Someone emailed me a while back and asked me to explain how email and websites, social media and all the rest fit together. So I wrote up this list of analogies.

I hope it’s helpful or at least entertaining. Analogies are my friend.

1. A site is a house.
2. A blog is a really cool house.
3. A page is a room in the house.
4. A blog post is a window into the house. Some people add a LOT of windows or a lot of rooms or both and their houses get bigger and bigger. many houses get run down because their owners lose interest and don’t keep them up.
5. An email message is a letter you send to someone’s mailbox OR it’s something you use a megaphone for. (See item 7.) You may also get your email at a post office box (webmail).
6. An instant or text message is a note you pass back and forth in class. Some of these notes are like the paper you get under your windshield wiper. You didn’t ask for it but there it is nonetheless. You have to pay to pass your notes, sometimes for a whole  month and sometimes one by one.
7. Twitter is like a megaphone that let’s you talk to everyone at once. When you talk into the megaphone you Tweet. (You NEVER twitter.)
8. An “at” (@) message is like using the megaphone to talk to one person but everyone else can hear you.
9. A Direct Message (dm) (as on Twitter) is someone whispering in your ear at a party…with a very small megaphone.
10. “Check In” messages (as on Foursquare and other location based services) are megaphone messages to tell Everyone where you are right now.
11. A Shopping Cart is, uh, a bottomless shopping cart. You have to be careful because you can get addicted to filling the shopping cart.
12. Ebay is a wacky shopping mall. One with stuffed duck toys and Ferraris. Everyone is shouting because somebody is buying something all the time. Same warning as above. be careful.
13. Facebook is the school cafeteria (without the food and the hairnets.) Everyone is talking about everything at once. Some people you listen to and some you don’t. The freshmen are over by the windows playing games (Farmville, Mafia Wars). Facebook Groups are the clubs (like the French club), all lined up at one end recruiting members. Facebook Pages are the “official” clubs (like the National Honor  Society) being more serious and sometimes more particular. But some of the less serious clubs (the National Lego Society) have snuck in. Facebook Causes are the charitable clubs (Save the Whales). Facebook Status is the built-in Megaphone.
14. LinkedIn is for all the Student Council and AP kids who can be way too serious about their work or are working the political system. It’s usually a good idea to keep an eye on them. There is also a built in megaphone.
15. Wikipedia is the know it all kid that states all these “facts” and after a while you don’t trust him but he’s also right a lot of the time.
16. A computer is a paper cup.
17. The Internet is all the strings connecting your cup to everyone else’s. That’s why they call it The Web.
18. WiFi is (an often free) paper cup that you can use in the living room watching TV or when you stop by someplace. Sometimes it’s nicer than your own cup and sometimes not. You can usually find these cups in bookstores or friendly coffee shops.
19. 3G is (an allegedly) expensive goblet that they always charge you to use. Sometimes it’s crystal and sometimes it’s plastic but it breaks easily and then you have no cup connected to the string. You can use the goblet anywhere, even in your car.

We’ve just kicked off what we think will be a very fun, year long project for Healthy Futures Texas. Healthy Futures is a non-profit focused on reducing teen and unwanted pregnancy.

[BEWARE: Very Long Title.]

The Are You Ready project will explore the use of social media and location based applications to inform 18-29 year olds about long acting and renewable contraception (LARCs). The project is scheduled to run throughout 2011 and end in December.

Rather than promote a website that has information to share the project will take information about LARCs to the places that 18-29 year olds frequent using fun, real world activities and “viral” style video.

The project has three main components:

• a Website
• “Trips”
• Videos

The website will serve as the hub for the project. It is the registration point for people participating in the project activities (“Trips”.) It will anchor the activities and in some cases be an integral component. And it will be a source of information for 18-29 year olds about LARCs.

Information will be delivered to the audience by involving them in “Trip” activities at the locations they visit everyday. Trips are a version of scavenger hunt that integrate a quiz component and which offer completion incentives such as coupons, gift cards, iPods and iPads. The Trips will use cell phones, both web enabled like an iPhone or Android phone, and smart phones that can access the Internet. The project is also exploring the use of a text message component.

Trip “travelers” use their phones to answer simple questions in order to get hints to locations to visit. The locations will be partners in the project and will offer coupons, buy one get one and other offers when travelers check in. Some trips will take place in one night and others over the course of a week or two. Travelers will earn points for check ins and completed trips that will enter them into an opportunity to win prizes like gift cards, iTunes cards, iPods and an iPad.

Short video clips will be used to further involve the audience in both the Trip activities and the website. The video will be shot during Trips and at other times capturing answers to questions about LARC related content. The objective is to get right and wrong answers (sometimes flubs) and then provide the real answer at the end of the clip with a tagline to visit the website to register and find out more. These clips will be posted to YouTube and Facebook and embedded in the website. Five rounds of shooting are planned with the objective of creating 10 – 15 clips.

The project is funded by the The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with road trips to the West coast and the East coast.

We traveled to Redding, California (which isn’t technically on the coast) to shoot for CitizenRE, a new residential solar startup with a monthly leasing model. We shot their press event, interviews with customers as well as their CEO. We’ll cut that down to some clips for their website and a sales kit.

Last weekend we were up in Boston attending the National Conference for Media Reform. Wow! Our brain hurts. It’s filled with ideas about broadband policy, community media, activism and legislation. Many really smart people trying to understand and figure out how to shape the media landscape.

We just launched a new project with our client MyQuickDoc, Inc. We’ll be tweaking this doctor appointment service to get it ready for a big rollout.

But Wait! There’s More!

We’re continuing work on our grant project with Healthy Futures Texas. We’re working with Terri and Steve over at Causality on branding and marketing. At the same time we’re doing some preliminary work on the website and working up the game design aspects with Jeremy Koester.

We’ll be cutting together footage of the launch of San Antonio B-Cycle, our bicycle rental program, for submission to Streetfilms. It was a very cool event and nice to see San Antonio beat Austin to the punch.

And, last but not least, we recently spoke to the Alamo Area Home Care Council (AAHCC) about social media. A great bunch of people with a strong social network, just not the online kind. Hope we gave them a jump start! (Go and Like their new Facebook Page!)

We are just wrapping up work on the International Association of Panoramic Photographers (IAPP) website. Actually more than just the website. We’ve always wanted to implement the Full Monty for a non-profit or association and we finally got our chance.

So…What Happened?

We were approached by an old, (well not Old, but former,) colleague from  USAA, Dawn Snow. She’s secretary and defacto webmaster for the IAPP and they found some funding to redo their website. We proposed not only revamping the website so it would be easier to keep up but also connecting it to a membership management system so all of their operations would be easier. The IAPP is an international association with members scattered around the globe. They have no staff, so everything, from website upkeep to membership processing, falls to volunteers, usually the board of directors.

First, we proposed moving their old (1990s vintage) static website to the WordPress content management platform. We found a great commercial template that we could change. Especially important to the IAPP was that it accommodate the wide panoramic images created by their members.

Next, we set them up with a Google Apps for Domains account and moved their association email over to it. They get a branded webmail interface that has loads of storage and the added advantage of Google Calendar, Docs, etc. Future plans call for website integration of  Google Calendar to show workshop schedules and Google Docs for instructional materials. We’ll use two very good WordPress plugins to make this happen.

And then we set them up in the Wild Apricot membership management system. Wild Apricot is a software as a service site for non-profits and associations. It has modules for Members, Events, Donations and Forums. The service provides for a monthly or yearly subscription that’s based on the number of contacts in your database.

IAPP is using the Membership module to automate their new and renewing member functions. Previously, the treasurer took email requests and received checks to deposit. Now IAPP can accept credit cards for membership. And Wild Apricot automates renewals with reminder emails sent to expiring memberships. They are also using the Forums module  for their Classified Ads (something members had asked for) and will use the Events module to manage their conference and workshop calendar and registration.

And…so far so good. Their new site looks great and now many volunteers are contributing to it. Their email management is much easier. And their association management headaches are a thing of the past.

Yea! Finally!

We’ve proposed this solution to a clients before but haven’t had the opportunity to implement it. Since we’ve “been there, done that” as the volunteer leader and manager of a professional association we knew the pain of managing a web presence and managing membership. Especially renewals! Renewals mean revenue and a sloppy or non-existent renewal process means, well, reduced or zero revenue.

Small organizations have a lot on their plate. Making website management easy eases that pain. And we think the “virtual association” concept will do the trick for most associations without the resources for staff. Non-profits, even with a small staff, can benefit from this kind of low-cost solution too.

We’re happy we were able to put the IAPP on a good footing for the future.

Contact us if you think we might be able to help you.