Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

How Ryan Cox Is Stepping Up to the Childhood Hunger Plate and How You Can Help

In December 2011, the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) published a damning report on the impact rising food costs and lower income levels were having on healthy eating and malnutrition for schoolkids in the U.S.

The full 38-page study can be found here, but some of the key takeaways were:

In households where the annual income was less than $24,000, families suffered food hardship (the ability to provide food) 2.5 times more than households where the annual income was between $60,000 and $89,999;

Of the homes in the low income bracket, almost one fifth – 18.5% – said the biggest issues they faced was accessibility to food and affordability to buy that food;

People self-reporting illness in these households were four times as as likely to be ill as a result of food hardship than those with better access;

133 congressional districts across the U.S. had at least 10% of households in their district where children were hungry because of lack of access to affordable, healthy food.

These are just some of the statistics from the study. And that’s just one particular study and example, from one country. Globally, there’s a huge problem with childhood hunger and affordable healthy foods. Consider this image:

Is it any real wonder that there’s an issue with food hardship and access to quality food when it’s cheaper to buy junk food?

It’s into this territory that the problem of delinquent school lunches has arisen. In many countries, including the U.S., there are various subsidized food programs to try and ensure that kids get at least one healthy meal per day – their school lunch.

The problem is, these subsidies and programs still don’t always help those who need it the most, due to continued economic hardship, personal finance reasons, and (at times) simply poor management from parents, well-meaning or not. Because of this, accounts fall into delinquency and the kids suffer.

It’s something that Ryan Cox is taking a stand against and trying to change.

From Small Acorns…

Ryan would be the first to tell you he’s “nothing special” (and that’s meant in a respectful way).

He’s not a celebrity; he doesn’t have the ears of millions through political or media channels; and he’s no Superman.

He’s simply an entrepreneur that doesn’t believe kids shouldn’t eat through no financial fault of their own.

To counter the delinquent school lunch accounts in the U.S., Ryan decided to pay off the delinquent accounts at his local school. And then things snowballed…

One school became another, then another, and another. Friends across social networks began donating, helping, supporting, sharing, and more, and the project took a life of its own. The goal now is to expand across the U.S. and out of Ryan’s home state.

I caught up with Ryan to find out more about his project, and how you can help.

The Genesis of a Movement

[question]Why did you start this now? What was the “tipping point” versus last year or the year before that?[/question]

[answer]To be perfectly honest, there wasn’t a tipping point, because there was never really even a “point”. It all started when I tweeted about buying Starbucks for the woman behind me at Starbucks. I realize that people who can afford Starbucks aren’t exactly the most “needing” of a good deed, but the whole idea is just to put more good into the world.[/answer]

[answer]

A friend, Cheyane Bradley sent me a private message on Facebook saying how that was a cool idea and if I was looking for something new to try, she recently called into her daughter’s school and anonymously paid off 11 delinquent school lunch accounts. Four days later I was getting back from a field trip with my nephew and that FB private message conversation popped back into my head.

I went down to the lunchroom and told her I was there to pay off some delinquent lunch accounts. She said to me, “Okay what are your kids names?” I told her, “I have two nephews that go here but their accounts aren’t delinquent. I just want to pay random accounts.” I paid off $100 worth of delinquent accounts, and then I got a bright idea: “What is the total balance due right now?”

I’m an extremely competitive person. Right or wrong, it’s just the way I’m built. I wanted to take Cheyane’s 11 accounts, and trump her by doing 11 schools. Latiousha (the cafeteria supervisor) gave me a total of $1,261.98. I then hug her and say, “Okay I’ll see you next Friday.” “What’s next Friday?” she asked. “I’m going to walk in a check and pay off the entire balance,” I said. She looked shocked.

Well, I got serious about it the following Tuesday, and WTHR picked up the story and we filmed the next day (Wednesday) the bit for the 11.00pm news that night. By the time we met at the school at 11.00am on Wednesday to film it, I had already passed Lakeside Elementary’s total.

It snowballed from there.

[/answer]

Building Grace Through Compassion

[question]What has been the reaction from the schools?[/question]

[answer]

Shock, mostly. We’re raising for school #5 now (I still have to drop off the check to pay-off school #4), but the first three schools have mostly just been shocked. I don’t think any of the?administrators know how to react, to be honest.

They have all been more than gracious, very thankful, and beyond respectful and compassionate to just how big of a deal this is. But a lot like someone winning the lottery I guess (I’ve never won)…they just seem to be in a pure state of shock.

[/answer]

A Political Battle?

[question]Why do you think it’s “normal people” stepping up and not the politicians?[/question]

[answer]

My personal belief? Because the majority (whether that’s 51% or 99%) of politicians are ‘bound by a set of unwritten rules they accept’. Those unwritten rules of blurring lines to get things done, and it is my belief that they are cut from the cloth of “me first”.

To a certain extent, I understand why because that is the way politics goes, and no one has the interest in changing it, they just jump in and play by those rules. I think “normal people” are governed by a principal of “do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do” — at least that is how I was raised.

Again, it is my personal belief that if our country (ies) infused more common-sense law into our actual law, it would seem to me that a lot more would get done or fixed. I think normal people step up because they see it for what it’s worth, and not from a position of power (politician, NBA star, music mogul, etc.)

I don’t have the right to tell anyone how to spend their money, but I would like to think that if I was worth $1 billion dollars, I’d put that money to better use making others better too. Again, it isn’t my right to tell anyone what to do with their money — I’m just giving you the perspective of what I’d do in their shoes.

Whether my power is political or financial.?

[/answer]

Can?We Change Things When the Roots Are So Deep?

[question]How do you feel this problem can be addressed?[/question]

[answer]

This question is loaded because there are a bunch of?varying?factors that go into a ‘ticking time bomb’ of an issue. I don’t believe parents should be bailed out, because they can’t make financially smart choices.

The financial?literacy of America (I’ll speak to my country only) is all out of whack. Hell, I still don’t make great financial decisions – I had $271 in my checking account when I gave the $100.

But the point I’m trying to make is that the financial literacy of parents is an ENTIRELY different topic. At its bare roots, this is all about the kids.

So I think we can pool together to help the kids?so that every kid in school to be able to eat the exact same thing, every day, and never have to suffer from the stigmatism of the “brown bag” lunch, or not getting to eat lunch.

Then we need to tackle the big issue, which is financial literacy of parents.

[/answer]

We’re Only Just Getting Started

[question]What are your future plans for the project?[/question]

[answer]

To build off of how I feel this problem can be addressed, I want to jump in and help the kids. I’ve made the statement, “Even if for one day, I want all of the kids to eat like kings.”

That simply means the same meal, and avoiding any/all?stigmatism’s for what they cannot have. Because of how well this “idea” took off, I’m starting a non-profit called Feed The Kids. We’re in the process of filing the 501(c)(3) paperwork with the state of Indiana.

A friend, Nick Harrison of Dashal, donated his time to build a website. We want to create a platform that is a mix of Kickstarter and GoFundMe (basically fundraising sites) that allows someone who wants to raise money to pay off or pay forward lunches for a school that is near and dear to their heart.

We want to create a simple interface that can get someone activated to help, someone who isn’t as socially forward or active as myself. I’ve had so many people reach out from other states ask, “How can I get that started here? What can I do to get going? How did you start?”

The only thing I can tell them is that I put it out on Facebook, and made a blog post. In actuality, that is all I did. However, I’m super active socially and I have a lot of friends (reads: connections) on social media, so most people wouldn’t be starting from that level of a “social microphone.”

Because of that, I wanted to create a way for anyone to start and begin to drive awareness.?

[/answer]

All In This Together – How You Can Help

[question]So, how can people help you or find out about helping their local state/province?[/question]

[answer]

If you go to my website RyanCox.com, there is a donate button on the right sidebar. Also, while on the site,?any of the four blog posts about #payitforward #feedthekids also has donate buttons.

If you want to mail a check because the Internet scares you, mail a check to Ryan Cox at this address:?1160 E. Washington St. PO Box 29484 Indianapolis, IN 46229. The non-profit paperwork isn’t filed/accepted yet, so we don’t have 501(c)(3) status yet.

[/answer]

A Problem Only Remains a Problem Through Inaction

I’m truly inspired by what Ryan’s trying to achieve. I’ve known him for a while on social, and he’s always struck me as one of “the good guys” – this project of his shows that in spades.

I’m equally impressed at how level-headed he is about who’s “at fault” here – multiple sources, as opposed to blaming one party or part of society.

Yes, politicians need to step up and force this issue more, and whatever government is ruling needs to look at how we’re placing junk food so cheaply and easily in the hands of those who need more quality nutrition.

But that only comes with actions from all of us, whether that be looking at lobbying our local councilors, looking at where our taxes could be spent, how we can help our local schools (in whatever country we’re in), and how we can work with corporations and food suppliers to alleviate this problem.

Ryan Cox has shown one way we can start – it’s up to us to support and keep the conversation and movement going, however that may take form.

Let’s start here.

image: Lubs Mary.

Your Community is an Ecosystem – Embrace It

If you were to look at the definition of an ecosystem, you may find something along the lines of this:

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can come in any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem). Wikipedia.

This is the true definition of what an ecosystem looks like, and is very much based on the natural world.

However, when you look a little further into the definition shared above and beyond that, you can start to make a strong correlation between such an ecosystem, and the community around a blog or social presence.

The Birth of a Community

Think about the blogs you read most, either personal or professional. What attracts you to them?

The blogger’s knowledge
The blogger’s stance
The topic of conversation
The comments
The takeaways you get
Your feeling of involvement with the growth of the blog

While not conclusive, these are usually the most popular reasons a blog attracts readers, subscribers, social shares, etc. However, more than just reasons why a blog is a chosen destination, they’re also part of a bigger ecosystem at play.

Adding to the definition shared at the start of this post and taken from the same Wikipedia article:

Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors.?External factors such as climate, the parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.?Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops.

So, nature’s ecosystem is impacted by both external and internal factors. Sound familiar? It’s essentially how a blog thrives or withers.

The Blog as an Ecosystem

When a piece of content is created – written, visual, audio – it starts a ripple of activity. This may not be large at first, but the ripple is there. When the content is discovered, these ripples become more heated as more eyes land on the creation.

These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

Using the quote above and transferring to content creation and distribution, you can see how the blog is starting to create its own ecosystem.

The “nutrient cycles” begin with the creation. The blogger’s content creates “nutrient” that, when consumed, either nourishes or leaves hungry for more. This leads into the cycles, as the blogger continues to create nutrient for further consumption.

The “energy flows” start to happen, either in the comments of the blog itself, discussions about the article across social networks, or simply sharing with friends with no further action. As new eyes arrive, the energy flows increase.

As the ecosystem grows, the blogger begins to cultivate the community (or ecosystem) and the links start to form between blogger, ecosystem and extended ecosystem (that of your second and third-level shares).

It’s a continuous cycle of nutrient cycles and energy flows. Unless the ecosystem is left unchecked, that is.

External and Internal Dangers for the Ecosystem

Much like nature’s equivalent, a blog’s ecosystem is always in danger of collapsing around itself, or being overrun when impacting factors are left unchecked for any length of time.

External factors such as climate, the parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it…

While an ecosystem in the natural world can’t control the climate, it can – and does – adapt. It’s the reason organisms that were around in the prehistoric age have continued to survive until today, and will still be here long after man has left the planet.

Blogs that adapt to the climate are the ones that will continue to thrive and grow their own ecosystem.

Climate: How your visitors feel when they’re on your blog plays a huge role in how your ecosystem grows. Offering a safe haven from vitriol and harassment, and allowing their voice to be as equally important as your own, is key.

The Parent Material: There are millions of blogs online today. Much like nature’s ecosystem, the parent material shapes the ecosystem. Want to survive? Don’t feed the ecosystem dross that can be found a thousand times elsewhere. You don’t need to reinvent, but you do need to nourish.

Internally, the ecosystem can crumble if the host is lax in monitoring the health of the surroundings.

Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops.

While the blogger is the host and creator of the ecosystem, it’s the ecosystem that – ultimately – defines the blog and its survival and adoption to new trends. Consider these “feedback loops” that can be actioned upon:

Mobile subscribers globally are almost at parity with the actual population number – almost 7 billion. Check your analytics and see how many visitors use mobile browsers, and adapt your blog for them.

Growth is essential to the long-term health of the ecosystem and its host. Your analytics can tell you if your content is finding the right audience and meeting their needs, while comments can help you shape that content beyond what you want to say.

The ecosystem will tell a host all they need to know about its health; if the host doesn’t act, expect the ecosystem to die.

The Social Ecosystem is an Opportunity

Ecosystems, by nature, are adaptive and transient. The host may contain or the components may thrive and explore elsewhere. Many hosts will see this as a danger to their ecosystem, but it’s an opportunity.

…they [ecosystems] can come in any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem).

Bloggers would love their ecosystem to remain in the former part of the quote above – the “specific, limited spaces” – but the truth is, that hasn’t happened for a long time.

Social networks, forums and private groups have enabled the conversation around a topic to take place anywhere. Instead of being a danger to the ecosystem, this is a good thing.

Much as some scientists say that the whole planet is an ecosystem, so the social ecosystem is a whole opportunity in itself. No longer is your ecosystem left to grow on its own – the nutrient cycles and energy flows we looked at earlier are much wider cast.

Google+, Facebook walls, Twitter streams, LinkedIn groups, Quora discussions, forum referrals – all these are new forms of nutrients for you, and all because you’re not worried about keeping the conversation on your own topography.

This wider nutrient source powers far more energy flows between your ecosystem and theirs, and expands the community – and, by association, you – to untapped opportunities and networks. How can this ever be a bad thing?

Simple – it’s not. Embrace the ecosystem.

An Introduction to Livefyre Sidenotes and Complementing Our Conversations Here

Since the early beta of the first version of Livefyre, the real-time comments system, I’ve been a huge fan. The potential was always huge, and this was proven time and time again with each update.

While there may have been times I switched Livefyre off and reverted to native WordPress comments, this was mainly due to a design and implementation hiccup with my redesigned theme, as opposed to anything wrong with Livefyre itself.

It’s why their service was installed again with my latest design, and why I’ll be doing my damndest to make sure it remains through any future updates.

Especially given their very cool new solution, Livefyre Sidenotes.

Why Sidenotes is a Huge Leap for Blog Comments

Actually, that’s a little bit of a misnomer, since Livefyre Sidenotes isn’t really a blog comment solution – more an enhancement to any content on the web today.

They also feel incredibly natural to anyone that’s read anything, ever. That’s not an overstatement – think of the little notes you make on Post-Its on your favourite books; or annotations on college papers; or side comments on a suitably-equipped eReader for further research/discussion later on.

In Livefyre’s own words, this is what their new Sidenotes solution is all about:

We kept harkening back to our college days (no not the booze part), when we annotated and highlighted passages we wanted to discuss with classmates or just pass down to future used book aficionados.
We also looked at similar experiences that exist today, Kindle Highlights for example, which enables us to see and share insightful sections in the books we love. It was clear that the ability to engage directly with content makes for an engaging conversation specifically around what people are reading.

For an example of how that looks, here’s an example of a Sidenotes discussion from the Spin Sucks blog (click to expand).

As you can see, by clicking the little speech bubble at the end of the paragraph, you can see annotations around that particular copy. This helps encourage contextual discussion around a particular thought or point, as opposed to waiting until the comments themselves and referring to the paragraph from there.

Which is why I’m going to experiment with Sidenotes on here for a little while, to see how they complement the main comments section (which will remain at the end of each post).

How Do You Want to Use Livefyre Sidenotes?

From the very first post I published on here, your voice has always been an equal one to mine – and that’s why I’d love your thoughts on how you’d like to see Sidenotes used.

Some ideas I have include:

Use the word “Discuss” at the end of a particular paragraph, to focus on that thought or viewpoint while still top of mind;
Bold any sentence when encouraging readers to use the Sidenotes option at a particular point;
Insert the first Sidenote as a discussion starter on a certain piece of content.

These are just basic ways to use Sidenotes at the moment. The release is only Version 1.0, so deeper functionality will come in future updates, and much of that will be based around user and reader feedback like yours, so fire away!

Are there perhaps content topics that you feel would be better suited to a Sidenotes discussion versus a discussion in the comments at the end of the post? As I mentioned, I really want you to drive your experience here as much as possible, so I’d love to help Livefyre understand where the user experience can be enhanced even more.

In the meantime, feel free to play around with the Sidenotes option here and let me know what you think. To leave a Sidenote, you can either sign in using your existing Livefyre account if you have one, or your preferred social sign-in (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.).

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Update May 7, 2014: I’ve decided to switch Sidenotes off for now. While I love the concept, and think it’s the natural evolution of commenting, there needs to be more user control/optimization on usage and placement. Having chatted with Livefyre about future integrations, I look forward to switching Sidenotes back on when there is extra end-user functionality.

image: Dimitris Papazimouris

Why You Might Want to Unsubscribe From This Blog

For the last six years or so, this blog has shared content that’s been focused on marketing, social media, influence and data. It’s been a collection of topics that have interested me and hopefully raised interest in you to dig beyond the usual social media-driven content.

And while these topics (mostly) still interest me, they don’t drive as much passion in me as they used to.

As I wrote three years ago,?there’s only so much you can produce without repeating what’s already out there; three years later and it seems (to this blogger, at least), not much has changed.

Instead of blogs taking a critical thinking approach, many simply chase eyeballs with thinking that was new three years ago,?but today is simply recycled viewpoints (no matter how they try and dress it up as new).

Instead of really driving the direction of thinking around social and where it can go, they rely on Upworthy-style headlines for their business blogs, while failing to deliver with the content that follows. At least Upworthy, as cringeworthy as their link-bait tactics are, deliver on the content related to the title.

It’s this laziness in exchange for traffic that sees so much potential stalled; and it doesn’t instil any desire to continue to be a part of it.

So, time for a change.

It’s Been Great, And I Understand If You Go

Perhaps my train of thought around the changes I’m making around here are grounded in the fortuitous position of not having to sell anything.

Yes, I have the Influence Marketing book I co-wrote with a very smart guy in Sam Fiorella?- but that’s already met the goals I had personally for it (critical recognition and inclusion in university and college curriculums). For sure, I’ll continue to promote, but in the soft sell approach we’ve taken so far and which has seen the book continue to sell and hold a steady place in listings across the web.

The point is, I feel under no pressure to pimp a book and – by association – be held to a certain type of content in order to do so.

Nor am I someone who has to be speaking at the latest social media event to feel validation for anything. While there are some smart people who talk at these events, there are also many who simply turn up to repeat the same talk or keynote they’ve been doing for the last 18 months to two years, all while boasting of whose party they’re at, or what selfie they can use to show how cool they are.

That’s all well and good and if that works for you, knock yourself out – I’d rather support events where it’s not the “usual suspects” and with the added bonus of being able to tap into the minds of the next generation of communicators to see where the industry is heading.

But, more importantly for me, I’m happier simply being with my wife and two young kids – that’s the only validation I want to be remembered for.

It’s why this post has one simple message – the content is changing and I completely understand if you want to “leave”.

While I’ll still write about the topics that have been prevalent in the last six years or so, they’ll be mixed in with people stories about inspiring folks; smart folks, folks that are truly driving change in the way we do business, and aren’t bothered about accolades from the circle jerk. Instead, they’re simply building a future and a legacy.

I’ll also be promoting content you should really dig into more, to hopefully give you a bigger picture of the world around us, and encourage you to ask bigger questions of yourself, and those you surround yourself with and follow.

Simply put, this blog will become what (for me) a blog was born to be – a collection of thoughts about anything and everything at any given time.

If You Do Go, Check These Blogs Out

I’m truly grateful for the thoughts we’ve shared these last six years. Your comments after a post; your discussions online; and your emails to extend the topic have all been sincerely appreciated.

I’d love for you to stick around and see if the new direction encourages deeper thinking; but I understand if you’re simply interested in content specifically geared to social media, marketing, data, etc.

If so, I strongly recommend you checking out the following blogs and bloggers, who offer a mix of smart business acumen, critical thinking, and actual original thought (there is still some out there!):

These blogs all have one thing on common – they will ask bigger questions and they will get you thinking beyond simple ideas, and all deserve to have a place in your reader.

Again, I thank you for being here for the last six years or so. The content wouldn’t have been the same without you driving me to expand beyond the easy topic, and I thank you for that.

I bid you a grateful farewell if you do decide to unsubscribe; and I look forward to continuing to expand each other’s horizons if you decide to stay.

Cheers.