Journal

Human Rights, Business and the List No-One Should Be On

: Image by art makes me smile via Flickr

This post originally appeared on my PR agency blog and is reprinted here as celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights and businesses may seem like odd bed-fellows. Yet there are many companies (large and small) who, while they may not appear to be breaching human rights themselves, actively support countries whose human rights records are less than admirable.

You would have thought that in this day and age, to still be speaking about human rights – and the violation of them – would have been a thing of the past.

Indeed, with both the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 and the 1993 Vienna World Conference both reiterating the rights of human beings in all countries, surely we shouldn?t still be discussing this 60 years later? Yet, again, sadly we are. This is where businesses can make a difference.

One of the grey areas for years has been how businesses have circumnavigated the contentious matter of human rights – whether it?s actually in the workplace, or by supporting other businesses or Governments that have a poor track record in human rights.

We may feel all smug in the West, pronouncing that we look after our citizens and offer human rights to all, but this is a blatantly false belief. We only need to look at Guantanamo Bay for an example of how great our human rights are on a personal level, and the likes of Nike and similar for their (alleged) sweatshop practices.

Or how about Wal-Mart?s employee ?pay structure? (and I use that term loosely) – after all, this is a company whose own Annual Report in 2006 stated that it had received 57 wage and hour lawsuits, and was also successfully sued for $172 million in damages for failing to provide meal breaks for almost 116,000 workers in December 2005.

The Olympics in Beijing resulted in extra scrutiny on businesses and human rights transgressions, when China came under attack for its ongoing poor record in human rights over the years.

These include the persecution of anyone that dares to oppose the Chinese government, the continuing crackdown in Tibet, the violations against media freedom and much, much more. You would have thought that with all this controversy going on, businesses would have wanted to stay well away, right? You would have thought so.

Instead of using the Beijing Olympics to make a stand and show they actually care about people as opposed to just money, there were still many businesses happy to sponsor the Olympics. According to The Olympic Partner Programme (TOP), created and managed by the International Olympic Committee, the 12 TOP sponsors of this year?s Olympics were:

1. Coca-Cola

2. Atos Origin

3. GE

4. Johnson-Johnson

5. Kodak

6. Lenovo

7. Manulife

8. McDonald?s

9. Omega

10. Panasonic

11. Samsung

12. VISA

Looking at some of the names on that list, you might be surprised they were happy to be associated with a Government that ignores so many forms of human rights.

After all, Johnson-Johnson prides itself on being ?your family company?. And GE?s own Human Rights policy states that ?GE seeks to advance human rights by leading by example – through our interactions with customers and suppliers, the products we offer and our relationships with communities and governments.? Perhaps they only mean that if there are big tainted bucks involved.

Although many of the world?s most influential leaders made their feelings clear on China and her human rights record leading up to the games, these companies in the TOP 12 list stayed silent. Their excuse? They didn?t want to become involved in politics. Right?

Therefore, it stood to reason that by paying millions in sponsorship money they were letting their greed do the talking instead – and that allowed people to answer back with their views.

I wonder how much longer these companies would stay silent if people spoke with their wallets, and stopped buying their goods or services? Or let their voices be heard in other ways, such as the outcry and furore that followed the Olympic flame everywhere it went prior to its arrival in China.

Would these companies be shamed into withdrawing their support that is so out of tune with reality? Possibly, possibly not. However, one thing is certain – this isn?t something that?s going to go away.

Today there are thousands of bloggers publicizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by blogging about its 60th anniversary and continued abuses worldwide. The Human Rights Watch also has a Take Action campaign that offers advice on how you can try and effect change in the minds of businesses everywhere.

If you?re a business owner yourself, take a look at who you deal with and whether this needs to change. We might not make a difference overnight, but we can make a difference, and that?s the most important thing of all.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.? Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

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The 12 for 12,000 Challenge in 2009

: Image by krystynana via Flickr

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the world around me, around us. When the economy is so bad and much of the future is uncertain, it’s easy to forget that as bad as we have it, there will always be someone worse off. Illness; poverty; hunger; abuse; these and more happen every day to people breathing the same air as us. Which is why I’m setting up the 12 for 12,000 Challenge in 2009.

There have been many examples of how social media can help charitable causes, and I’m hoping that that same power can make a difference in so many lives. The best part – it will take very little effort from you.

You’ll notice that I’ve called this the 12 for 12,000 Challenge in 2009, and with good reason. They’re easy numbers to remember, and with a little bit of luck and goodwill they’ll also be the numbers we meet in this challenge. So, how does it work?

In 2009, I will offer 12 different charities to support, one for each month of the year.

Everyone that signs up for the challenge donates $10 to the chosen charity.

Our aim: to involve 1200 people minimum (if there are more, even better).

If we reach our target number of 1200 people, and we each donate $10, that’s a figure of $12,000 to every single charity each month in 2009. You can imagine the difference this will make to these charities and the people they help.

The beauty of this challenge is that the decision is entirely down to you and how you participate. If you feel that a particular charity doesn’t fit you, simple – don’t donate that month. (If you wish to donate double to a preferred featured charity, that’s entirely up to you again).

I know that looking at the figures, it’s a high amount to aim for – raising $144,000 in the space of 12 months for 12 different charities. But is it really that difficult if we put social media to its most effective use? I think it’s doable.

For instance, if all the people or brands that followed me on Twitter donated $10 each month, that would be over $16,000 every month and almost $200,000 by the end of the year. That’s just one person. Imagine if we could encourage our followers to join us, as well as ask the help of some of the big guys on Twitter that have several thousand followers? Just one or two extra people each could make all the difference.

I’m currently in talks with various charities to arrange promotion as well as direct sponsorship and donation options. You can view some of the charities that might be chosen here. There’s still some groundwork to be done but I wanted to start the ball rolling now and see who’s interested in supporting this challenge.

If you’re interested, or you wish to suggest a charity, please feel free to leave your details in the comments section, or simply email me and put “Charity Project” in the header. I want to make this work, and I feel that if we have a collection of charities that everyone feels affinity to, we’ll raise even more money.

It’s a tough world, and it often gets a bad reputation as an uncaring one. Help me make it better. It won’t take much, but it will mean a lot. Are you with me?

Update. You can now join the 12 for 12,000 Challenge Facebook Group. Look forward to seeing you there. Additionally, if you are on Twitter, we will be using #12for12k to identify specific Challenge messages. Thanks guys!

Using Social Media for Change

: Image by danish. via Flickr

Talk about social media and many people automatically think of its business uses. While it’s as good a tool for individuals as it is for business, most social media talk at the moment is how it can benefit businesses. I’m as guilty as the next person for this, as it’s an area I always recommend clients both new and existing take a serious look at.

Yet there’s another area of social media that’s often overlooked, even though it’s quite possibly the most important use of all – using social media for social change.

There’s no end of advice around the web on how to use social media for business change, yet try and find information on how it’s being used for society and the results are less impressive.

Thankfully, there are some great organizations and influential blogs that are using social media to encourage change worldwide.

Social Media for Social Change, for example, is the brainchild of Michelle Riggen-Ransom, co-founder and Communications Director of BatchBlue Software. Michelle and guest writer T.J. Sondermann use the blog to show how technology can change the world for the better. Topics include Education, Non-Profit and Family Action Plans. There’s some great information on there and is well worth your time.

Change.org is also making headway since its inception in 2005. Its core message is about effecting change both social and environmental. Excellent use of their blog and interaction with their readers and visitors, as well as various projects using social media outlets, has seen Change.org become a leading light in social change.

One company that I have a lot of time for is Kiva, whose aim is to eradicate poverty through micro-lending. Individuals or groups can offer micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, offering a more viable way to escape poverty than charity handouts that may never get past the ruling Government. Kiva uses the Internet and social networking to great effect and is making a difference to those that really need it.

With these companies and the likes of Max Gladwell, Pop! Tech and more, social media is maturing into a medium that is much more than a business marketing tool. If we really want to encourage the “social” part of social media, then these sites and others like them are leading the way.

How will you make change?

Starbucks – A Lesson in Social Media Branding

Ask anyone what one of the biggest stumbling blocks for businesses and social media is and the over-riding answer will probably be understanding. Or lack of it.

With so many businesses questioning why they would enter a medium that doesn’t offer the same kind of return on investment (ROI) than traditional marketing, why bother?

One look at Starbucks could offer some answers. The Seattle-based coffee giant has embraced social media with some great initiatives that any business could learn from.

For instance, while other brands are deciding whether micro-blogging site Twitter is for them, Starbucks has tackled it head on. Better still, they’re actually engaging their customers into the bargain. Instead of simply using Twitter as a broadcasting tool, Starbucks is actively conversing with its 17,000 followers (although weekends seem strangely quiet).

By helping people buy Starbucks-related products to sharing information on various charity projects the company is involved in, the Starbucks Twitter account is the perfect example of great brand usage.

On top of that, Starbucks has also set up an interesting project over at My Starbucks Idea. Here customers of the company are invited to share their ideas on how Starbucks can improve. An open forum approach sees users post their ideas and other members vote for the best. These are then looked at by Starbucks for viability.

As an idea in improving a company through the people that matter – the customers – it’s brilliant common sense. As an example of interactive social media at work, it’s perfect.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Starbucks is embracing social media as well as it is. After all, the company has long been an advocate of social responsibility with their eco-friendly projects. With My Starbucks Idea and their Twitter account, they’re merely transferring their offline ethos into the social media world. And a fine job they’re doing too.

How does your brand compare?

photo credit:?betsyjean79

Discussing Social Media with… David Leonhardt

A little while back, I sent out a request via Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in being interviewed for a discussion on social media. With the medium meaning so many different things to so many people, as well as how it can be used, I was interested to hear the views of the people I connect with.

My original plan was to run a ?round table? style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing his views today is David Leonhardt, President of The Happy Guy Marketing, offering multilingual SEO and online marketing services, as well as a variety of ghostwriting services. My sincere thanks to David for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with David, or find out more about him, please visit his SEO Marketing Express blog.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Social media is any communications technology that allows interaction between users. Currently, that includes Internet and hand-held wireless applications. However, television applications could easily be envisaged, as could refrigerator applications:

Hmmm?I wonder what Mom has in her fridge?let?s check. I see. Ooh, she has some good stuff. Let?s just send her a message here? ?Hi mom. Thinking of doing anything with that lasagna? I?m free to come over for dinner.? I suppose I should copy my brother on that one.

I expect that when fridges can do this, it will still be Web-based, perhaps through a FaceBook application or some other service not yet invented.

Although ?social media? and ?Web 2.0? have been used almost interchangeably, it is important to note that forums and newsgroups are examples of social media that have been around long before Web 2.0 was ?invented?.

What is your reason for using social media?

Tricky question, because it depends on the applications. I would say there are essentially three reasons for anybody using social media:

1. To say something (marketing, opinions)

2. To listen to something (learning)

3. To build relationships (marketing, social)

Across the board, my number 1 reason for using social media is for learning, specifically for keeping my ear to the ground. In the world of SEO and website marketing, so much changes so fast that is impossible to keep track of it all without some tools. I like to follow the discussions at Sphinn.com and HighRankings.com because it helps me keep track of what is happening.

I am definitely a late convert to Twitter, but it took me only a couple days to be a complete fan. Twitter is like a pair of binoculars for monitoring the changing landscape. The short 140-character snippets, one after the other from all those people I choose to follow, gives me the ability to monitor a much, much wider landscape without spending any more time. They come from multiple sources, including dannybrown.me (of course), problogger.net, mashable.com and topseoblogs.wordpress.com, to name just a few that I have found most helpful to follow closely.

My number 2 reason is to build/maintain relationships. Even fairly loose relationships can be useful for business, because if there is an opportunity or an idea to present someone else, there is already a door open.

From a personal perspective, I am a bit of a hermit, compounded by living away from any urban center, so social media gives me a little more social interaction. This is important for anyone working alone in their home. In the case of Twitter, I have already met some very nice people in the nearest urban centers, Ottawa and Montreal – and even down the highway in Toronto – whom I hope to meet in person before too long. In the case of Facebook, I use it to maintain relationships with people I have known over time.

My 3rd reason for using social media is for marketing, but not because I expect to find any clients on FaceBook or Sphinn or Twitter. These are simply wonderful venues to let people you know about things you are doing and nudge them to spread the word. Again, this is about networking and making use of existing relationships. I really have not yet used social media for this, but I know I will.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Social media, in the sense of Web applications, is really in its infancy. Its true effect will happen when political rallies take place online, or when people can log in to international economic summits and discuss with each other in real-time what is happening as ambassadors modify their positions based on public opinion, even as it is being formed. When we are able to join friends on impromptu holographic vacations in places we could never afford the time or money to visit in person? I feel that’s when social media will begin to get really interesting (sign me up for that hike in the Andes without having to fly for a day each way!).

I should also add that when I have to answer the question ?What?s a blog?? at least once a month, I know how far we have to go.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I already referred to some of my favorites, but I also use a number of other websites, including Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com and occasionally Mixx.com and Searchles.com . And of course, I use my own start-up social bookmarking website just for Canadians, Zoomit Canada (I can?t resist slipping in a plug for that). I massively underuse YouTube and Flickr and MySpace and many others because I just don?t have the time.

One specific tool I really like is TwitterBerry. I?ve never liked to waste a moment, and this allows me to better ?use? my time while my daughters are dancing (no WiFi there!) or even while waiting for the ladies to do their thing before stepping into a movie.

I also like the Facebook application for posting Tweets automatically to Facebook, which helps with certain time-management issues. I plan to add a similar function to Zoomit Canada sometime in the next few months.

I also like WordPress as a blogging platform. All my blogs and most of my clients? are in WordPress. It?s simple and SEO friendly, and is loaded with plugins.

I also have to mention the social bookmarking script my brother and I created, called TheBookMarketer, which I use on all my blogs to make them easy for people to social bookmark.

And let?s not forget Wikipedia and LinkedIn and MyBlogLog, as well as probably a couple dozen forums that I also massively underuse (still waiting for that 48-hour day!).

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

The main obvious future of social media is that it will become more ubiquitous. For example, someone planning major renovations to their home in Chicago will expect the architect to place the plans where they can be easily seen and annotated by the in-laws in Davenport and the best friend who?s moved to Akron.

I also predict that Twitter in particular will reduce waiting times on hold listening to muzak and ?Your call is important to us, please wait another 562 hours for an agent? messages. That?s because while on hold, there is very little a person can do except to tweet about how long they have been on hold with the company. And all the followers tweet back in sympathy. Customer relations will be revolutionized in ways we have not yet dreamed of.

Because I see search engine algorithms increasingly following people?s actions, I expect social media to play an increasing role in SEO, so I see it becoming a bigger part of my work. I already have short term plans for specific clients, but it remains a steep, steep challenge to get them interested in social media when ?rankings? are so much easier to measure and there is so much more work (cost) involved in a proper social media campaign.

Longer term, I see a time when a plugin is not something you place in a WordPress directory, but rather something you place under your skin. No more hand-held devices, because we will be constantly connected, shifting our attention between communities and between individuals.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

No. Most businesses are not monitoring their reputations, and wouldn?t know if they are being dissed until it?s a wildfire out of control. The ?Motrin Moms? episode is a prime example of this, but there are thousands of companies losing business because people are blogging and tweeting about their bad experiences. I said my main reason for using social media is to keep my ear to the ground. Social media is for communicating, and the biggest part of communication is to listen.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

The people. They are the best when they share and when they connect. I find it charges me with energy. They are the worst when they just promote. I have no problem with promotion, but give me something useful with the pitch.

You can find more ?Discussing Social Media with?? interviews here.

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