Howard Greenstein’s Website

I am really enjoying Podcamp Philly this year. Besides getting a chance to reconnect with Whitney Hoffman of LD Podcast, Mark and Jennifer from the culinary media network, Chris Penn from the Financial Aid Podcast, Mark Blevis, Matthew Ebel, (and a host of others that are now mad at me for not calling them out directly.)

In my session on “Twitter: Are we all just drinking the Kool Aid?” we explored the strawman notion that Twitter, even with about 2MM users, is only an early adopter tool that isn’t really worth the time people and brands are investing in it. Through discussion (with a very Twitter-heavy crowd) we helped several non-twitter users discover the potential value they’d find using Twitter. We heard stories of people finding answers, getting brand feedback, and we even had 2 people who had courted, and gotten engaged over Twitter.

In my discussion on “What Old Media can teach New Media” (which I usually run with Dean Landsman like we did at Social Media Camp NY), I had a great question and insight - As we discussed how one media tends not to replace the next one, but to cause it to change (as TV did to radio), someone asked about Enterprise 2.0. He noted that he’s trying to get people to adopt some of the new Enterprise 2.0 tech, but that they’re not replacing, say, Email, as the way people share information. We discussed how companies like Lotus added SameTime and MS has enterprise IM because of this. We discussed a few ways about how to get people to understand this “one doesn’t replace the other” situation and how to introduce things slowly and get adoption.

Finally, from Twitter: @KaraLaFleur: @howardgr talking about how web teams are the unrecognized rockstsrs if ad firms - & how that needs to change based on how pol use media.

Yes, we discussed how, if you’re going to talk Social Media with Advertisers, you have to know how they buy traditional media, because you may be teaching them a new paradigm (”ROI=Return on Influence vs. Reach and Frequency buy, for example). Speak to them in their language, and help them understand.

The event was well run, and the crowd was good as well. Thanks, Philly.

Today is the day for the big Stand Up To Cancer show, at 8pm EST and PST on NBC, ABC and CBS. This is a big day - the first day in the rest of our lives - in that we are making a commitment to rid this planet of Cancer. There have been lots of discussions on politics in the last few days, but Cancer attacks Democrat and Republican, working and jobless, young and old, rich and poor, American and citizen of the world.

This effort, to fund great projects with potential, that perhaps don’t fit the critiera of the drug companies who are making sure we have cures for ED and stomach aches.

I’m standing up for my mother-in-law who survived Breast Cancer, for my cousin who survived Hodgkin’s, for the little girl across the street who, thank god, we just learned is cancer-free after 15 months of treatment at Memorial (and at age 3!). I’m standing up for my wife’s cousin, who his wife and 2 kids lost to Cancer at 35. Cancer kills, and it’s time we kill Cancer.

What can you do?

As I mentioned in this post, you can add a widget to your site that funds Stand Up To Cancer.

You can Donate today.

You can Twitter, Blog, Publish on Facebook, etc.Details on the Virtual StandUp page.

You could learn more about other social media efforts in this space.

You could also shout it from the rooftops - “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore - I’m Standing up to Cancer.”

But donating might be more effective.

You might want to know where the money goes.

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Whoever did this site did a wonderful job. Plus, the images of Col. Tigh and Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galatica and the images of McCain-Palin are clasic:

Earlier in the summer, Bill Sobel and I visited this still-under-construction facility

in Amsterdam.

When they told us that this:

would be ready by end of August, I wasn’t so sure.

However,as Bill reports about the E.Factor Lounge opening, and as this Dutch blog shows, clearly the building is done and as beautiful as envisioned.

The thing I like about E.Factor is that they envision Social Networking as both an online and an in-person experience, and this is a first step towards that vision.

Now, I just need another gig to get back to Amsterdam so I can spend time in the lounge! (And one is opening in NYC soon!)

This simple video explains the path for the money for the Stand Up To Cancer initiative.

You may have already seen Go Big Always - 10 Fantastic ways to f*ck it up as an example of communications practices to avoid. Or maybe you missed it. Read this.

Were you paying attention when Chris Brogan gave 100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media?

Do you promote your blog to offline audiences? Maybe you should?

More as I dig out from a week away.

This year’s theme for One Web Day, September 22nd, is Online Participation in Democracy.  The Web is an incredibly valuable resource.  Like water, many of us think of Internet as a tap that we turn on (or that is always on) and that we can draw from and contribute to whenever we want. But in many places in the world, this tap has a lock and key on it. This gives us even more reasons to appreciate the Web on One Web Day, and to think about the things that are made possible because the web is here, enabling us to have discussions.
Citizens can’t participate online unless they have access to a net that is free of censorship and open for sharing and debating ideas. Also, they must have the skills and literacy to understand and get involved.
In Burma, there’s military rule, and fighting -and escapes to freedom- have displaced many citizens. Some of them still hope for a return to democracy, but being spread across the boarders of neighboring countries, as well as scattered in Europe and the US, it’s tough for them to have the discussion about what they wish their society could be.  As Mark Belinsky, Co-Founder of Democracy without Boarders told me:

“This is the first time we have an ability to have Democracy in the way we define it. In Burma there’s no opportunity for democratic interactions outside of the web – particularly because there are so many people outside of the boarders. This effort allows people who are outside the country to build what their future country will look like.”

Here in the US citizens have the right to vote, but many are not even registered. Groups like the Nonprofit Voter Education Network use the web to encourage members of non-profits to vote, and to vote based on the causes their groups advocate. WEtv (disclosure, a client of mine) is educating and empowering women to register to vote via their WeVote08.com site.  And this year we’ve all seen the incredible rise of citizens as campaign contributors, both for the Democrats and Republicans, online. People can amplify their political views via their social networks. Blogs enable debate of ideas.
Sometimes, the sources of these ideas may be suspect. People say “We can’t believe everything we learn online.” They have to be able to apply critical thinking and teach the people who may be less tech savvy about how to evaluate sources of information. I passionately believe that there’s a need to teach this new literacy to students and others that are new to the net, or who want to learn (and have proposed this topic as a panel at the SXSW conference next March). As content moves online, there is a need to teach the skills that enable citizens to make decisions about what sources of information they can trust.

Who the heck are you to be an ambassador?
I’m honored to be the One Web Day Ambassador for today. It is funny, though, that I’m branded as an ambassador for a day – when I’ve been a Web ambassador since early 1994. I first saw the Mosaic browser in 1993, at JPMorgan, on a Sun Workstation. There wasn’t much to see, except for that “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” (Yahoo) site that told you the places you could go.  But, oh the places you could go! (And you could create your own places too!)  I immediately became a Web advocate and in 1994 I started the first Web User Group in America, wwwac.org.  As a member of the Internet Explorer 4 evangelism team in 1997, I helped other companies get their web presences on line.

I remember the early discussions, back in 2006, when Susan Crawford introduced me to the concept of One Web Day, and I knew this was going to be important. I’m happy and proud to be included in this effort to promote One Web Day on September 22nd. I hope you’ll join me in New York at Washington Square or at an event near you, to celebrate the Internet as an important resource that helps keep us free.

Read the story, and check Matt’s blog Matt’s Journey, to follow the story further.

Parkinson’s case offers glimmer of hope for future research | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

Parkinson’s case offers glimmer of hope for future research

08:46 PM CDT on Friday, August 15, 2008

By JEFFREY WEISS / Staff Writer jweiss@dallasnews.com

DALLAS - Matthew Greenstein is living a story about illness, failure and a chance at redemption. He’s also an example of how, in an era when medical research is mostly about crowds of scientists and millions of dollars, a little luck might still make a difference.

Some of the details of his life are like an anti-lottery ticket: Matt has Parkinson’s disease at an age — 32 —when almost nobody has it. He has psychological issues that require medication — but most of the medicines are either bad for people with Parkinson’s or not strong enough to treat Matt’s problem.

But here’s the kicker: A couple of months ago, right after his Dallas psychiatrist prescribed his one remaining choice of medication, Matt’s Parkinson’s got a lot better.

And, finally, I’m proud of Matt for having the guts it takes to tell this story.

If you know someone with Parkinson’s, please pass this story on. Maybe they can learn something, or be helped.

Ads on this blog? What’s that about? You’ll notice an add on the left column, from Apple. No, Apple hasn’t started sponsoring small blogs like me. This is a campaign from Social Vibe, supporting the Stand Up 2 Cancer initiative.

As I posted on the Social Media Club site, SU2C is an effort to get some much-needed attention on the problem of Cancer, and get some money in the hands of researchers trying new things to solve difficult problems.

SocialVibe is donating $1 for each blogger that signs up to their service via the special url http://www.socialvibe.com/SU2C, as well as turning points for showing these ads on Facebook and other social networking sites into real dollars for the SU2C cause. They’re hoping to raise $50,000 by doing this.  So, you’ll see this ad on my site, and on my Facebook page. And, hey, SocialVibe even referred to my Social Media Club post on their page. So, I’m returning the link and asking you to get involved too. If you have a blog - run an ad for a few weeks, and get that $50k to the Cancer Research labs via Stand Up To Cancer. Oh, and you can donate directly as well.