June 18, 2010

Mr. Barton,
I am appalled by your apology to BP yesterday, saying that they have been fleeced and shook down. You said you didn’t want to live in a country “where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown.”

That’s atrocious. You don’t want to hold people and corporations accountable? You aren’t the least bit worried about your Texas constituency (and those in neighboring states) whose lives have been affected by the oil spill of a company without a plan for the worst case scenario? You don’t want to pin them down and say “NEVER DO THIS TO MY COUNTRY AGAIN”?

Who do you love Mr. Barton? Your country or corporations? Too bad for you that corporations can’t vote. They can certainly line your pocket though. Enjoy your pricey oysters from France before you’re voted out and of no more use to the big people of the world.

Sincerely,
Eileen Lambert

Send Congressman Joe Barton your own email: http://joebarton.house.gov/ContactJoe.aspx?Type=Email

To create a vanity URL, or a short URL, for either your Facebook Profile Page or your Facebook Page (or a business or organization), go to:

http://www.facebook.com/username.

You can set your Profile Page URL at that link. To set your Facebook Page URL, click “Set a username for your Pages.” This will list all the pages in which you are the admin.

There are a couple limitations:

• Your Facebook Page must have at least 25 fans. Your eligibility happens immediately when you hit 25 fans, so encourage people to recommend the page to friends to get you to your 25 fans.
• Your URL can only have letters and periods. No hyphens or other symbols.
• Once you set your short URL, it cannot be changed. So be sure it’s correct and what you want.

Just like domains on the internet, the good names are getting taken quickly. So go get one.

Question: Am I right in that people become a friend to my personal page and a fan of The Walk Page and a member of the Walk To Washington Cause?

Answer: Yes.

• They “friend” you and it may or may not have anything to do with the Walk nonprofit you’re associated with. It could be old high school friends that have nothing to do with the Walk.
• They “Fan” the Facebook “Walk for Depression” page, and then they see anything you post on the page in their news feed when they check in on Facebook.
• They “Join” a Cause and can donate here, but the cause has a lot fewer options. Posts on a cause do not go into the news feed. You can email announcements through the cause, but I find that very interruptive. People on Facebook don’t want to be emailed, in my opinion.

So in the end, interlinking each is ideal. You really want people to “Fan” the page first and foremost in my opinion. Have them join the cause if they want to donate. Then periodically ask “Fans” on Facebook to “suggest the page to friends” so that you gradually grow your list of fans and gain a viral following. Then when you do a donation appeal, that’s a good time to point them to the Cause, but if you’re not asking for money, I find the Cause page somewhat unnecessary — meaning, if you’re sharing info and not asking for money in a particular post, put it on your Facebook page first. Then when/if you have time, add it to your Cause page, but I really think it’s second in priority.

So if you’re one of the people who can’t seem to make it work, here’s the how-to that so far seems to work — until the next Facebook update of course! (I have heard a rumor that the Boxes tab is going away, and that’ll certainly affect things, so do this now before they change things again!)

I correlate the steps below with screenshots at the bottom of this entry.

To feature a Facebook Cause on your Facebook Page:

1. You need to be the admin for your Facebook page.
2. It appears that you need to use Internet Explorer to do this. In Firefox, the blue pencil doesn’t appear when necessary for step #9 below. (Get on the ball Facebook and Causes, Firefox has surpassed Internet Explorer in popularity!)
3. Click “Edit Page” under your Facebook Page profile photo.
4. Scroll to the bottom where it says “More Applications – Applications you may find useful” and click the link for Causes.
5. If Causes isn’t listed, then click “Browse more” and then you can get to Causes that way. Then top left, click “Add to my Page.” Choose your Page.
6. Now the Causes Application will be listed when you click “Edit Page.”
7. Scroll down to Causes under the Applications heading. Choose “Application Setting.” Where is says “Boxes” (if it says available) click ADD.
8. On the Causes Application box, click “Edit.” Type in the name of your cause in the search box, find it, and then “Join Cause.” It will place the Causes box in your “Boxes” tab.
9. Go to the Boxes tab in your page profile.
10. In the Causes Box, click the pencil to “move to Wall”.

Let me know if this does/doesn’t work for you.

Screenshots:

I met a family this week with a mother, father, grandparents and a 16 year old son. Until one month ago, this family didn’t have a toilet. The government sold the family a squatting plate (imagine a port-o-potty toilet seat that you squat on) but didn’t give them any resources or education to dig a proper pit, built a shelter, or provide handwashing. So the family set the squatting plate by the lake without a hole and did their business there. Feces went directly into the same water that other neighbors used for dish cleaning. No problem right?

A month ago it was determined that the grandparents no longer had the ability to walk to the pond several times a day and instead they were openly defecating by their home. So the parents got in touch with Water For People and our partner Rural Aid and requested a loan for $50 to build one of the first 17 latrines in the village of 256 families. The family now reports health benefits associated with their very clean latrine. Not to mention they are the talk of the village.

This is one example of the 2.5 billion people without a toilet.

Photo by Nancy Haws.

Tomorrow I begin the 24 hour flight to India, starting in Kolkata with others from Water For People. We’ll travel to Sagar Island to see water projects and the real impact the organization and its supporters have on the communities. Can’t wait! Then next Thursday I’ll go t see an arsenic program. Arsenic is heavily concentrated in the water in many parts of India, but people don’t often recognize the effects until many years later. But the organization is helping to make the water safe and educate the communities about the problems that arsenic-ridden water will bring in the future.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/10/water-crisis-lack-of-prop_n_125438.html

Please help Water For People spread the message by “Digg”ing this video. Click on the this image:  And/Or post it to your Facebook page:

More details

The lack of adequate sanitation facilities affects 2.5 billion people throughout the world. This global crisis greatly contributes to disease and death in developing countries, as well as economic development challenges and low school retention among girls. It’s a topic that many consider taboo, but it is being brought to the surface by ITT during its three-part video series, “Tap into ITT Watermark.” The series was created to educate viewers on ITT’s philanthropy program ITT Watermark and the issues it was designed to address.

The second event of the series, focused on sanitation, was filmed Sept. 9, 2008 during the World Water Congress hosted by the International Water Association in Vienna, Austria, where 3,000 water professionals gathered to advance a common goal of a sustainable future for water. Panelists included Steve Loranger, CEO, ITT Corp.; Ned Breslin, director of international programs, Water For People; and Dr. Darren Saywell, development director, IWA.

We hope you’ll take some time over the next week to watch this important panel discussion on sanitation. You’ll hear more in-depth about the extent of the crisis, as well as how ITT and Water For People are coming together to address the issue. Breslin specifically addresses how ITT’s commitment will allow Water For People to extend its work in schools in India, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as the innovative strategies in place to dramatically increase sanitation in these areas.

The first part of the video series which introduces the philanthropic program is also available to watch on-demand. The third segment will be filmed in October during the water industry event, WEFTEC.

I would prioritize. Choose 3-5 to really focus on and create a following on those sites. Then take time once a week to look at other sites you’ve placed your organization and see if you can make quick updates or find one new site a week to join. Be sure to keep a running tally of where your organization is listed. Put one hour a week toward the non-high priority social media sites and move on. But you want to be out there, because you never know which site is the next Facebook or LinkedIn. At Water For People, we focus most of our energy on blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. But, as a non-profit which is always seeking supporters, we definitely want to be listed wherever we can. One fun thing that you can do is create a page on your own web site that compiles multiple social media site contributions into one, such as this page – it’s half-Twitter and half-blog: http://www.waterforpeople.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Follow_to_Uganda . It’s amazing what you can do by leveraging various social media site’s existing technology.

Thoughts on this topic from others in the social media expertise?

Here are more details of the video!

Around the world, 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities. Watch the video to hear about innovative solutions Water For People, along with its partners, are implementing in developing countries. You’ll also hear directly from staff in the field about the impact Water For People and its donors have on their countries’ residents.