Look into the Future : Hashtags

:: This is an exerpt from the book I wrote with Randal C. Moss The Future of Nonprofits ::

Is this a 2010 event? Or a 2015 event? Tell us in the comments below.

The hashtag, as defined by Twitter, was created because Twitter provided no easy way to group tweets or add extra data. Since Twitter did not develop this capability into its system, the community came up with their own way: hashtags. A hashtag is similar to other web tags: it is metadata that helps add tweets to a category. Hashtags have the ‘hash’ or ‘pound’ symbol (#) preceding the tag.: #traffic, #followfriday, #hashtag.

Just as you might tag a Web bookmark in a social bookmarking site such as the now defunct Xmarks.com and Del.icio.us or on your favorite Blog platform, in the future, the hashtag will be ubiquitous across all social platforms. You will be able to tag everything from Facebook updates to the txt messages you send your friends. The hashtag could become the universal way to add metadata to a piece of online content.

Two important things will rise out this.

A) What’s public vs private.

By using a hashtag on your information, you are able to search for that information across multiple public data streams and see what people are talking about. This will be amazing for when you want to learn about, say, the 2018 World Cup (#worldcup). If everyone uses the same hastag, all of the data gets grouped together and it makes it easier to follow the whole global conversation, even parts of the conversation you are not actively participating in.

This method of hastags puts a lot of control into users’ hands because if there is a post they want to make about a topic, but do not want it included in the global conversation, they can simply decide not to include a hashtag to avoid the search stream.

B) Everything could be trackable.

Imagine the ROI you could present back to a sponsor or major donor about how many times people talked about the event online and across streams. That is a major win for nonprofits seeking funding and sponsorships to do their mission. Imagine if you could see and understand the concerns of your constituents as they express them. Monitoring can deliver real time intelligence to ytou about honest conversations taking place unmediated all over the web. What you decide to do with that information is up to you.

Social Media has an added benefit of being extremely track-able and monitor-able if you plan ahead. This can be as simple as using a hashtag when you tweet. When we attended the Texas Nonprofit Summit in 2010, the hashtag was #TXNS. They announced it on stage and on twitter and even in the program. The crowd added the hashtag to all our tweets.

Then, using the service The Archivist (which is free), the conference organizers were able to send out a graph like this to all their fans, users, influencers as well as their board and sponsors:

At TEDx Cincinnati, the hashtag for the event was #TEDxcincy. Since we organized the social media for the event, we took the concept one step further, creating a unique hashtag for each presenter, published in the conference program. We encouraged all of the audience members and participants to use the hastags to help curate the conversations. The added benefit was that during the conference, participants could conduct silent conversations about the presentations in real time. The hashtags kept the conversations separate. In addition, after the event was over, anyone could use the hashtag to research the conversation days, weeks, even months later.

This is an excerpt from The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age, coming from Wiley in 2011.

SXSW wants more Nonprofits! And they are paying.

As all of you know Dale Thompson and I have been dropping this hint in the ears of SXSW for a long time and now it’s happening.  As all of you know the SXSW Interactive Festival brings together an eclectic mix of technologists, new media industry professionals, creative thinkers and marketing experts to launch new ideas and solutions into the marketplace.

For 2011, SXSW is proud to add a new scholarship program to make it easier for non profits to be part of the excitement of March in Austin.

Over the years, the energy and enthusiasm of non profit and cause groups has spurred much of the innovation that happens at SXSW. Recognizing these contributions, SXSW wants to ensure more of these non profit groups will be a part of the 2011 experience. In partnership with CauseShift, SXSW Interactive is introducing a scholarship program to benefit non profits.

How the Non Profit Scholarship Program Works

We are inviting non profit organizations and their supporters to enter 300-word essays by 11:59 PM CST on October 31, 2010. Essays should explain how new media and technology can help solve the organizations respective social issue and achieve its mission. Tell us why it’s important to leverage media and/or technology in this manner — how will it help you reach the finish line for your cause? And, in the spirit of SXSW, think big and think differently. After reviewing all the essays submitted, SXSW and CauseShift will select the top five (5) essays in terms of content and creativity.  The winning entrants will each receive a free SXSW Interactive badge (a $750 value) to give to their designated non profit in order to attend the SXSW Interactive Festival.

More and all the details here on the SXSW Scholarship for Nonprofits.

VideoCamp Texas : Are you coming?

http://videocamptexas.eventbrite.com/

Are you coming?

Video For The People

VideoCamp Texas is a FREE one day ad-hoc gathering of video, public relations, new media, and marketing professionals born from the desire for people to learn about best practices in online video production and distribution in an open environment. It is an collaborative event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.

How To Participate

Share What You Know

Whether you’re a seasoned video producer, search engine marketer or are just learning about YouTube, come out and share what you know, learn new skills, and network with other like-minded professionals.

We invite you to come share and learn about:

* Best Practices in Online Video
* Public Relations and Video
* Shooting for online video
* Vlogging
* Lighting tips and tricks
* Choosing the right audio equipment
* Video SEO
* Non-Linear editing and compression
* Video for non-profits
* Seeding video and distribution
* And whatever else you can dream up.

Say Hello to Gowalla!

Say hello to Gowalla! They are coming in as our newest in-kind sponsor of the Film Festival this weekend. Have you grabbed your tickets yet? Gowalla is an amazing location based service based here in Austin, TX.

According to their blog post “Gowalla is not just about discovering and sharing, it’s also about using those actions to benefit the world around. We’ve previously partnered with groups like the American Red Cross and LIVESTRONG to raise both funds and awareness for important causes, and we’re pleased to once again be partnering with a great organization: Lights. Camera. Help.”

They have designed some super cool Gowalla schwag that you can only earn by checking in at our film festival this weekend. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for Gowalla and grab your tix today.