Social Media for Social Causes

Can we make a difference?

clipped from uspoverty.change.org We Can End Hunger With Social Innovation In the age of instantaneous communication and organizing, it's fairly easy to capture the attention (at least briefly) of a large group of people, especially when talking about hot-button issues like hunger and food security. With this problem in mind, Scott Henderson and the crew at Causeshift launched a new online campaign called WeCanEndThis yesterday that seeks to move people away from "one-click activism" and instead encourage Americans to rethink and reshape the problem of food scarcity. What makes this so unique is that it gives each and every one of us the opportunity be part of the solution and enter into the discussion about alleviating hunger. This is not only an opportunity to be heard, but to have your idea matter. Dig in.

Yes! You can sell your crafts

Brick & mortar shop not necessary. Warehouse full of stock not necessary

clipped from sellingcraftsonline.com Craft Business Booster – Share What You Know, Draw In Customers! There are two sides to your craft business. The first is making your crafts, which is the bit we all know and love to do. The second is selling them and it’s probably the area where most crafters are less comfortable and know least about. Fortunately selling crafts online gives you the ability to reach far greater markets and can provide your craft business with a huge boost. Setting up an online craft store is now within the range of any of us, there are even some – like Artfire.com – that are free to start.

Should you sell your crafts?

This checklist is written for entrepreneurs. It offers a good guideline for crafters too.

clipped from blogs.hbr.org The 2-Minute Opportunity Checklist for Entrepreneurs Does your business idea soothe someone's pain, discomfort, frustration, or dissatisfaction? Are there lots of those people out there? Do these people (or companies, or governments) have money to pay for it? Will they be able to decide quickly to buy your product or service? Does your idea exploit something about you that is outstanding or unique? Are there important assets you have that no one else has? (money, access to customers, technology, leadership skills, execution, location, salesmanship, etc.) Is there something about the idea or its implementation, that compels you to really devote yourself to it? Can you start up without huge gobs of money? Can you keep your fixed costs low during launch? Does your idea lend itself to small incremental steps that can inexpensively generate valuable information as well as at least a little cash?

Isn't that the point of eating out?

My home cooking is nutritionally healthy. When I eat at a restaurant the high fat, high salt, etc is what makes the food delicious.

clipped from articles.latimes.com Americans may be running up the calorie count when dining out Americans are eating out more and more: According to the National Restaurant Assn., 49% of every food dollar in the U.S. is now spent in restaurants, up from 25% in 1955. If you figure that the average person needs 2,000 calories a day, it's sobering to learn that more than half that amount can easily be consumed in a restaurant breakfast alone. And don't forget sodium. The recommended daily limit is 2,400 milligrams a day (1,500 milligrams for those who are middle-aged, are in certain ethnic groups or have conditions such as high blood pressure). Many restaurant dishes contain more than you should have in a whole day. clipped from articles.latimes.com They may also decide to provide meals lower in salt and saturated fat, he says, and trim calories wherever they can from items already on their menus.

Climate Change Talks-Is it really all about money?

Too bad the climate change talks aren't about making a serious improvement on the environment. Instead it is all about money. Problem with wealthy nations contributing money to poor nations is that money is too easily embezzled or redirected into other "programs" i.e. defense.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The Major Players in the Copenhagen Talks and Their Positions Targets -- how much countries are willing to scale back the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere -- may appear to be the main issue at hand. But there are others that delegates will be absorbed with. Poor countries want billions of dollars to stave off global warming disasters and help reduce costs of lowering their own rising emissions. Wealthy nations are tiptoeing cautiously around the money question, and are demanding their own new set of checks and balances on whatever new agreement emerges that replaces or builds upon the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. What it wants: for developed countries to collectively slash up to 40 percent of CO2 below 1990 levels by 2020. It also has called for wealthy nations to contribute 0.5 to 1 percent of their gross domestic product to help poor ones address the threats of climate change.

Taking a closer look at Diversity Training

In the end, the good ole boy network is prevailing?

clipped from www.fistfuloftalent.com We Don't Need No Stinking Diversity Training It needs to be said: diversity training is futile. Training like this provides instant gratification for companies who can declare, Well, alrightee! We’ve done diversity. That wasn’t so bad. What it doesn’t deliver is results. Despite the good intentions and assumed good business sense, diversity training often achieves just the opposite of its intended effect: a study led by a sociologist at the University of Arizona found that after mandatory diversity training, representation in upper management dropped for women (7.5 percent), black men (12 percent), and black women (10%). The Latinos and Asians suffered a similar drop. Bottom line: stop talking about not tolerating intolerance and just stop tolerating it.

More Money being dumped into Email Marketing

Oh yippee...more spam for my poor email filter.

clipped from www.marketingprofs.com Marketers to Invest in Email, Social Media in 2010 Businesses are gearing up to increase their marketing spend on email marketing and social media in 2010, making those the top two areas of marketing investment in 2010, according to the just-released  2010 Marketing Trends Survey by StrongMail Systems. Asked to identify the top benefits of social media  as a marketing channel , marketers selected the following: Awareness building (64%) Customer loyalty and retention (49%) Expanded reach (46%) B2B lead generation (20%) Driving revenue (12%)