State of Social Media Monitoring Survey

Once in a while, my organization CEPSM.ca conducts research geared at public sector and non-profit marketing/communications professionals. The research is meant to benefit the entire community as it addresses knowledge gaps in the industry. A few weeks ago, CEPSM partnered up with Environics Research Group to launch the “State of Social Media Monitoring in the Public and Non-Profit Sectors Survey“. If you haven’t yet responded, please do so asap. The survey takes less than 3 minutes to fill out.

The need to disconnect, visualized.

The second I saw this, I knew I had to post this up. Thank you to my colleague Benedict Chia Bing Howe in Singapore for sharing this wonderful Thai ad. So what is it? A powerful advertisement depicting the growing trend of people letting technology manage their lives rather than the other way around. Those of you that know me or have heard me speak know that I always like to emphasize how important the human element is in the world of social media compared to technology. If you let the latter dictate, you will lose out on life all around you. Instead, people need to realize that the social tech tools all around them are best used as enablers and augmenters of new and existing relationships, not replacements. If this ad interests you, I suggest you read “Hamlet’s Blackberry” by William Powers, my favourite book of 2010.

It’s only a matter of time before we start seeing initiatives like this here in Canada…

BC “Apps for Climate Change” contest needs your vote!

I love open data initiatives; Especially when they are Canadian (my home turf). I wrote about the premise behind the Apps for Climate Change contest back in April, and now that we have submissions, I want to remind you to vote. The total number of submissions that met all requirements is 16, a huge success in my opinion given the infancy of apps contests in Canada. You can see demos and vote for your favourite apps here.