Servant of Chaos

Give Bullying a Kick - Start with Dandelion

As anyone who has experienced bullying will tell you – it’s not only an unpleasant and humiliating experience, it can leave a lasting footprint on your memory and change the way that you relate to even the most important people in your life.

But bullying can be stopped … as long as other know about it. The challenge is getting kids to talk to their parents about being bullied, or seeing bullying behaviour.

At the recent FailCon conference in Sydney, I had the chance to hear about Dandelion – an interactive story that encourages kids to talk to their parents about bullying. Built for iPad helps to build a way into difficult discussions in an imaginative way.

The Dandelion project is currently seeking funding through Kickstarter – with the App + Wristband pack great value for only $14. You can back the project with as little as $1 or take out the Wish Come True Pack at $5000 with benefits including lunch with the author and a day’s creative direction workshop from the folks at Protein One.

There’s only a few days left to get behind this great project. Give bullying a kick and start with Dandelion.

Help Young Writers Be Published

I can well remember the excitement of seeing my first piece of writing in print. And yes, even in this age of easy access to web publishing and on-demand printing, there is still something visceral that comes with your own name in print. On a page. In a book.

And that’s exactly what Vibewire is now working on. Their quarterly anthology captures captures the short stories, articles, art and photography drawn from the Vibewire community. And you can help make this a reality! By supporting the Vibewire Anthology you will not only receive a beautifully produced edition, you will be providing vital support for young people starting their creative careers. Isn’t that what we all wanted way back when?

Organise Your Peeps with Groundcrew

Communities can be notoriously difficult to organise – there are always competing priorities, egos and agendas. The same can apply to teams of any type. But what if you could organise your efforts around location and interest? What if you could corral like-minded folk who just happened to be in the right place at the right time?

Well, with this funky service, now you can.

GroundCrew offers some seriously good coordination tools that can apply to many situations. It’s perfect for non-profit or membership based organisations. It’s a perfect solution for companies with dispersed workforces needing to connect their experts to local problems. And it could radically transform the way that we look at responding to natural disasters.

Oh, and for those of us looking for brilliant tools to manage our online/offline communities from a marketing and branding point of view, it’s a no-brainer. And it gives new teeth to the tired notion of “crowdsourcing”. Sign up today. You’ll find a use for it in seconds.

Via @RachelBotsman.

100 Voices - 100 Years of International Women’s Day

I love this sort of thing … crowdsourcing and engaging super smart, articulate people, providing them a focus and letting them unleash their creativity.

Krishna De has gathered 100 quotes from women in business – all who contributed less than 140 characters. But even taking a quick glance you’ll be struck by just how clear and how powerful you can be in what is effectively the length of a tweet. A great way to celebrate 100 Years of International Women’s Day.

100 Voices In Business - Celebrating 100 Years Of International Women's Day

View more presentations from Krishna De

Evolution of Social CRM (Infographic)

I have been fascinated by the rise of sites like GetSatisfaction. They use community, reputation and social media to help businesses transform their customer service. In many ways, it’s a little like crowdsourcing your customer engagement – and to be honest – I am surprised not to see more businesses using this approach.

But what does it look like in reality?

This infographic from the GetSatisfaction team shows – particularly from a customer service point of view – how putting a bit of social connectivity into the CRM mix can change how you engage with those valuable peeps – your customers.

Now, for my money, this is just one flavour of Social CRM, but it certainly rings true for GetSatisfaction. But what about your business? Is there a social dimension that you are tapping into? Is this something you are considering for 2011? I have a feeling you want to get on the front foot with your strategic social media thinking sooner rather than later.

A Spot of Cat-Sourcing

We all love the idea of crowd sourcing – getting ordinary people to use their creativity, energy and skills to complete a task. But how does that apply to non-people based brands and products? What if you are, say, a pet food company like Purina Friskies and wanted to apply the principles of crowd sourcing? Maybe you could get the cats of the world to don cameras and shoot A Day in the Life of Mitzy. Well, that’s kind of what they have done.

Check it out.

Oh, and if you really are a cat person, don’t forget to download a cat ringtone from their website.

Julian Cole’s Top 50 Australian Marketing Blogs for 2010

A couple of years ago, when Julian Cole kicked off his Top 50 blog list, ranking “Australian pioneer marketing blogs”, it caused something of a sensation. Some people loved it. Some people hated it. Many could care less. And that’s the way it is with social media – there’s plenty of interesting content to consume, so if you don’t like one blog, or social media channel, you can simply surf across to another.

But for those of us who ARE interested in Australian marketing blogs, this list has become something of an institution. Here is Julian’s updated list for 2010. It’s good to see some new entrants – I will certainly be checking out a few of these.

Blog Name		Pioneer Score	Google Reader	Alexa Score	Total
1	Digital Buzz Blog	9	7	9	25
2	Mumbrella	9	5	9	23
3	Bannerblog	7	7	9	23
4	The Inspiration Room	7	6	9	22
5	Campaign Brief	7.5	5	9	21.5
6	Marketing Magazine	8	4	8	20
7	Servant of Chaos	9	4	7	20
8	B&T	6.5	4	9	19.5
9	Laurel Papworth	7	4	8	19
10	Young PR	8	3	8	19
11	Personalize Media	7.5	3	8	18.5
12	Adspace-Pioneers	8	4	6	18
13	Better Communication Results	7	5	6	18
14	Media Hunter	8	3	7	18
15	Amnesia Blog	5.5	5	7	17.5
16	Life. Then Strategy	8	3	6	17.5
17	Online Marketing Banter	8	3	6	17
18	acidlabs	8	3	6	17
19	Talking Digital	8	3	6	17
20	Consumer Psychologist	8	4	5	17
21	Brand DNA	8	4	5	17
22	Digital-Media	8	1	8	17
23	Get Shouty	8.5	3	5	16.5
24	Gold Coast Web Designers	6	3	7	16
25	Shifted Pixels	7	2	7	16
26	A perspective	8	2	6	16
27	Angus Whines	7	3	6	16
28	Dan Pankraz	8	3	5	16
29	WayCoolJnr	8	3	5	16
30	AdNews	8	0	8	16
31	Publicis Digital	7.5	3	5	15.5
32	Gourmet Ads	7	1	7	15
33	PR Warrior	8	2	5	15
34	FRANKthoughts	8	2	5	15
35	PR Disasters	7	3	5	15
36	Matthew Gain	8	1	6	15
37	Zakazukhazoo	6.5	1	7	14.5
38	EcioLab	7.5	2	5	14.5
39	Corporate Engagement	6.5	3	5	14.5
40	Dominique Hind Collective	7	2	5	14
41	Tim Longhurst	6.5	2	5	13.5
42	Pigs Don’t Fly	7.5	2	4	13.5
43	The Flasher	8.5	1	4	13.5
44	Three Billion	6	1	6	13
45	Marketing Easy	6	1	6	13
46	Who is in conrtol of your b****	8	1	4	13
47	Sticky Ads	6.5	0	6	12.5
48	Mark Neely's Blog	7.5	1	4	12.5
49	Business of Marketing and Branding	6.5	2	4	12.5
50	CIIMS	7	1	4	12

Support Independent Media in Australia - New Matilda

There are precious few independent voices in the Australian media landscape. There is Crikey, group blogs like Larvatus Prodeo and a handful of individual bloggers, but the nation’s dominant media players maintain a stranglehold on political and social debate. In the face of this domination, these alternative sites provide much needed space for debate and deeper conversation.

When New Matilda collapsed earlier this year, it shocked and saddened many people. Yet shifting people beyond that shock is difficult. Getting people to financially support the production of independent media is exceptionally hard.

So in an innovative move, New Matilda has turned to the crowd to source much needed support. Now, through Fundbreak, you too can make a contribution to independent media in Australia. Every dollar counts.

The Very Unofficial Facebook Privacy Guide

One of the inspirations for the Age of Conversation books that Drew McLellan and I have been publishing over the last few years is the concept that we are smarter than me. And every day, I see yet more evidence of this … that someone, somewhere out there has an insight, a piece of knowledge or a “social object” that perfectly solves a problem.

As a case in point, Angela Alcorn has put together this fantastic, unofficial, guide to Facebook Privacy. And in a time when the blurring between public and private, and between private and professional is causing us all some concern, this is a very useful and timely publication.

Download the guide from the MakeUseOf.com website – and be prepared to be surprised. Your most personal information may well be being shared with people you don’t know (or don’t want to know).

A tip of the hat to Ian Farmer for this awesome guide.

Give the Gift of Water #BAD10

Today is Blog Action Day, a day where bloggers from around the world come together to support a single cause. This year’s cause is water.

Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhoea, dysentery and other illnesses. The UN predicts that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply and sanitation.

And you can make a change in this situation.

For the Age of Conversation 3, we have partnered with charity: water – one of the non-profit partners associated with Blog Action Day. This means that the profit from every book purchase will support the UN’s effort to bring clean, safe water to millions of people.

So what can you do?

1. Buy a copy of Age of Conversation 3 for each of your customers – they’ll love it and they’ll love you:
   • Kindle version
   • Paperback
   • Hard cover
2. Make an additional donation at our charity: water page
3. Insert the Blog Action Day widget on your blog

Don’t forget to become a Fan of the Age of Conversation on Facebook.