Many organizations are struggling with the gap between social media hype versus concrete results and return on investment. This session explores the way digital native organizations like Mozilla (makers of the popular open source Firefox web browser) are using smart collaborative tools and an “open everything” approach to optimize day-to-day work, bring in volunteer contributors, and advance their overall mission. If 2008 was all about going “viral” -- using the web to try and reach large numbers of people with relatively superficial engagement -- 2010 may be all about the opposite: using the right open web tools and best practices to empower smaller numbers of people to work smarter, increase impact, and get things done. Attendees Will Walk Away With: • A sense of where the web and social media are headed • Best practices around “open web” tools and methods • Ideas on increasing volunteer and community contribution inside and outside your organization Matt Thompson - Web Lead, Mozilla Drumbeat, Mozilla Foundation Matt is an open Internet evangelist and online campaign strategist. He recently joined the Mozilla Foundation as the web lead for Mozilla Drumbeat, a new effort to support projects and people that protect the open web and invent the Internet’s future. Before joining Mozilla, Matt worked as an online campaign strategist and guest speaker for organizations like Free Press, Greenpeace Canada and the London School of Economics.

1. The
Power
of
“Open”:
Using
the
Open
Web
and
Social
Media
to
Get
Things
Done
June
8,
2010
Ma-
Thompson
-­‐
Web
Lead,
Mozilla
Drumbeat
Mozilla
Founda@on

2. the power of “open”
using the web and social
media to get things done

3. empowering your supporters
optimizing day-to-day work
getting beyond social media

6. Who’s here?

7. George Brown School of Design
Integra Foundation
Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line
Canadian Music Centre
Int'l Dyslexia Association - Ontario Branch
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
YWCA Toronto
Les Amputés de guerre
Carruthers Creek Community Church
Bay St Lawrence Community Centre
House of Friendship
Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement
Saint Elizabeth Health Care Foundation
Small Change Fund
Splatsin Tsm7aksaltn (Splatsin Teaching Center) Society
French for the Future
Broadview Community Youth Group

8. Women in Film & Television - Toronto
Canadian Centre for Diversity
Camp Quality Canada
The Fraser-Hickson Institute
Santropol Roulant
Kapisanan
Toronto Summer Music Foundation
Canadian Cancer Society
The Children's Book Bank
Canadian Music Centre
Food For The Poor
Professional Association of Canadian Theatres
Alzheimer Society of Perth County
Harbourfront Community Centre
Huronia Pregnancy Resource Centre
Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough
Project Ploughshares
Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada

9. Boost Child Abuse Prevention & Intervention
Athletes for Africa
Catholic Missions In Canada
Wildlife Preservation Canada
Ryerson University
Journalists for Human Rights
Edmonton Dream Centre of Alberta
Canadian Cancer Society
SMARTRISK
Save a Family Plan
Workman Arts
Turning Point Youth Services
SickKids Foundation
Starlight Children's Foundation Canada
HRSDC-RHDCC University Settlement
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
John Howard Society of Ontario

10. The Meeting House
Girls on the Run GTA
St. John Ambulance
Art of Time Ensemble
The Arthritis Society
Quality Health Network
AMREF Canada
Conservatory Canada
Imagine Canada
Quality Healthcare Network
Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd.
Fauna Foundation
The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre
Childcan
Sheena's Place
Thames Valley Children’s Centre
Habitat for Humanity - Huronia, Inc.

11. What’s working?
What’s not working?
What do we hope to learn?

12. What’s not working?

14. Many projects fail.

15. 2010 vs. 2008

16. we’re going to
“grow a HUGE list!”
let’s go “viral!”
social media is
revolutionizing

17. you want me to sign
another petition?
another email
fundraising pitch?
your dog has a Twitter
account?

19. overflowing in-boxes
information overload
compassion fatigue

20. “Why should we bother
--
we never get return on
investment anyway.”

21. How’s it going?
1 10
TOTALLY AMAZING!!!
SUCKS

22. What’s missing?

23. Content is no longer king.

24. Meaningful engagement
& participation is.

25. This is hard.

26. Many of us are fishing in
the wrong spot.

28. Your sphere of influence
you

29. 2008

30. blah
blah CONTENT blah
ah blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blahblah blah blah
blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah
blah blah
blah blah
blah blah bla
blah blah
blah blah
blah blah
blah

31. RESULTS

32. 2010

33. How can an average
scmuck like me use the
web to reach huge
numbers of people?

34. How can we
“grow a big list?”

35. “Think small.”

36. How do we use smart
collaboration to increase
the impact of SMALL
numbers of passionate
people?

37. Inside and outside the
organization?

38. How do we break down
the walls between us
and our community of
supporters?

39. “mavens” “cream of the crop”
activists
community
volunteers
members
partners
donors
community your org’s
members “family”

40. OPEN

41. OPEN
COLLABORATION

42. Working in the
OPEN

43. OPEN
W O R L D

44. OPEN
WEB TOOLS

45. what do we mean
by “open?”

48. 20% of the world’s
browser market
300 million users

49. The world’s first
“open source”
automobile

50. how’d they do it?
• Crowdsourced design

51. how’d they do it?
• Crowdsourced design
• Open source, Creative Commons parts
• Local, do-it-yourself assembly
• Community members
remix and improve
• 10 full-time employees --
but 5,000 volunteer contributors

53. So what?
What does this have to do
with the web & social media
for non-profits?

54. They’re making cars
the way Mozilla
makes software

55. How’d Mozilla do it?
• Crowdsourced design
• Open source components
• Global community of raving fan advocates
• Volunteer contributors constantly remix and
improve
• 275 full-time employees -- but 20,000
community contributors

59. 10 full-time employees --
but 5,000 volunteer contributors
275 full-time employees --
Tiny staff --

60. 10 full-time employees --
but 5,000 volunteer contributors
hanger.
275 full-time employees --
me-c
This is a ga
Tiny staff --

61. How does Mozilla
do it?

62. How is your
organization doing it?

63. 1) Design Challenges

66. Less than 30% of
automotive designers
find jobs

68. 2) “Open Project Management”

69. 2) “Open Project Management”

71. 3) Open Community Calls

73. 4) “Wiki Everything”

74. •Work & draft in the
open
•Iterate early & often
•Leverage the power

75. 4) Make Our Community the Stars

76. Reflect the
community
back to
themselves

77. Their content is more
interesting than ours

79. Aggregate community voice
vs. “voice of God” blog

80. Community
photos make
campaigns and
projects feel
more real.

81. "As the mother of a hard of hearing
daughter I think this is an amazing
undertaking. I have a little bit of
programming skills, and a whole lot
of internet skills. Let me know what
I can do to help!"
--Cari L.

82. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• It’s not about the technology

83. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Show people what you’re
working on, and they’ll find
unexpected ways to help

84. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Working in the open
reduces transaction cost --
inside the organization and out

85. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Community participation
works when it’s carved into
small, modular pieces

86. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• 1 star community
contributor is worth
100 casual supporters

87. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Your mavens are often misfits*
• Their reasons for contributing
are unique & diverse
*BTW: We’re ALL misfits

88. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Your community is your most
valuable resource...
• So constantly show them off!

89. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Find creative ways to surface
the community conversation --
not your own monologue

90. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• This is hard work.

91. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• At first, working in the open
can be scary.
But then it’s kinda liberating!

93. ?

94. How are you empowering
your supporters?
How are you encouraging
open innovation &
collaboration?

95. CHALLENGES
& PITFALLS

96. “The 5 dumb mistakes
smart organizations
make”

97. 1) “500 pounds VS.
5 ball bearings”

100. “We should probably lock this
spreadsheet down, doesn’t
seem right to have our strategic
plans on public display.”

101. I L
F A
•Needless transaction cost
•Imaginary cost / risk
•Refuse help from community

102. 1) “500 pounds VS. 5 ball bearings”
• Most organizations
overestimate the cost
of social media risks...
• ...and chronically
UNDERESTIMATE
the benefits
• Committees love coming up
with nit-picky risks
• Where the real risk is LOW,
don’t be afraid to innovate!
• Don’t forget the cost
being IGNORED!

103. 2) “The bastard step-child”

104. 2) “The bastard step-child”
• Touched by many --
owned by none
• Cut the cord with the IT nerds
• Transitioning from
“webmaster” to true
“Internet Director”
• From “committees of people
with opinions” to results-
based management

105. ?

106. 3) “Flying blind”

107. 3) “Flying blind”
• The web without metrics =
a snowstorm with no
instrument panel
• Results-based management is
the holy grail
• From “opinions & hunches” to
“test & measure”
• Measure business value --
not minutiae
• Pick 3 - 5 key business
metrics. Put your Internet
Director on the hook.
• Consider hiring a pro to do an
audit

108. 4) “The Bad Consultant”

109. 4) “The Bad Consultant”
• The world is full of well-
intentioned but badly
managed development shops
• The industry’s dirty secret:
success = higher prices for
crappier work
• Don’t let your vendor’s lousy
business model become your
problem
• Don’t ask “what’s possible?”
Ask “what have you done?”
• If you hear: “Drupal makes it
easy!” or “there’s a module for
that” -- be afraid.

110. 5) “Boil the Ocean”
• Be agile. Divide work into
short 1 - 2 week sprints with
immediate results
• Avoid “re-designs”
• Use metrics to guide you &
identify low-hanging fruit
• Prioritize “social hacks” and
content tweaks over
development changes
• Prototype & test.
Release early & often
• When in doubt, start with
WordPress

112. “If the past 10 years
have been about
discovering post-
institutional social
models on the Web, then
the next 10 years will be
about applying them to
the real world.”
--Chris Anderson, Wired

114. •open web
•open institutions
•open everything

115. “update the
operating system
for the planet”

116. better web.
better world.
•transparency
•participation
•shared control
•innovation