dreams. Key word search Upcoming no matter where you live or just keep your ears and ears open. Getting an RSS feed from this blog will help you keep in touch too.

Online (dialogue) marketing

• You Tube – Broadcast Your Cause – Connect, create dialogue, network and “partner up”.

• Video blogging – If you haven’t yet got the equipment or skills to produce simple, short video clips (and even a mobile phone camera might do), then get in touch with Beth Tilson and find out all about Video Blogging while you are at it. Beth’s sessions will be monthly, so get in touch and ignore the dates on upcoming.

• Facebook Causes – love it or hate, it’s hard to deny the ongoing power of Facebook. Many causes have been fought and won with the help of Facebook. Decide for yourself.
  

• Google Adword Grants – can take them a while to get back to you (we’ve heard 6 months!) but if you are planning a campaign in advance there’s no harm in trying.

Note re: blogs vs adwords and search engine optimisation – We still think an effective blog that optimises for the key words that matter to you is better than adwords, but that can take time to build up. Although one recent Authentic Blogging “graduate” reached No. 1 for her search in a few weeks with only a few posts! All depends on what your niche is.

All ’round good guys to know

• Tactical Tech is an international NGO working at the intersection of advocacy and technology. They use their technical expertise to increase the impact of campaigns in social justice and human rights, but their resources are widely applicable. Lots on their website to explore. Work with Internet Artizans.

The list goes on and on. Many thanks to Jill for many of these. Just goes to show that posting a useful comment can really help grow a conversation.

More here at the ever wonderful Skoll Foundation… You have to subscribe to the Skoll newsletter. It is always helpful and let’s you see you are SO not alone in wanting to make a positive difference.

More resources for social/eco enterprises on Authentic Blogging…

Friends – a simple equation

++ social networks ++ emails + 1 big conference = give me a dose of Seneca

2008 Predictions: Internet and Social Media

It is traditional. Writing some predictions for 2008. I’m going to focus on the Internet, social media and associated technology.

Google Search: Trust

I think 2008 will be the year when we’ll realize that we can’t have search being a closed algorithm any more. I get the feeling that it is going to be just too easy for a couple of folk at Google to work out how to pervert search a tiny bit and make a couple of billion extra in revenue. Given that you can do that, it is going to happen eventually, isn’t it, despite the ‘Do No Evil’ thing, which is just sounding more and more defensive these days.

Time to dust off that wikia vision of open search and get moving on it. Ooooh look, the are launching something on Jan 7th. We’ve only got the one Internet, and it would be a pity if we lost trust in our search results.

Also, I’ve always been really uneasy about the whole SEO thing. It feels to me like the SEO gurus are like high priests claiming to know what God is thinking.

Facebook. What?

2008 will be the year we collectively forget about facebook. And give up on social networking for the sake of social networking. My hope is that Open Social and similar will help make possible really useful applications that are socially enabled.

Web $2

You pronounce that web two dollars. I predict the end of Web 2.0 rounded corner build-it-and-think-of-a-business-model bubble. Why? Because with weakening economies in the US and Europe, VCs belts are going to tighten and there will be less money lying around for the high-risk punt at gathering a few million members to somehow later.

Those that have collected the few million members will start the money making machines. I’d predict some good old-fashioned outrage as fun Web 2 sites start to sell their members data or attention to stay afloat.

I’m hoping the focus goes back on to decent revenue-making businesses and some really good ideas emerge and start and work. And people actually pay for it and are happy doing that. People don’t mind paying for stuff, as long as they can really see the value. You need more than (another plain old) social network to pass that test.

The answer to the question that twitter is

I think this year we’ll see the answer to the question “What is twitter for?” And I’m not sure we are going to like the answer. See Web 2$ above. I’d love twitter to stay its lovely simple self, but I’m just a little worried it can’t be.

A new A-List :-)

The old A-listers will collapse en mass from spending too many long nights mumbling into seesmic and will be replaced with a new widgetized microblogging A-list that say nothing useful but say it all the time all over the place. Oh hang on, has this already happened? :-)

Bob Dylan & Social Media Get Hitched – blogging just got sexier

Bob Dylan’s releasing a new album. His marketing people have seen the benefit of social media and launched a facebook application to help him. It’s available for anyone on facebook to play with and have Bob promote their own message.

So if we are already friends on Facebook, just check out my profile to see how sexy Bob can make blogging look, or make a friend request – and if you show me your private life, I’ll show you mine.

If you have not yet been seduced by the Fascist Dystopia that is Facebook (according to Ivan Pope via Tom Nixon), then go play. It really is worth experiencing. But read the health warning first, and a shout out for the next big (and braver new world) social media thing…