Why Do People Go to SocialActions.com + What Questions Do They Have When They Land?

[BrittBravo]

Happy Monday, everyone!

Ok, so, moving away from metaphors and Matilda, I'd like your answers
to two questions that will help us rewrite socialactions.com,
particularly the home page:

****Why do people go to socialactions.com?****

My thoughts:

* They are looking for a way to find a social change action that suits
their interests, skills, time, etc.
* They saw a Social Actions application and want to know how to get
one for their site and how it works.
* They saw a Social Actions application and want to know how it was
built.
* They saw a Social Actions application and want to build one.
* They heard about Social Actions and want to know more about the
organization.
* They heard about Social Actions and want to know how to get
involved as a developer.
* They heard about Social Actions and want to know how to get involved
as a funder.
* They heard about Social Actions and want to know how to get involved
as a platform partner
* They heard about Social Actions and want to know how to get involved
as a evangelist.
* They heard you can list and find jobs on Social Actions.
* They heard you can find consultants on Social Actions.
* They heard you can find support for planning a social action.

What questions do people have when they go to socialactions.com?

My thoughts:
* How will Social Actions benefit me?
* What/who is Social Actions, how does it work, and where is it
located?
* How can I find social change actions that suits my interests,
skills, time, etc?
* How can I get a Social Actions application for my site and what will
it do for me?
* How can I get more involved with Social Actions as a developer?
* How can I get more involved with Social Actions as a funder?
* How can I get more involved with Social Actions as a platform
partner?
* How can I get more involved with Social Actions as a evangelist?
* How do I donate to Social Actions?
* How do I get on the Social Actions mailing list?
* How do I join the Social Actions community (blog, Twitter, list
serv)
* How do I contact someone at Social Actions if I have a question?
* How do I find/list a job?
* How do I find a consultant?
* How do I plan my own social action?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks!

Britt

__

Britt Bravo
Big Vision Consultant
Be a powerful force for good

www.brittbravo.com
br...@brittbravo.com
Skype: bebravo
Twitter: Bbravo
(510) 757-9684

[Peter Deitz]

Hi Britt,

Thanks for starting this conversation. Here are few additional answers:

***Why do people go to socialactions.com?***
- They are looking for information about social action platforms
- They are looking for what kinds of actionable opportunities exist in their area of interest or work (different from looking for an opportunity to take action).
- They want to learn about micro-philanthropy, web 2.0, and nptech
- They want to meet other people interested in peer-to-peer social change
- They want to find out what I'm up to (shocking but true)
- They clicked on a link to a blog entry about something they're interested in
- They are looking for an opportunity to sponsor individuals launching p2p campaigns
- They are looking for innovative approaches to grantmaking and corporate philanthropy
- They are writing a news article or blog entry about the Internet an social change
- They want to promote their vision / share their story about peer-to-peer social change

***What questions do people have when they go to socialactions.com?***

What is microphilanthropy?
What is peer-to-peer?
What is online social activism?
What can I do to make a difference?
How can my foundation get involved in microphilanthropy?
How can my company get involved in microphilanthropy?
How can my nonprofit or independent project find the resources / supporters it needs?

All the best,
Peter

Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder and Project Lead
www.socialactions.com
Tel: 718-766-5367

Follow me @ http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
Connect with me @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
Join the conversation @ http://blog.socialactions.com

PS - Check out our new job board:
http://jobs.socialactions.com

[Kyle]

And my dream is, they may or may not ever show up to
socialactions.com. If they do, the reasons/needs you mention should be
covered, but if we create a solid and clear syndication platform
(RSSA?), then the goal should be a great home site AND micro actions
spreading far and wide (which ultimately would lead someone home if
they wanted to dig deeper.)

> Join the conversation @http://blog.socialactions.com

[Kyle Shannon]

THOSE WHO HELP THE MOST WIN:

http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html

by GOOGLE.

So what if we nest a contest of our own within their contest:

Those who build the app based on the Social Actions API that generates the most Social Actions wins our (sponsored) prize!

Could be a great way to get awareness and development up:

Call to Action: "Help us win the Google 10 to the 100 Contest"

How: Write an app based on our API and spread it far and wide.

WHY? To help the world, silly! Oh, and to win our Contest-within-a-contest!

Come Again?: The person/team that builds and distributes the app that generates the most ACTIONS TAKEN (as defined by the rules we set) wins something cool.

Thoughts?

[Peter Deitz]

Hi Kyle,

Very smart. Yes, it might be just the right timing. Nothing beats
putting someone else's money up for grabs ;-)

No but seriously, I'll look into the details next week. News of this
contest came up during our presentation at The Case Foundation.

All the best,
Peter

Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder and Project Lead
www.socialactions.com
Tel: 718-766-5367

Follow me @ http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
Connect with me @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
Join the conversation @ http://blog.socialactions.com

PS - Check out our new job board:
http://jobs.socialactions.com

Kyle Shannon wrote:
> THOSE WHO HELP THE MOST WIN:
>
> http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html
>
> by GOOGLE.
>
> So what if we nest a contest of our own within their contest:
>
> Those who build the app based on the Social Actions API that generates
> the most Social Actions wins our (sponsored) prize!
>
> Could be a great way to get awareness and development up:
>
>

> *Call to Action*: "Help us win the Google 10 to the 100 Contest"
> *How*: Write an app based on our API and spread it far and wide.
> *WHY? *To help the world, silly! Oh, and to win our
> Contest-within-a-contest!
> *Come Again?*: The person/team that builds and distributes the app

[Peter Deitz]

I echo ditto Kyle's point. The API is the main event -- but it will no
doubt drive people back to our site for "digging deeper".

Ami Dar of Idealist had a brilliant idea last week -- we need to
approach Wikipedia, and ask them to embed actions that match each
listing. How cool would that be?

All the best,
Peter

Peter Deitz
Social Actions

Founder and Project Lead
www.socialactions.com
Tel: 718-766-5367

Follow me @ http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
Connect with me @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz

Join the conversation @ http://blog.socialactions.com

PS - Check out our new job board:
http://jobs.socialactions.com

[Joe Solomon]

That would be craaaaaaaazy! 

[Heather Cronk]

This should be made simple enough that it becomes common parlance.  Like putting a Facebook share button or an "email a friend" link on your page -- everyone does that.  Social actions should be as commonplace as those tools.

[BrittBravo]

I like your thinking, Heather. How would it work?

The examples you gave have one action associated with them, which
helps to make them "common parlance":

* Share on Facebook
* Email to a friend

What is the one action a Social Actions "button" would have associated
with it?

Is there a way that it could be added to something like this AddThis
type toolbar: http://www.addthis.com ?

Britt


__

Britt Bravo
Big Vision Consultant
Be a powerful force for good

www.brittbravo.com
br...@brittbravo.com
Skype: bebravo
Twitter: Bbravo
(510) 757-9684

[Joe Solomon]

Heather, 

Brilliant idea!  A Social Actions button is something Peter, Eric, and I have discussed - although your vision has of ubiquity has taken it to a whole new level!

Britt - At last check-in, we were envisioning not so much a social bookmarking button - rather a small customizable "Take Action" button - that a user could click and it would then expand with related actions.  Like the related ways to take action widget - although much smaller and therefore more bloggers and website creators might be willing to add it.  

Hmm. What do you think?  Would you add this button? 

Thanks!

Best,

Joe

[Heather Cronk]

Thanks for the votes of confidence, Britt and Joe.  I suppose what I'm imagining is a little "Take Action" or "Do Something" button that organizations or news outlets or bloggers or information hubs could add to their site.  That button would essentially open up the "Related Ways to Take Action" widget, but would take up considerably less real-estate on a site.  That would let the Social Actions team not only talk with the nonprofit sector and the news sector, but also talk with geeky folks who do the programming behind those sites.  Peter and Joe could go hang out at Penguin Days and the like -- the folks who actually code sites hold a *LOT* of untapped power!

-Heather

[BrittBravo]

Is anyone from Social Actions Labs going to the 2008 Nonprofit
Software Development Summit in Oakland, CA November 17- 19:
http://aspirationtech.org/events/devsummit08

I would like a button like that allowed me to customize the wording
and the search results for a particular issue. For example, my Social
Actions button would say, "Take Action for Darfur," and open to
actions related to that issue, rather than to the related actions
widget.

I don't have the related actions widget on my blog, Have Fun * Do
Good, because the actions it brings up don't really relate to my blog,
or my audience. I just tried it out again and got:

DREAM Act Now!
http://www.change.org/changes/view/2680
Dedicated to the passage of the federal DREAM Act (Development,
Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), a bipartisan legislation
that would permit a select group of undocumented students conditional
legal status.

"I will become a liberty activist in New Hampshire by September 30,
2011 but only if 999 others will do the same."
http://everywhere.en-gb.pledgebank.com/Next1000

Know the balance - WORLD POPULATION BALANCE
Welcome to Roman Gamanov's Fundraising Page!
http://www.change.org/giving_networks/index/1374

Britt

__

Britt Bravo
Big Vision Consultant
Be a powerful force for good

www.brittbravo.com
br...@brittbravo.com
Skype: bebravo
Twitter: Bbravo
(510) 757-9684

Britt

[Christine Egger]

Britt, this arrived in my inbox this morning, courtesy of a Google
Alert: Nedra Weinreich responding to your request to critique the
Social Actions site:

http://www.social-marketing.com/blog/2008/10/taking-social-actions.html

Her insights are great -- copying them below for easy Google Group
reference.

Can't thank you enough for all you're doing to drive the re-write
effort!!!!

Christine


From Nedra, 10/2/08:

I've been watching with interest the evolution of Social Actions, a
relatively new service that helps you find things you can do right now
for the causes you care about. The site aggregates "actionable
opportunities" from 30 different social action-oriented sites like
Change.org, Idealist.org, Kiva, DonorsChoose.org and others. With the
proliferation of so many cause-related social networking sites, it's
helpful to see everything in one place. The Social Actions Labs folks
have also been putting together various web applications that help to
spread the information farther, such as a widget to put on your
website or blog that uses keywords to offer actions related to the
topic of the webpage (see left sidebar) and a Twitter "Social Actions
PSA feed" you can have post to your own Twitter account daily for your
favorite cause.

So when fellow blogger Britt Bravo invited me, along with other
nonprofit marketing bloggers, to help her help Social Actions to
market and communicate its mission more effectively, I was happy to
help. After looking over the website, here are some of my thoughts:

* The focus needs to be centered on taking action -- that's what
the mission is all about. But a look at the home page pulls me in many
different directions. If I am a person wondering what I can do about
my favorite cause, it should be obvious at a glance how to find that
information. It took way too long for me to notice that the small
search box at the top left that says "Find an action" is where I
should start. The home page should be focused on the search box, with
it being as easy to find as the box on Google's search page.

* Nowhere do I see anything about the specific issues I care about
-- just a lot about the features of Social Actions. The key to good
marketing is looking at your product and communications from the
viewpoint of your audience; answer their question "What's in it for
me?" They have made a good start, with using the words "you" and
"your" in a couple of places, and providing a menu of options as "I
would like to..." Show examples of featured issues and related
actions. Let me see what your application does for me, rather than
just talking about it.

* The home page is also missing the heart and emotion of why
people come in the first place. They are passionate about getting
involved, in making a difference. They don't necessarily care about
"increasing the scope and impact of the citizen sector." They want to
save a life, rescue the planet, help someone out of poverty... and
they want to do it in 5 minutes or less. Emphasize the impact they can
have, the ease of participating, and the range of choices they can use
to find an action that's just right for them.

* Even when I select the link that says "I would like to...Find
ways to take action," I am confronted with four text-based choices
that are still not entirely clear for the person who is just looking
for how to help stray cats. The language under the option "Find an
action by location, cause or keyword" is far too techie for regular
people: "Our mashup aggregates actionable opportunities from 19 social
action platforms." How about just "Find an action you can take for
your favorite cause"? (And the number of social action platforms
listed ranges anywhere from 19 to 30, depending on the page!)

* Help your users continue to use and spread the word about Social
Actions once they have been impressed by the range of action options
for their cause. On every search results page, offer an easy-to-find
RSS feed so that people can learn about the latest action related to
their issue immediately. Offer the code to add a widget to their blog,
Facebook profile, or MySpace page with actions on the cause for which
they just searched. Add a link that says "Got Twitter?" with
instructions on how to use the Social Actions Twitterfeed. Hand it to
them rather than making them search your site for these tools.

* And finally, focus on your mission and whom you are serving.
Some of the options on the home page let you look at the nonprofit
jobs and internships board, hire a nonprofit consultant, and help
foundations develop a micro-philanthropy strategy. Social Actions
seems to have a split personality, unsure whether it is serving the
individual activist or the nonprofit sector. These two missions can
coexist, but not on the same web page. There should be a separate site
or section of the existing website for nonprofit professionals or it
gets too confusing. Each group has very different communication needs.

I hope that using the Social Actions website as a case study helps you
look at your own website with a new eye. Do you have any other
suggestions to help Social Actions?

[Christine Egger]

Hooray, more great input on the website -- thank you again, Britt!

This time from Nancy Schwarz at
http://www.gettingattention.org/my_weblog/2008/10/shouldnt-it-be.html

Christine

From Nedra, 10/2/08:

Shouldn't It Be Easier to Act via Social Actions? -- Website Audit

Socialactionslogo When blogger queen Britt Bravo asked me and three
other nonprofit marketing mavens to evaluate the recently-launched
Social Actions site, I jumped.

After all, I do audits all the time in my marketing strategy work and
site strategy is another of my fav assignments, serving as assurance
of a positive site audit down the line. But what really intrigues me
is the the wonderful vision of Social Actions founder Peter Dietz, the
harsh and confusing reality of the current site and the gap in between
the two.

Here's Peter's vision:

"We automatically gather fundraising, volunteer, petition and
other sorts of opportunities from 25 partner websites. We have built
technology that provides an internet-wide search of these
opportunities and helps online publishers embed links to them in their
content. Our goal is to make it easier for people to overcome any
reluctance or hesitation in taking action on issues they care about."

But, digging into the site my first reaction was, "Where's the easier,
Peter's key differentiator?" What's great is that the tool makes it
possible to benefit from the data and search capabilities of multiple
volunteer/action resources. What's not so great is how the interface
actually works.

Here are a few ideas on revising the site to make it easier for users
to act, and more likely they'll return to do so:

* Use clear and consistent terminology, so I stay focused rather
than confused.
o The home page refers to 30 actions at top right, and to 24
just below. Disconnect like these undermine credibility, and distract
my attention from key content.
o Although I understand that actions is one of the few words
that encompasses all of the opportunities accessible via the site, the
broadness of the term makes it difficult for a first-time user to
envision what those action choices are. They should be clearly
articulated right on the home page.
o "Actionable aggregated opportunities" is jargon to the nth
degree. Plain speak should be the rule.
* Focus the home page on action opportunities.
o Too many competing elements. I don't know where to look.
o Other ops (like serving as a Social Actions publisher or
hiring a consultant) should be secondary. After all, the targets for
each offering are very different.
* Feature a profile w/photo of someone who's found their dream
action op through Social Actions, right on the home page.That's the
kind of content that makes the service rich, real and relevant.
* Give me a choice of action and/or issue arena front and center
on the home page, bringing them to a search menu that leads to select
action ops.
o C'mon, make it easy for me. There are so many things
competing for my time and attention.
* Make finding the right action clearer and easier.
o When I click "find an action" I get a list of four
choices, all of which are equally weighted. Where's the easy in this?
o Feature one main path in (Social Actions, the aggregator),
with others offered as secondary alternatives
* Add graphics/photos, reduce text.
o Relieve my eyes and give me something beyond dry
description. That'll keep me interested.
o Use font size, colors and other graphic elements to
highlight what's most important, and de-emphasize what's not.

Take a look at Social Actions yourself, and see what you have to add.
Please share your suggestions in Comments below.

[BrittBravo]

Thanks, Christine.

I've asked 4 nonprofit marketing mavens to offer their advice to
Social Actions:

Katya Andresen: http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/
Nancy Schwartz: http://www.nancyschwartz.com/
Kivi Leroux Miller: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/
Nedra Weinreich: http://www.social-marketing.com/blog/

Once I've gotten all their feedback, I'll do a round up on the Social
Actions Blog and post the link for this group.

Britt

On Oct 2, 3:22 pm, Christine Egger <christine.eg...@hotmail.com>
wrote: