10 Ways Geolocation is Changing the World
27 Jul 2010, posted by Chathri Munasinghe 2 CommentsThis post was written by Rob Reed. He is the founder of MomentFeed, a location-based marketing, strategy, and technology firm.
Location technologies are transforming how we experience, navigate, and ultimately better our world. From the global to the local, here are #10Ways geolocation is a positive force for good.
Social media has changed the world. It has revolutionized communications on a global scale, and the transformation continues with every status update, blog post, and video stream. The global citizenry has become a global network.
Since becoming widely adopted just a couple years ago, social media has supercharged social action, cause marketing, and social entrepreneurship. Indeed, the true value hasn’t been the technology itself but how we’ve used it. Today, a second wave of innovation is defining a new era and setting the stage for change over the coming decade.
Mobile technologies will extend the global online network to anyone with a mobile device while enabling countless local networks to form in the real world. We’ve decentralized media production and distribution. We’re doing the same for energy. And we’ll continue this trend for social networking, social action, and commerce.
The combined forces of smartphones, mobile broadband, and location-aware applications will connect us in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information, and companies that matter most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are #10Ways:
1. Checking in for Good: If Gowalla and Foursquare have taught us anything, it’s that people respond to simple incentives. By offering badges, mayorships, and other intangible rewards, millions of people are checking in to the places they go. Apps like Whrrl take this a step further and enable like-minded “societies” to form on a local basis. The next step is for these apps to add greater purpose by encouraging more meaningful checkins and offering corresponding badges and stamps, thus mapping the cause universe. Or for a dedicated app to be developed that rewards conscious consumption, social responsibility, and civic engagement. Yes, the CauseWorld app features a cause element, but it’s not about cause-worthy places. (more…)
Crude Awakening: Viral Video Uses Bad Word for Good Cause, Drops F-Bomb on Gulf Oil Spill
22 Jul 2010, posted by Amanda Crater 6 Comments
A controversial viral video featuring an F-word-filled tirade against the Gulf oil spill from the mouths of 4-year-olds to grandmothers is raising both eyebrows and funds this week as it gains momentum in a bold campaign to raise money for Gulf wildlife rescue and environmental charities.
The no-holds-barred video features a cross section of people wearing a black T-shirt that reads “UNF–K THE GULF” and unleashing on BP, the federal government and the whole mess in a way that millions of people wish our leaders would.
Sick of yelling at the TV in frustration over the Gulf spill, environmental activists Luke Montgomery and Nate Guidas produced the video as a way to channel their “f–king righteous anger with all that is going on and not going on in the Gulf into something positive.” They put out a casting call on Craigslist for people upset over the oil spill, cast the best in the video, and created the website www.UnF–kTheGulf.com.
“It’s both therapeutic and funny to see people go off in an F-bomb-laced tirade about the spill,” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of anger out there and people need to vent about the destruction but we also need to have a laugh at the expense of those responsible.”
The “UnF–kTheGulf” video has received more than 20,000 views in one week and raised more than $5,000 in funds through T-shirt sales, exceeding organizers’ expectations and rapidly circulating on social media. This unconventional charity fundraising campaign allows the public vote on how the funds are spent. For each $13 shirt, $5 is donated directly to four Gulf wildlife rescue and environmental charities.
Montgomery and Guidas report receiving hundreds of positive email responses, several complaints, and dozens of requests for uncensored versions of the T-shirt.
In response to the controversy of using such raw language, Montgomery said it is a calculated tactic to get noticed and thereby raise more funds to assist in the Gulf recovery. The organization did recently tame their Twitter name to a censored version, however, to encourage more people to share.
The Gulf oil spill is being called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
“This is a heinous crime against the environment, people’s livelihood and the ecosystem’s ability to support life,” Montgomery said. “People realize that the really offensive thing is the oil spill, not the word.”
UnF–kTheGulf will soon launch a week-long Facebook and Twitter “F-Bomb-a-Thon” campaign of status updates geared toward building buzz and raising at least $25,000 for the cause. The F-Bomb-a-Thon will run from July 26-August 1.
BP ‘Kill Shot’ coverage
26 May 2010, posted by Chathri Munasinghe 0 CommentsBP reports (via Twitter) that it has started the “kill shot” operation, the desperate attempt to cap the oil well on the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. Watch the live feed here.