Facebook ups the ante on organ donor awareness

A couple of days ago, Facebook gave its base of 950 million users the ability to indicate that they are an organ donor. This, by itself could be fairly unremarkable, like many of the other features of the social network. What sets this apart then? The built-in ability for people to easily register as an official organ donor. Working with Donate Life, they provide a link to Donate Life’s Facebook app to select your region and then go out to Donate Life’s website and actually register. As the recipient of a liver transplant, this is big news, and I am grateful for anything that companies and people do to save a life – especially on the magnitude that Facebook just took on.

Unlike most of the silly “post this ….” awareness wall spam that circulate endlessly, this will actually do some good. Even If the national increase in donors is one half of one percent, that is still a job well done and lives will be saved. In fact, some 100,000 Facebookians signed up on the site on Tuesday alone, and according to David Fleming, chief executive of Donate Life America, this “dwarfs any past organ donation initiative.”

This simple thing that Mark and his crew have done raises awareness for the need for organ donors. In an interview Zuckerberg said he thought of it when his friend Steve jobs had his liver transplant.  What’s really commendable here is that he could have done any number of things.  Zuck’s a rich dude, he could have donated money and registered himself and been done with it. Nope. He decided to out the idea in front of the worlds largest online community and take steps to turn a website, in this instance Facebook, from one of the worlds largest time sucks into a platform to help people.

This doesn’t make Facebook a system of record for people to be listed as a viable donor, you will still have to actually register and not pull a classic jersey shore move by only wearing the wrist band, but it’s about raising awareness – and he certainly did that.

Good on you Mark….

Veteran’s Day

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original intent for the day was for everyone in America to take time and celebrate the end of the war, individuals and business alike starting at 11:00 am. As things do, they shift focus; become more or less important to different generations as the memory of things wax and wane. This is one of those things. We reserve our parades for Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July – you know, the big ones.

To me, today is a day of consideration, a day to reflect on the sacrifices made by everyone in the military, and their families. It’s more than that though. I am reminded of just how fickle our country is in how they honor and remember their own military. How support ebbs and flows like the tide, and how easy it is to point fingers and forget the cost of being in service for your country. Honestly, I think we have today backwards.

Veteran’s Day should be a day for our military to give thanks back to the people who have supported them without reservation over the years. We should be saying thank you for covering our six when we were off doing what needed to be done. That’s not the case; but it should be.

As a Marine I say thank you. Thank you to all of my brothers and sisters serving now, those who put themselves in harms way, and those who support these units. Thank you to those who are not in service, yet support the military, both abroad and at home.

Happy Veteran’s Day – now, go hug a Vet!

source – Veteran’s Day History

The end starts tomorrow……

Tomorrow I start the last leg of my journey home to Portland from the miserable armpit that is Bradford, PA. Okay, well maybe that’s a little harsh, but seriously – I’m happy as hell to be leaving that town for the final and last time in the next few weeks with all my stuff, and wife in tow. Literally.

For those who are interested, you can see our journey unfold via Twitter and Bing, on this page I created to geolocate my latest tweets as well are hurtling down the interstate in a 26′ truck towing a Volvo V70.

Follow my trek with Twitter and Bing Maps.

Big brands go mobile – even if they don’t know why

The list of brands out there with an app has a lot of girth to it, and is growing faster than a snotty little girl who just ate the 3 course dinner piece of gum. Unfortunately, not all of them are doing something unique, usable, or even all that interesting, and ends up being another case of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” The most successful apps serve a purpose, fill a void, are radically different than anything else (Flipboard), or are successfully aimed at the community (Alien Blue)in which it was meant to serve. It’s a simple formula to imagine, but it’s incredibly difficult to hit center-mass, and most miss even the most carefully placed dog-targets.

It’s easy to look at huge numbers and say these are the brands that uncorked a whopper, I mean just take a gander at some of these numbers (which are likely out of date):

• Barclaycard - Waterslide - 9,800,000
• Zippo – Virtual Lighter - 6,000,000
• eBay - Marketplace - 4,600,000
• Audi - A4 Driving Challenge  - 3,500,000
• Bank of America - Mobile Banking - 3,000,000
• Coca Cola - Spin the Bottle - 870,000
• IBM/Amex - U.S. Open - 450,000
• Stanley Works - Level - 400,000
• North Face - Snow Report - 300,000
• vitaminwater - Sound Lab - 250,000
• Zipcar - Zipcar App - 170,000

At first glance you would say these guys all got it right, but you have to look a little deeper, and relate those numbers to the size of the user base, and the size of that Brands community. Naturally those companies with huge communities and ubiquitous brand recognition are going to have massive downloads. How else can you explain all of the downloads Coke, Spin the Bottle has received? That app is only slightly better than the iGlow stick app.

Now look at the Kmart and Sears apps, which are nothing more than another way to shop on your iPhone. What value does an app that all but replicates the shopping experience in Safari add to that brands community? Not much, and their 2.5 star rating reflects that.

So who has gotten it right? Zippo is an easy target for a brand that hit the mark. They have more than 6 million downloads on an app that basically does nothing, and provides no real value other than entertainment novelty. I know that sounds like a slam, but it doesn’t really have to be. It was something that fit perfectly into their community, and what a lot of people were looking for as a fun way to show their attachment to the iconic pocket lighter. Gap is another example with their 1969 Stream iPad app. It’s a well designed, well functioning advertising piece that is just fun to look at and flip through, and has a companion website; or the app is the companion to the website – either way, good jaeerb guys!

There are tons more, too many to list in fact, and a lot of them are really well designed and developed, and a lot of them are junk; but that’s okay. Even the failures are doing their job, and hopefully the brands are learning from them and working on doing a better job for the next rev. See, that’s the key here.

Everyone wants to be the next Angry Birds, or Victoria Secret Pink, but what they lose sight of is that they really need to just be themselves, and be true to the personality of their brand. Getting caught up in being the next “big thing” is only going to get you so far. Failure is always an option.

So what am I saying here? I’m saying do your homework, and eat your veggies. Do the research. Spend some money, and build something your kids would want to use. Find a void and fill it with your app. Do something ridiculous and borderline crazy just to see what happens. But know why you’re doing it, and it can’t be because your competitors are. If that’s the only reason, then you might as well just follow the rest of the Lemmings……

Film is fun again with the Sprocket Rocket

Several months ago I received an email from Lomo going on about this mysterious new camera they were coming out with soon, and being the consummate consumer and photo geek that I am, I decided to take the bait. After a few days of waiting, the official announcement was made about the Lomo Sprocket Rocket – and I was instantly intrigued. Although it would be more than a little while before the camera graced my collection, it has since become an instant favorite.

One of the draws of the camera is that it is dead-simple to use. With two shutter settings, N (1/100) and B (bulb), and two exposure settings, Cloudy (f/10.8) and Sunny (f/16); the Sprocket Rocket is a joy to use in a world of a bajillion settings, dial, buttons and beeps. You can also choose to use the standard insert, if for some strange reason you don’t want to expose over the sprocket holes in the film. Mine is still in the box, having never been used.

After only a couple of rolls of film, this thing has become a standard participant in my photographic outings, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Did I mention that it’s dead-simple to use? Oh, right, sorry. But it is. I have lots of cameras, and several lenses, and the Sprocket Rocket is just plain fun. I have the Lens Baby Composer for my Nikon digital, and it produces great results, but it’s fussy, and consequently I bring it along more than I actually use it, whereas I’ve used the Sprocket Rocket every time I have taken it with me.

But it’s a toy camera you say, and yes, you’re right. It is. But since when does photography have to be serious? Damn-it Jim, I’m a photographer, not a Banker!

The images produced are a lovely mix of sharp and soft, and gloriously wide. Its 30mm lens sports a 170 degree field of view and shoots a 72mm x 33m image without the insert. The only downside is that I don’t have my scanner setup right now, so the scans I get from the local photo shop only gives me the standard film size of 72mm x 24mm without the sprocket holes. The shutter speeds are fast enough that I don’t have to drop it on a tripod, and I can just shoot pictures while I’m doing other things with my other cameras.

What else can I say, I love it, and I know you will too. Go now, make yourself happy, make Lomo happy, and get a Sprocket Rocket – you won’t regret it. Scouts honor.