Please blog this reading here @ our course blog by Wednesday, March 20th's class.
No exceptions without Dr. W's consent.
Read THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT, Forward, Preface, Introduction and "the Dragonfly Body."
Blog THREE specific observations you wish to share for both the INTRODUCTION and the DRAGONFLY BODY sections. Aim for 3-4 sentences for EACH observation, combining author's quoted text with your own analysis and experience.
Finally, pose A SINGLE QUESTION you would like to ask the class and Dr. W, once you finish and blog the entire reading.
Be prepared to share this blog post in class with our PComm posse.
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragonfly Effect is the way people discover they can make an impact not dependent on their resources. "It also demonstrates that small actions can create big movements." (pg xiii) The dragonfly is the epitome of how integrated effort makes a difference.
2. To be successful at promoting a goal you must say it in a way that people want to repeat. This generates participation and "contagious energy," getting others excited about your goal. By cultivating "stickiness," you ensure your goal is not lost to "Internet oblivion."
3. The ripple effect is a small action that has a big impact. "When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning, a multiplier effect can occur." (pg xvii) This causes others to feel the same emotion as you, which causes stronger mobilization towards your goal.
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragonfly Effect includes four steps: 1. Focus 2. Grab Attention 3. Engage 4. Take Action. Just like "a dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony." (pg 9) ; When these techniques are used together they produce optimum results.
2. To determine whether a campaign has gained attention or "gone viral" on the web you have to look for the "social media tipping points." Ask if your idea made it onto the sites Digg, Youtube or Twitter. If yes, then you've reached a tipping point to a chain reaction.
3. In order to get people to take action you must make the task easy. "By demonstrating that you value their time and by making efficient use of their contributions--perhaps by precisely matching tasks to their particular interest or skill set--you can simultaneously boost their effectiveness while giving them a greater sense of accomplishment. This increases the likelihood that they will continue to participate." (pg 124) This relates to the 5th guy campaign that I have been working on because their main point is to just wash your hands (simple) and it will make a big difference.
Question: What are some ways people can create a sense of mindfulness rather than just focusing on being happy? How do you change your thinking from one to the other?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. “Promoting a personal goal is inherently social” (xiv). To be successful in promoting your passion you have to turn it into a story that is both moving and motivational so that you audience carries your message with them long after they shut down their computer. “By doing this, you generate participation, networking, growth and ripple effects—forces that combine to form a movement that people feel they are apart of. Your personal goal becomes collective” (xiv).
2. A ripple effect is a small action that has a big impact over time and a significant impact on others. “When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning… a multiplier effect can occur. In such conditions, others around you feel the emotion that you’re feeling, and can therefore become more strongly mobilized. This phenomenon whereby emotions you feel infect others is called emotional contagion” (xvii).
3. Emotional contagion is an important concept because it emphasizes the importance of “cultivation social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning” (xix). As humans we derive actual happiness from “meaningful” activities like helping others, self-sacrifice, and self-improvement. We are “evolutionarily wired to be prosocial beings” (xxi).
Dragonfly Body
ReplyDelete1. To write an e-mail that motivates people to act and create change the e-mail must be “specific and action-oriented” (6). Make the e-mail personal by providing details about the cause you are trying to help—you want to give someone a reason to care. Make your e-mail informative by using it as a chance to educate your audience about the cause. And make the e-mail direct by asking your audience to help, telling them how they can help, and making it easy for them to help by providing the tools they need.
2. The Dragonfly model relies on four wings: focus, grab attention, engage, and take action.
-Focus: identify your goal
-Grab Attention: “cut through the noise of social media with something personal, unexpected, visceral, and visual” (9)
-Engage: “is about empowering the audience to care enough to want to do something themselves” (9)
-Take Action: “enable and empower others to take action” (9)
3. Team Sameer engaged deeply and authentically with others by telling his story honestly and vividly in videos and blog entries. By delivering his story in an authentic and vivid way it became personally moving and meaningful—even to strangers. “The team used targeted messaging to help audiences see themselves in Sameer. Some messages focused on Sameer’s South Asian background; others highlighted his youth, newlywed status, or his professional pursuits as a technological entrepreneur” (10).
Question
In cases like Charity: Water and Help Sameer the campaigns enjoyed an initial boost from a very large social network. How does one launch a campaign with a much smaller social network/are there alternatives?
Introduction
ReplyDeleteThree Specific Observations:
1. The Dragon Fly represents how much effort (no matter how big or small) is needed to create “big movements.” Excitement is key for promoting participation, networking, and growth. The four key skills that the Dragonfly Effect uses are “focus, grab attention, engage, and take action.” This all comes together to help reach the goal.
2. The “ripple effect” is also an important concept. “Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others and over time.” It is based on the concept of one, small occurrence happening, and then setting off another chain of events, resulting in a bigger impact.
3. The application of concepts from “design thinking” is also important. “Design thinking takes a methodical approach to program and product development.” This helps with further developing and perfecting certain projects. It “encourages a human-centric orientation, hypotheses testing, and frequent, rapid prototyping.”
“The Dragonfly Body”
ReplyDeleteThree Specific Observations:
1. There are three important elements to remember while constructing an appropriate and successful email for inspiring action and change. These are the following: 1. Make it personal, 2. Make it informative, and 3. Make it direct. (pg 6)
2. “Through an integrated strategy that leveraged techono0lgy, passion, and persistence, as well as an understanding that they couldn’t succeed without the help of others, Team Sameer and Team Vinay together reached their goals…” (pg 15)
3. The Dragonfly Model is identified in the book as Focus + GET. This helps remember the key elements for the model. These are the following:
1. Focus. “Identify a single concrete and measurable goal.”
2. Grab Attention. “Cut through the noise of social media with something personal, unexpected, visceral, and visual.”
3. Engage. Connection is key.
4. Take Action.
Question: For a social marketing campaign, like those we are focusing on in class, what is the number one element to make sure is presented (if you had to pick just one of the “wings)? What should stand out the most?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. This idea that the Dragonfly effect “takes small actions and create big movements (xiii)” is so simple, yet so complex. Creating just one effective campaign message can change the entire outcome of a situation. For example: Team Sameer utilized the authenticity of email to reach thousands of people worldwide. The small act of sending an email created a big movement where 20,000+ people signed up to donate their bone marrow.
2. “Yet the power of social technology, when fully engaged, can be nothing short of revolutionary (xiv).” The simple act of sending an email, creating a Facebook page, Tweeting, etc. are ways to engage and inform the public about social marketing campaigns in a personal way. As humans, we are drawn to personal stories, which was clearly demonstrated through Team Sameer: the public felt such an intense connection with a stranger that his funeral was broadcasted on the web. By fully engaging in technology, social marketers can campaign to a much larger audience, bringing more attention and awareness to the public.
3. When social media is used properly, promoting a campaign becomes more effective. “…this book demonstrates that you don’t need money or power to cause seismic social change. With energy, focus, and a strong wireless signal, anything is possible (xxiii).” It is important we as students recognize this and utilize the media to its fullest potential. Many successful campaigns, such as Team Sameer reached such a large audience because of their effective use of social media. However, one thing to be wary of is misusing social media. If not used the right way, I imagine the campaign can fall as fast as it started.
The Dragonfly Body
1. After reading the Dragonfly Body, I was amazed to learn how effective writing an email can truly be. While I saw the effects of writing an email first hand from the YakItToMe Kickstarter, it was done on a much smaller scale. By Robert composing an email that was “personal, informative, and direct” (4) he was able to reach over 35,000 people in just 48 hours. Clearly, Email is a simple, easy, and effective way to spread a message to a large audience.
2.The idea of engaging with personal stories (9) is a very effective way to resonate with the audience. The best way to get people to really hear a story is to use real life events or photographs, similar to Team Sameer. Team Sameer went above and beyond attention grabbing by creating a blog that allowed the public to hear Sameer’s story personally. It gave the public an opportunity to connect with him on a personal level and it is likely that many people became donors due to the authenticity of the social marketing campaign.
3. “The technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives (16).” At the conclusion of this section, I cannot think of a better way to sum up the reading. It is clear from Sameer’s story that the power of technology is real, and if used properly will have the ability to truly change a person’s life. I look forward to utilizing all that technology has to offer with the continuation of our social marketing class, as well as in my future career as a marketer.
Question
What do you feel is the second most effective way to reach a large audience, being we have already discovered the power of email?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragonfly Effect combines the metaphor of a dragonfly's movement which "illuminates the importance of integrated effort", along with the reality of achieving goals. The comparison is simple, that "small actions can create big movements." What this introduction shows is that we need to take steps in order to reach a final goal, despite our limited resources.
2. Social media have become one of the main ways in which we live our lives. However, sometimes being bombarded we "glaze over and ignore many, if not most, of these pleas". It takes more than just sending a request. One must be actively aware of who they're sending their Facebook pages, YouTube videos, and e-mails to. However, when people are "fully engaged", the power of social technology can be "nothing short of revolutionary".
3. Happiness in a person's life may vary throughout different maturity stages. People who are the happiest are "those who have stopped chasing happiness and instead search for meaningfulness". This happens at a transition point in one's lifespan. Happiness does not come naturally, but when people seek it out. People in their mid to late thirties value money more than meaningfulness of life, but "after that, meaningfulness starts to outshine it in importance".
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1) Social media is a tool that any one can use and sometimes simple ideas can create significant change: "Tweeting isn't just sharing about what you ate for breakfast this morning; Facebook isn't just for poking friends. You can leverage these social technologies, strategically and integratively, toward a specific goal that deeply matters to you" (xxii).
2) The skills in The Dragonfly Effect are powerful and useful in a variety of fields, from volunteer work to for-profit companies. They also work at the individual level, and using the tools outlined in this book is not a difficult task when creating social change. "Ultimately, this book demonstrates that you don't need money or power to cause seismic social change. With energy, focus, and a strong wireless signal, anything is possible" (xxiii).
3) Happiness is not a singular concept and it is always changing from person to person. Because of this fact, happiness can be difficult to define but research has shown that eventually we will all be looking for "meaningfulness." "Happiness changes every three to five years throughout one's life. The meaning of happiness is not idiosyncratic, individualistic, or random--nor is it singular or stable" (xv).
Dragonfly Body:
1) Getting people mobilized for a cause is as simple as writing an email that is "personal, informative, and direct" (4). Even though Robert wrote an email to hundreds of people, the way it was written made the readers feel as though he were speaking to each of them individually. He also made it clear what was needed from them so that they would not feel intimidated by not knowing what to do.
2) Focus+GET is the way Team Sameer achieved an amazing feat, and it is not a complicated process. This mnemonic stands for Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action. Using these four concepts in harmony with each other will yield positive results. "A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony. Metaphorically, then, the central body of the dragonfly should embody the heart and soul of the concept or person you are aiming to help" (9).
3) Using the internet to share stories and information is an extremely powerful and simple way of connecting to the entire world. Team Sameer used this method in order to reach and mobilize more than 20,000 south Asians in a matter of weeks. "The idea that we could use technology to break down barriers and boundaries was very powerful. It was our way of connecting Sameer's friends and family from around the world to his memorial, which was a celebration of his life" (15).
Question: In parts of the world where technology is not as accessible as it is here, how can we reach those people using the methods outlined in The Dragonfly Effect?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. Especially found interest in the statement that “small actions can create big movements” pg. xiii. This statement seems so simple and straightforward, yet at the same time becomes complex and life changing as it is related to social marketing. The personal goal must become collective, involving everyone to create a movement that people then feel a part of.
2. The smallest of acts can create large change. The happiness we all chase after may in actuality be non-existent. Though at the same time happiness is contagious. (pg. xvii) Emotional Contagion talks of the people unconsciously becoming more and more similar to those whom they are frequently around; in behavior, appearance, attitude, etc.
3. Money and power are no longer a necessity to make change and be effective (pg xxii); looking forward this is an exciting concept that we are not used to. This shift has caused people to enjoy hearing and helping those whom they can relate to; oppose to someone with more power and money who may not fully understand their struggles.
Dragonfly Body
1. Though the e-mail about Sameer was a mass e-mail, it was also personalized and told an engaging personal story. E-mail’s can be powerful when used properly, however experience has taught us that people’s e-mails often times get overloaded and they delete them before reading them and they aren’t effective. Focus + GET helped to create awareness and save lives in this story (8).
2. The four wings of a butterfly make up the Focus + GET mnemonic. (9) Focus; identify a single and measureable goal in the campaign. Grab; make people look you must cut through the noise of social media. Engage; in Sameer’s case the personal story and emotional story engaged the readers. Take Action; make the action easy, empower the buyer/reader/listener to help. *The four wings working together is what brought about the results.
3. Do not ask for help; require it (17). Social marketing needs to be a call to action oppose to a plea for help. Being focused on your goal and properly empowering the target audience will help the message come across as a must oppose to an option.
Question: E-mails often times get looked over or deleted; even worse sent directly to a SPAM box. How do we prevent this in such a mass e-mail?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragonfly Effect teaches the reader to use four key skills focus, grabbing attention, engage and take action to reach a broad audience of people. By generating ripple effects through these skills people feel compelled to join the movement. This is where, “your personal goal then becomes collective” (p.xiv).
2. Emotional contagion is an important phenomenon to consider. It states that your emotions can infect others. “A leader’s emotional state can impact the rapport, morale, and even performance of a team or organization”(p xvii).
3. The introduction discusses the role of happiness in relation to successful initiatives. For happiness and self worth to be fulfilled, there are three human needs that must be met: “competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others)” (p.xx)
The Dragonfly Body
1. Team Sameer’s initial method of contact was by utilizing email, “detailing their challenges and ending with a clear call to action” (p.4). This was something that Dr. W. found effective in the Yak it to me campaign. A direct personal email was an excellent tool for gaining support.
2. This initiative used mixed media strategies that included blogs, videos, viral email, Facebook, TV, magazines, newspapers, and many others. Through theses various channels Team Sameer was able to grab the attention of their target audience using empathy. They used these various media outlets to make this cause personal to thousands on thousands of strangers.
3. The final skill that the Dragonfly Effect engages in is taking action. Team Sameer used a, “call to action [that] was abundantly clear on the website. An online calendar listened donor drives while the text on the welcome page nudged, ‘hey visitor, have you already registered?’” (p.12).
Question: With Yak it to me we saw the benefits of a personal email, what are other forms of communication that can have that same desired effect?
“To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy,” so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers.” Because like Hands On Social Marketing said, we see over 3,000 media messages a day, so you have to think outside the box in order to grab people’s attention and make them care about what you have to say. You have to cultivate “stickiness so that your goal is not relegated to Internet oblivion, but instead reaches an audience of people who will help propel it forward.“
ReplyDelete“Emotional contagion can be physically manifested by someone’s tendency to unconsciously mimic and synchronize facial expressions, postures, and movements with those of another person and, consequently, for the people to converge emotionally.” “A leader’s emotional state can impact the rapport, morale, and even performance of a team or organization. In fact, something as innocuous as the emotional tonality of someone’s voice (happy versus sad) can affect how much listeners like a message.” Laughter really is scientifically contagious. “Happness can span up to two more degrees of separation, improving the mood of that person’s husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, and even friend’s friend.“
“(Type “social entrepreneurship” into Google, and the 15 million hits reveal that this concept has garnered significant attention.) The for profit and nonprofit worlds are merging, creating an opportunity for masses of people who drive more profits and create greater good.” I believe this is the best shot humanity has at saving itself.
Question: How is it possible to maintain that level of happiness as well as bring it out in others if your efforts keep failing? How do you get your team to keep on truckin’ when there doesn’t seem to be a very bright light at the end of the tunnel?
Introduction:
ReplyDeleteThe social media channels that we use daily can help create change/ do something that really matters. “The same technologies that enable us to “poke” our friend or “retweet” an interesting article are the ones that can connect and mobilize us to bring about change” (p xiv) Social media can be a much more powerful tool than something that is fun and a great connection to friends.
Through social media you must translate your thoughts into a powerful story that generates “contagious energy” and gets your audience to reflect on your message. “By doing this, you generate participation, networking, growth and ripple effects - forces that combine to form a movement that people feel they are a part of. Your personal goal then becomes collective.” (p xiv)
What we think will make us happy is not always the case. “Human beings are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their sense of self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others). To the extent that a personal or professional goal does not address these basic needs, the rewards of achieving that goal might be perceived as transient or lacking.” (p xx)
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDeleteRobert’s letter that he sent to get people to register was very effective. This was because it was personal, informative, and direct. Robert added many details, told them exactly what they needed to do, and gave them the tools and information to make it easy. (p 6) I feel that it was really important that it was so personal, it gave people something real to grasp on to.
The dragonfly effect involves four wings (skills) including focus, grab attention, engage, and take action. “When working together they achieve remarkable results.” (p 9) Focus: identify a single concrete and measurable goal, grab attention: make someone look, engage: create a personal connection, take action: enable and empower others to take action.
Sameer and Vinay both blogged throughout their process which created a human connection and served as a brand-building force for their teams. “Take advantage of authentic characteristics of your cause as they present themselves. Your audience will be drawn to people and personalities that they identify with or that complement them.” (p 11)
Question: Is there any way to know if something has the ability to go viral, or is it chance?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1.The goal of social campaigns is to create a dragonfly effect. “It also demonstrates that small actions can create big movements. To us, what we call the Dragonfly Effect is the elegance and efficacy of people who, through the passionate pursuit of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources (p. xiii).”
2.Helping change the world can be profitable. “Although most people still believe that creating meaning or greater good in the world doesn’t align with profit making, we have seen many people and organizations that have created a golden quadrant of “purposeful profit.” By aligning the work they love with a profit-oriented business model, they have evolved the organization into something that is much stronger, much more sustainable, and much more efficient at generating greater social good (p. xv)”
3.The for profit and non-profit sectors are coming together for the greater good. “One example is the for profit technology company salesforce.com and its innovative integrated philanthropic 1-1-1 model, a vehicle through which the company contributes 1 percent of profits, 1 percent of equity, and 1 percent of employee hours back to the communities it serves ( p. xix)” Companies are shifting from being purely money driven to helping better the areas they inhabit.
The Dragonfly Effect Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. “To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy” so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog, post, or email, long after they leave their computers.” (xiv) Once the contagious energy starts it creates the ripple effect because more and more people are participating by retweeting, blogging, forwarding emails, etc. and so it continues. The Dragonfly Effect provides you with the tools you need to produce results and “cultivate stickiness”. (xiv)
2. Creating a meaningful life is creating a purposeful life, a fulfilling life. Those who have found meaning in their life want to align work that will be profit-oriented. Gap’s Give & Get Program is a great example of creating a win/win program for customers, Gap and nonprofit partners receiving the donations. This was a campaign with purpose, meaning, it is fulfilling and there is profit. RiRa’s in downtown Burlington celebrated St. Patrick’s Day this past Sunday with hundreds of patrons who lined the street to get in. For every Switchback and Guinness sold $1 was donated to Camp Ta-Kum-Ta and they had a goal to raise several thousand dollars for the summer camp. Win/win!
3. “Emotional contagion ripples through social networks, and it’s important to understand how the contagion of positive emotions can lead others to help.” (xix) Creating a business that does good, feels good. A company that designs a philanthropic model where the company is giving back to its community through profits and employee hours creates emotional contagion. The employees are more fulfilled and the customers have a greater appreciation for the company.(xix)
The Dragonfly Effect Body:
1. Writing an email that inspires action is key to any successful campaign and this is exactly how Team Sameer and Team Vinay were able to raise awareness and create a ripple effect. By following these easy steps; make it personal, make it informative and make it direct your email will generate action by those who want to help and pass it on. In this particular case, without the use of this mechanism, this mass direct email, neither recipient would have received their bone marrow in the time they had, so they have this huge effort to thank for extending their lives as long as it did. Email does drive action, Dr. W was right! It worked for our kickstarter project as well.
2. The Dragonfly Model
Focus. Identify a single concrete and measurable goal.
Grab Attention. Make it noticeable, stand out
Engage. Let them in, show pictures, website, videos, tell stories
Take Action. Empower action, create a funnel to action, continuous email or blog on the story to keep them engaged
Use this model to create your email with goal in mind. You will design an email that is direct, grabs their attention, draws them in and empowers them to take action. Success!
3. Various social media techniques were used for this campaign, but email was the most successful. ‘They harnessed Web 2.0 social media platforms and services like Facebook, Google Apps, and YouTube to collectively campaign and hold bone marrow drives all over the country.” (6) Team Sameer mixed media by using blogs, video, widgets, as well as traditional media such as television, telemarketing and newspapers, among other things like building relationships with celebrities. (10) They were very successful at engaging their audience and getting them to take action since the campaign proved to be a success.
So we know how to come up with a great email, but how to we come up with the best subject line so they want to open the email? In so many cases I will delete an email because it looks like spam or the subject does not intrigue me to open it.
Introduction:
ReplyDelete“Most of us are inundated daily with articles, emails, videos, and blog posts. Invitations to participate in compelling social campaigns have become ubiquitous- from Avon’s Walk for Breast Cancer, to Pepsi’s Refresh campaign, to general appeals to help “save our planet.” Yet we glaze over and ignore many, if not most, of these pleas...Anyone who has ever created a Youtube video, written a blog, or tried to get someone to join a cause on Facebook knows that simply sending out a request doesn’t guarantee results.” (pg. xiii)
This quote intrigues me because it is very modern and makes a lot of day. Social networking is a lot like advertising. We see thousands of different messages a day, each one vying for our undivided attention, but we don’t actually pay attention. In a time where social media is so prevalent as a method of communication for fun, it is also as prevalent as a method of communicating ideas of social change.
“The same technologies that enable us to “poke” our friends or “retweet” an interesting article are the ones that can connect and mobilize us to bring about change. So, what differentiates those who are harnessing social media for something more powerful than fun or procrastination?” (pg. xiv)
This quote raises a valid question. How can we take a platform seriously as a way to change the world if all people use it most for is for something silly like “poking” someone, or spying on an ex? The main purpose of these platforms is to connect us to other people. So by using something that has given most of us, myself included, a viable scapegoat of procrastination, we can change that. We can use Facebook, twitter, etc. as a way to spread a message.
“Emotional contagion ripples through social networks, and it’s important to understand how the contagion of positive emotions can lead others to help.” (pg. xx)
This is a valuable message. Emotions drive who we are and what we do. But also what is interesting is that to me, modern technology seems to dehumanize us, and emotions are the most defining trait of a human being. So how can we bring emotions back into technology? One example of this is the Kony 2012 video campaign. How many teenagers watched that video and all of the sudden claimed to be humanitarians? Billions of views later, it had an impact, though not lasting. This is the power of emotions through social networking.
Body of the Dragonfly:
“We often tried to think of the traditional way to do something and considered what would happen if we do the exact opposite- reversing the rules.” says Robert “We weren’t wedded to a right way of moving ahead. We just moved ahead. And we empowered others to move ahead just as quickly.” (pg. 13)
This quote pretty much is the essence of how the Team Sameer campaign was so successful. They didn’t go out and push ideas on people, or ask for favors. They told them what they needed to do. By looking at what ideas hadn’t worked in the past and doing the opposite, they increased their chances of success.
“The idea that we could use technology to break down barriers and boundaries was very powerful. It was our way of connection Sameer’s friends and family from around the world to his memorial, which was a celebration of life.” (pg. 15)
Who would’ve though even ten years ago that a memorial service could be broadcast all over the world through the internet? This is very appropriate considering all the people that tried to help Sameer globally, and this was the campaign’s way of saying thanks. Social media really does connect us all, and if used and harnessed as a successful tool to reach out powerfully to one another, we can complete new milestones every day.
“Lessons from Team Sameer and Team Vinay:
Stay focused; develop a single goal.
Tell your story
Act, then think.
Design for collaboration.
Employ empowerment marketing.
Measure one metric.
Try, fail, try again, succeed.
Don’t ask for help, require it.”
These are all important things to remember to run an important campaign.
Introduction
ReplyDeleteThe Dragonfly Effect will help us dissect culture media. It will “teach you four key skills-Focus, Grab Attention, Engage and Take Action-which you will use to create colossal results”(xiv). It will also help our messages stick with individuals and allow them to be more memorable.
Happiness is contagious. Emotional is contagion is very important. “First, that your feeling of happiness or meaning can actually infect others helps explain why some initiatives work and other don’t…second, it underscores the importance of cultivating social goods”(xviii-xix). During this time, this is creating a bond between profit and nonprofit companies. It is beneficial because it creates a more positive atmosphere.
This book will help us gain insight to some of the largest companies in the world. It will help us look at social media in a deeper more meaningful way because it is based on real people. “The heart of this book draws on studies on behavior change and the stories or individuals determined to make a difference”(xxii).
The Dragonfly Body
The Dragonfly’s Body makes up the four key elements. “Focus, which identifies a goal…Grab attention as in make someone look…Engage to create a personal connection…and take action which empowers and enable others to take action”(9). These four elements make up the four wings of the dragonfly and the body is considered the heart and soul.
Although each individual wing is important, they cannot act alone. All of the wings must be used simultaneously and together for it to work. “It was the integrated impact of the four wings working together that les to Team Sameer’s disproportionate results”(13). None of this would have possible if each step weren’t taken to have the end result of people actually taking action.
The power of the web and technology host a lot of room for a large audience. It allows the public to see what is going on. The individuals of the project took many videos and posted them on Google and YouTube. “The idea that we could use technology to break down barriers and boundaries was very powerful”(15).
Question: How do you make the four wings of the dragonfly more powerful and important then companies that are already on top?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIntroduction:
ReplyDelete1. The name of the book The Dragonfly Effect is explained in the first pages: “This ancient, exotic, and benign creature illuminates the importance of integrated effort. It also demonstrates that small actions can create big movements” Only when the four wings of Focus, Attention, Engagement, and Action work together can your message take off.
2. The introduction also talks about what real happiness means. At some point in our lives we will all switch from a focus on happiness to meaningfulness, “a change in direction that leads to more sustainable happiness – the kind that enriches our lives, provides purpose, and creates impact.” This quest for meaningfulness can be used in business to enrich both monetary profit and personal gain.
3. “If your friend’s friend becomes happy, that has a bigger impact on your being happy than putting an extra $5,000 in your pocket.” This quote refers to the idea of emotional contagion, the idea that one person’s drive, goodwill, and emotional state can have great impact on the people around them. This emotional contagion is pivotal in promoting social good.
The Dragonfly Body:
1. The Help Sameer campaign illustrates the power of personal emails. “Within forty-eight hours, the email had reached 35,000 people.” This carefully constructed email took days to complete, which shows how important it was. The entire effort was under a severe time crunch, yet significant time was spent simply developing this email, which is personal, informative, and very direct, and therefore incredibly effective.
2. The Help Sameer campaign is a perfect example of how social media campaigns can really take off if all four “wings” are working in unison. “A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.” Sameer’s closest friends, who ran the campaign, were focused, grabbed attention, engaged people, and actually got them to take action.
3. The story of Sameer and Vinay show that “ big revolutions start with simple ideas and ordinary people.” Their bone marrow social campaign was extremely successful, and started with a small group of friends. This story is incredibly inspiring and exemplary of an ordinary group of friends causing seismic change in a very important aspect of everyday life.
Question: If the Save Sameer campaign hadn’t taken off with personal emails, what other avenues might they have used in the early initial phases?
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1. In order to write an Email that "inspires action and spurs change" one must do three specific things. You need to make it personal, so that the receiver of the email feels like they can connect to the e-mail, basically "giving someone a reason to care". Also, you need to make it informative, by educating your audience and making sure they know all the information necessary. The third thing is make it direct, which allows the recipients to know what you want them to do, this will "give them all the tools they need to do it easily".
2. The Dragonfly Model incorporates four elements of "Focus and GET". The focus is the goal that you are trying to reach. the G stands for Grab attention, which is supposed to make someone realize something that's "personal, unexpected, visceral and visual." To get people to Engage, it allows a "personal connection", which gives someone more of an incentive to support your cause. The final step is Take Action, which gives the audience exact steps they need to follow in order to take action.You want to encourage the audience to "further the cause and the change beyond themselves".
3. Sameer and Vinay's stories are proof that with the drive, and strategy one can complete the "nearly impossible". It shows that "big revolutions start with simple ideas and ordinary people". Their dedication and persistence changed the lives of many people to come just by following the dragonfly model.
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. Dragonfly’s are, “the only insect able to propel itself in any direction—with tremendous speed and force—when its four wings are working in concert. This exotic creature demonstrates “flow” and the importance of integrated effort. Just like a dragonfly, social media can be powerful when fully engaged.
2. “When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning, a multiplier effect can occur.” Emotional contagion happens when others feel the emotion that you are feeling. This phenomenon can happen through social media and marketing.
3. “Eudemonia, or fundamental happiness is the result of an active life governed by intrinsic meaning, self-sacrifice, and self-improvement.” Bettering others offers far more rewards than bettering oneself.
Body:
1. The Dragonfly Effect includes four steps; focus, grab attention, take action, and engage. “A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.”
2. When using a blog to facilitate human connection, it’s important to remain authentic. “Your audience will be drawn to people and personalities that they identify with or that complement them”
3. In order for others to take action it must be made easy and simple. Whether it be asking for donations or getting community members to register, the message should be clear and easy-to-execute.
Introduction and Body-
ReplyDelete1) “When the action … is based on deep meaning a multiplier effect can occur.” I find this to be very true. In high school I led a campaign raising money for athletics in South Africa and my passion led to others caring. They could feel how important it was.
2) “An integral part of this book is our website…” I find this amusing because this book focuses on social media, which is generally an interactive platform. So in that facet it makes sense the website is so important.
3) “The heart of this book draws on studies on behavior change and the stories of individuals determined to make a difference.” I think word choice is incredibly important here. “Heart” of this book not only means the general theme but instead lends itself to showing that this book focuses on harnassing emotion as power, which is not normally what we may think of.
1) “be authentic” This seems like such easy advice but once you take a s step back it can be incredibly difficult. In my case I am training to be on the radio, its easy to assume you need a “big” “loud” or “crazy” personality. However much like the book points out my mentor says it should come easily to just be you.
2) “Stay focused, develop a single goal” I feel that this step is when most people get lost. There are so many problems in the world and it is impossible to fix them all. If we only find one small part to fix at a time they will add up, I have to keep reminding myself of this.
3) “something seismic” This quote is brought up again and again. To me its easy to see that what they did was grand in scale. However I hope people realize an event doesn’t have to be seismic small contributions to a worthy cause can make a huge difference.
Q) I wonder if the leaders in the Sameer and Vinay campaigns have continued to work promoting projects they find worthy of their newfound social media power?
Intro
ReplyDelete1. The Dragon Fly Effect is a successful concept because of it's goal to cut through the clutter. We are exposed to thousands of messages everyday. If we, as the people sending the messages, don't make ourselves memorable, then we are just noise in the clutter.
2. After making our message heard, we have to get our audience to successfully engage with us. This takes the form of making steps to help us reach our well-defined goal. It isn't just about reaching out audience, but also them reaching back to us.
3. The introduction talks about the idea of happiness. Despite people thinking they know what makes them happy, it's actually deeper than instant gratification. While some companies can be somewhat successful by providing that superficial form of happiness, social marketing reaches the underlying sources, and not only make the audience happy, but also does good.
Body
1. The story about Sameer Bhatia encapsulates the Dragonfly Effect concept. His friends had a concrete goal, they had an effective way of connecting with their audience, they used Sameer's story to personally engage with the audience, and got them to take the necessary steps to reach their goal.
2. It seems like more often than not the problem isn't reaching the right audience, it's engaging with them successfully (ie. getting them to help you reach your goal.) While reaching the audience is important, many companies in our digital age have mastered that. The next step is cultivating a connection.
entertainment. By using channels people interact with regularly (social media, blogging, email, etc.) to effectively incorporate a message (instead of overwhelming them with advertisements) we can get our message across. As with fear tactics, you don't want to overwhelm your audience to the point of making them avoid your message.
*I feel like each of the "wings" of the dragonfly (Focus & GET) are more so steps. Would the metaphor be more effective if you took each step at a time, or to use each at once?
The Dragonfly Body
ReplyDelete1. Craft a message extremely carefully to ensure results. “Because this was the first outbound message broadcasting Sameer’s situation, Robert spent hours crafting the email, ensuring that every word was perfect and that the email itself was personal, informative, and direct. Finally, he was ready to send it out to a few hundred people in Sameer’s network of friends and professional colleagues (p. 4)”
2. The body (person or cause you are trying to help out) of the dragonfly is the central focus of a campaign. “A dragonfly travels with speed and directionally only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony. Metaphorically, then, the central body of the dragonfly should embody the heart and soul of the concept or person you are aiming to help (p. 9).”
3. Technology changes everything! “The story of Sameer and Vinay is one with a remarkable impact: it shows how the technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives (p. 16).”
There continues to be more and more social media platforms gaining popularity. Is it going to get more difficult easier to launch a campaign in the future because of this?
Week #9: Blogging THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT
ReplyDelete1) In terms of our relationship with social media, there is more to the idea of harnessing the power of modern technology for more than simply procrastination or fun. “The same technologies that enable us to ‘poke’ our friends or ‘retweet’ an interesting article are the ones that can connect and mobilize us to bring about social change.” (p. xiv) In my personal experience, I have only recently realized the potential power of social media channels, through promoting volunteer organizations (such as VT HOBY) and raising support for your program as just one example.
2) In order to be successful in this effort, there needs to be ENERGY behind the campaign- whether it be represented through proving the meaningfulness of a specific movement, causing a ripple effect or emotional contagion, the Dragonfly Effect is a framework that encourages a holistic attempt to do this by teaching the four skills of FOCUS, GRAB ATTENTION, ENGAGE, and TAKE ACTION. “By doing this you generate participation, networking growth, and ripple effects- forces that combine to form a movement that people feel that they are a part of. Your personal goal becomes the collective. (xiv) I see this constantly in our group’s (5th Dimension) assessment of the KIVA campaign and their success in empowering so many lenders versus similarly spirited but not as effective efforts (ie: Microplace)
3) The potential positive effect of a social media campaign can be organized simply and symbolized in the speed and directionality of a dragonfly only when all four of it’s wings are moving in harmony. “The effectiveness of the effort can be traced to four steps or principles- Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action. To keep it simple, thing of the mnemonic Focus+ GET.” (p. 8) THis theory is proven time and time again in the effectiveness of our campaign, along with others that have harnessed these concepts and applied them to their own ‘good for you, great for all’ efforts (ie: Charity Water).
QUESTION:
What are some viable solutions for companies to successfully integrate the paradigm shifts of altering from focusing on their own organization or brand, to authentically focusing on individual’s needs?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The concept of the ripple effect is idea that one action or idea can impact its surroundings - like a drip in a pool of water. The ripple effect can be applied to several different areas of study, but related to social marketing, it is an example of how "small acts can create big change," (p. xvi). "When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning (or something that you believe will make you happy in both a profound and long-lasting way), a multiplier effect can occur," (p. xvii). This can influence the way an audience receives a message or responds to a particular campaign - and it all starts at the epicenter.
2. There is a common notion that money brings happiness with the counter-notion that money can't buy happiness. The Dragonfly Effect debunks both of these ideas, explaining that "people frequently create wildly inaccurate forecasts of what will make them happy because they mistakenly associate happiness with short and shallow rewards (as opposed to long-lasting and deeper rewards," (p. xx). In fact, when money is actually used to help better others or improve the world around us, research shows that happiness is increased.
3. Design thinking can be applied to the concept of The Dragonfly Effect because a methodical approach allows social marketers to avoid “their unintentional biases and misconceptions,” (p.xxiii). By following a step-by-step process, which includes many levels of testing and prototyping, the final design of a campaign or program will be incorporate important feedback and be built around preconceived shortcomings. “Time and again, initiatives falter because they’re developed with the brand, organization, or cause – rather than the individual’s needs – foremost in mind,” (p.xiii).
The Dragonfly Body
1. There are many different tools, resources and media for disseminating a message and one that I feel is often overlooked is email. The email that Sameer’s friends sent out as a first step to their “Help Sameer” campaign “within forty-eight hours … had reached 35,000 people,” (p. 6). Knowing how to make an email “specific and action-oriented” is crucial to “inspire action and spur change,” (p. 6).
2. The dragonfly represents the synchronisation of four separate and independent "wings": Focus, Grab Attention, Engage and Take Action. Following the case study of Team Sameer and their efforts (which started out as a mere desire to help their friend), these four "wings" working in tandem are an example of how our job as social marketers is to figure out the best way to leverage the resources available to us to achieve incredible goals. "The story of Sameer and Vinay is one with a remarkable impact: it shows how the technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives," (p. 16).
3. A great way to gain a following and keep the audience interested as well as up-to-date on a campaign is to engage in blogging. “Sameer and Vinay both blogged throughout the course of their illnesses, and this served as a critical brand-building force for both teams. The blogs created a human connection and proved to be an easy, efficient, and authentic way to circulate the message,” (p. 11). This inexpensive tool allows for the integration of several other communication methods including downloadable information, customized banners, and email templates.
Question: At what point is a message considered to be viral? I think one of the greatest forces behind successful campaigns is the momentum gained from the message being spread, but how do you make something viral?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The dragonfly highlights that integrated effort is important in making a difference. “It also demonstrates that small actions can create big movements.” The Dragonfly Effect is a way people realize that they can make an impact without relying heavily on their resources.
2. The ripple effect is the concept that small acts can create change and have a positive impact over time. “When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effects is based on deep meaning…a multiplier effect can occur.” This is where people around you feel what you are feeling.
3. Emotional contagion is when the emotions that one person is feeling rubs off on others. Emotional contagion is important because it can help explain why some initiatives are successful and why some are not successful. It is also important because, “it underscores the importance of cultivating social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning.”
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1. In order to inspire action and change through an e-mail, it must be specific: “informing people about the situation, telling them what they can do, and asking them to spread the message even further.” The e-mail should be personal, informative and direct. An example of using e-mail to inspire action is how we emailed our friends and family to inform/raise money for YakItToMe.
2. The Dragonfly model includes four principles: Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and take action. Focus on one goal, grab attention using both social and traditional media, engage with personable messages, and take action by empowering your audience to take action. “Although each wing was important individually, it was the integrated impact of the four wings working in concert that led to Team Sameer’s disproportionate results.”
3. Blogging is an effective way to create connection between people and build a brand. For example, Sameer’s blog gave the team a boost in creating their brand. “The blogs created a human connection and proved to be an easy, efficient, and authentic way to circulate the message.”
Question:
The book describes each step of the dragonfly model to be reliant on the next step. But, could a campaign follow model out of order?
Introduction
ReplyDelete- The authors' commentary on emotional contagion pertaining to social media can been seen in everyday life using social media. "Emotional contagion ripples through social networks, and it's important to understand hot the contagion of positive emotions can lead others to help." The most successful campaigns have passionate and positive tones which entice others to take action.
- The authors also note that an effective way of getting people interested in your cause is to impact "their three basic needs in terms of their self-worth." These include, "competence, autonomy, and relatedness." While people think their self-worth can be fulfilled by material things, self-worth is actually improved with self-sacrifice.
- The authors stress that a human-centered campaign is crucial to success. They say, "Time and time again, initiatives falter because the're developed with the brand, organization, or cause- rather than the individuals' needs- foremost in mind." They say knowing your audience and what truly motivates them (versus what you think motivates them) is key.
Dragonfly Body
- The authors' tips to write an effective social change email are extremely helpful in getting a response from people. They write, "1. Make it personal 2. Make it informative 3. Make it direct" They stress the importance of being extremely specific and writing a rousing call to action at the end of the email.
- Another helpful tip the authors write about is how to blog effectively for social change. Their biggest tips were "use "I" statements as much as possible," "be authentic," and "use the blog as a platform to take a stand and incite action." Their main point was to being as real as possible to try and connect as much with people so they will feel incited to act.
- Perhaps most importantly, the authors implored the readers to include a ""call to action" in all communication materials." After all, what good is your campaign if people aren't educated as to the steps they need to take? Each communication method should be used as a vessel to expose the reader to a way they can act for you cause.
Question: Are there extra steps an organization should take if they're trying to promote a cause which the general public doesn't care about? ex. "Save the exotic xyz mosquito!"
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1.A ripple effect is when a small action takes place and over time the impact of the action grows over time. “When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning… a multiplier effect can occur. In such conditions, others around you feel the emotion that you’re feeling, and can therefore become more strongly mobilized. This phenomenon whereby emotions you feel infect others is called emotional contagion” (xvii).
2. The Dragonfly effect is a simple yet powerful tool, “small actions can create big movements” pg. xiii. In order to reach a final goal we must take small steps in order to achieve it. Small steps combined together will result in the end goal rather than unrealistic over the top actions.
3. “Human beings are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their sense of self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others). To the extent that a personal or professional goal does not address these basic needs, the rewards of achieving that goal might be perceived as transient or lacking.” (p xx) Once we reach this sense of self-worth we are allowing ourselves to be actually happy and not dependent for happiness off of other people.
Dragon Fly Body
ReplyDelete1.Email is and extremely powerful and persuasive tool but it needs to be written correctly and in a "personal, informative, and direct" manner or it will not have the desired outcome.
2 The Dragonfly Effect includes four steps; focus, grab attention, take action, and engage. “A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.” The four wings or steps must be used together in order to achieve a desired end goal.
3. “Through an integrated strategy that leveraged techono0lgy, passion, and persistence, as well as an understanding that they couldn’t succeed without the help of others, Team Sameer and Team Vinay together reached their goals…” (pg 15)
question: What words should you include in an email subject line for the best results for the email to not get overlooked?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. The introduction emphasizes the persuasive techniques of warm fuzzies and group appeal. By propagating your cause via an emotionally powerful story, social technology "generates a 'contagious energy' so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers." (xiv)
2. The ripple effect is another metaphor used in the introduction to highlight the book's central theme "small acts can create big change." (xvi) In a charitable situation the ripple effect happens when a social campaign reaches an audience successfully so that the audience passes along the message to their networks.
3. Design thinking will play an essential role in this book, and emphasizes the ideas that business planning strategies incorporated into human interest goals can produce social good."Design thinking takes a methodical approach to program and product development. It's taught as a way to create things that are better for the people who will ultimately use them, and helps creators get over their unintentional biases and misconceptions." (xxii)
Body
1. Campaigns like Help Sameer and others we have talked about in class (like Yak it To Me) are most successful when started off with a personal email. After Sameer's diagnosis friends pooled together, writing a direct and personal email with a call to action (4). These three components of an email provide a concrete base for audiences across networks to not only emotionally attach to your cause, but also receive a simple way to help.
2. Team Sameer harnessed the powers of emotional appeal in the 3rd step of the Dragonfly Effect: Engage. Relying on photographs, blog posts by Sameer himself the campaign connected on a meaningful level to audiences around the world. This connection increased the likelihood that audiences take action. (10)
3. Unlike a typical business model, the Help Sameer campaign was not driven by 'top-down leadership.' Members of Sameer's circle worked together to create a multitude of ideas, and when one idea was especially successful they pooled together to continue it. This part of Team Sameer's story shows how the world of social campaigning not only innovates technology use but also teamwork strategy. ( 12-13)
Question: If the 'body' of the metaphorical dragonfly is the person/group you are aiming to help, is it possible for commercial companies to truly adopt this method? Is it overly optimistic to assume commercial companies would be interested in putting the benefits of individuals over sales?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1) The ripple effect, resulting “from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others over time,” makes change possible, even with limited resources (page xvi). This effect starts with one action that then inspires similar actions, and over time, a large change occurs. This illustrates that one person’s actions can make a difference.
2) The statement, “promoting a personal goal is inherently social,” is important because humans are social beings and they like to feel a sense of connectedness (page xiv). Since people are regularly exposed to many different causes and campaigns, if an audience cannot connect with a personal goal, they will ignore it. One wants their passion to resonate with their audience, so that people are more likely to participate. Therefore, one must “translate your passion into a powerful story” so that it “generates ‘contagious energy’” (page xiv).
3) The fact that for-profit and nonprofit companies and organizations are merging, “creating an opportunity for masses of people who drive more profits and create greater good,” is extremely interesting because it creates happiness in a work environment (page xix). While people believe that making money will make them happier individuals, this theory is incorrect. It is proven that the focusing on other people and doing something rewarding is actually what makes people happy. Employees of companies that use this model are “more fulfilled, more productive, and more loyal” (page xix).
Body:
1) Now, with Web 2.0 at our fingertips, we tend to mostly focus on social platforms, however, it is interesting to realize the immense power that a simple e-mail can have when trying to mobilize and inspire an audience to take action. When writing e-mail, one must make it personal, informative, and direct, as well as “specific and action-oriented” (page 6). The power of e-mailing was not only illustrated by the success story of the campaign in the book, but effectiveness of e-mails was also proven by the success of the “Yak It To Me” Kick-Starter campaign, where most of the backers were recruited through informative and persuasive e-mails.
2) It was really important that Team Sameer shared Sameer’s story through videos and photos, because it made the group’s goal resonate with their target audience, making Sameer’s story “personally meaningful-even to strangers” (page 10). People are more likely to want to be a part of and become engaged in a cause that triggers them emotionally. The group’s use of multi-media effectively did just that, triggering their audience’s limbic brains, while their e-mails and blog posts triggered their neocortexes.
3) Team Sameer had “clear and easy-to-execute ‘call to action’ in all communication materials,” which enabled people to take action quickly (page 12). This is really important because people will not take action if it does not seem easy enough or it seems time consuming. The fact that the team tracked its “metrics and collective impact and then feed those results back to its members” was also intelligent because people felt more inclined to take action (page 12). This exemplifies how the two persuasive techniques of scientific evidence, using charts etc. to get people to do something, as well as the bandwagon technique, using the fact that lots of other people are helping to get people to take action, can really work.
Question: If you are running a campaign alone, what is the simplest way that you ensure that all four wings are working together the entire time?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. “Anyone who has every created a YouTube video, written a blog, or tried to get someone to join a cause on Facebook knows that simply sending out a request doesn’t guarantee action.” I ignore about 90 percent of the requests or Facebook invites I receive because half the time they seem pointless and are sent from someone I’m not even friends with. The only ones I even look at that aren’t birthday events for my close friends are ones that have already gotten a lot of attention or ones that someone has told me about in person.
2. “… the definition of happiness changes every three to five years throughout one’s life.” I find this incredibly true because if I was to look at what I thought would make me happy four years ago, I would laugh because whatever it was is not something that is continuing to make me happy. At least as a young adult I feel like the definition of happiness has been changing even more frequently because adolescents is such a time of constant change. With the internet, trends seem to be changing all the time and everyone around me is constantly trying to keep up.
3. “…people who are happy (or become happy) significantly boost the chances that their friends will become happy.” I have a teammate that is constantly in a good mood and before I got to know her I thought she would end up being the most irritating person in the world. Now that I really know her I find that every time I run into her my mood is boosted because she is always smiling and looking at everything in a positive way.
The Dragonfly Body:
1. The way Team Sameer kept people around the world updated about him and his conditions is very similar to something that happened within my family a little over a year ago. My cousin’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. My family is big and spread out all over the US but we were able to stay up to date with information about her condition because the part of my family living in California made sure to regularly send out emails and Facebook updates to everyone. We were able to watch her recover amazingly and see pictures of her getting ready to run the Chicago marathon, which she completed this past fall.
2. “None of these methods would have been effective without the prior, contributing impact of the other steps driving the audience toward becoming active participants.” As an athlete, everyday I am reminded that for my team to achieve their goals everyone must be doing their part. Each person is instrumental in the outcome no matter how little her role may seem and our coach never lets us forget that.
3. Google popped up a couple times in this chapter and it reminded me just how much they really are taking over the world. I use Google for so much more than just searching for something and I know I’m not the only one. I use Google to get directions, read books, get emails and I don’t doubt that I will start using it for even more as time goes on.
INTRODUCTION:
ReplyDelete1. The meaning of happiness is not what most people think it is, and that is why it is such a treasure among people. Most people think that in an order to have happiness, you need to have accomplished something and live that accomplishment. Instead, happiness means finding substance in one’s life.
2. Doing what you love often creates more success. To have the most success, doing something that you genuinely enjoy helps you build passion to get the job done. The more you love something, the more you will want to spend doing it and putting in your best effort.
3. Putting emotion into a campaign helps people relate to the cause. It shows people that you are passionate about the cause therefore they should be too.
THE DRAGONFLY BODY
1. Looking at Sameer’s example of social marketing, by giving details about the cause and a step by step tutorial, you are giving all of the information efficiently which will easily inform people of the problem and the way they can solve it.
2. Having a calendar on the website makes going to events and participating available to anyone.
3. Showing gratitude for the success of the campaign is crucial. Showing that you appreciate all of the hard work from the participants is a personal touch to the campaign. Doing this will make participants to want to do something for your campaign or future campaigns you hold.
How do you know the boundary of what’s personal enough and what’s too personal in a campaign?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. The dragonfly effect is all about using the different social media tools to help make a difference. “ Dragonfly effect is the elegance and efficacy of people who, through the passionate purpose of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources”
2. When you join a group on facebook you should think about acting on behalf of the cause. You have to be passionate take action in order to truly see results. You shouldn’t use twitter as a way to tell people what you had for breakfast, the stories you tell should make people want to reflect for a long time “… you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates contagious energy..”
3. Emotional contagion can help make other around you feel the emotions that you are feeling (think multiplier effect). “ emotional contagion ripples through social networks, and it’s important to understand how contagion of positive emotions can lead others to help”
The Dragonfly Body
1. If you craft an e-mail properly you can project a message that drives people to take action and causes change. You must have clear goals and in writing the email you must make sure that it is personal, informative, and direct. “using the power of the net to make a change”
2. The dragonfly effect is effective because it focuses on 4 key steps/principles:
1) Focus – identify a single concrete goal
2) Grab Attention-- make someone look
3) Engage-- create a personal connection
4) Take Action-- enable and empower others
“When working together they achieve remarkable results”
3. Technology can be very powerful and we have to take advantage of it in a way that can change the way the world works. It truly has the ability to make a difference in someone’s life. “ the story of Sameer and Vinay is one with a remarkable impact: it shows how the technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives”
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The first paragraph really interested me and the authors brought up a really good point. Social media is a completely new phenomenon, but no one has utilized it to do something that really matters. No global issues have been completely solved by any campaign, including the ones we are sampling in class.
2. The happiest people are those who have stopped chasing happiness and instead search for meaningfulness. This kind of change helps provide purpose, enriches lives, and creates impact. I completely agree with this statement, however I think people try and look for happiness instead because it takes less effort and can pay off more in the short run.
3. Emotional Contagion- The idea of emotional contagion really intrigued me. This is when the phenomenon’s you feel infect others. This can either be an emotional feeling, and someone senses what you’re feeling, so that person feels the same way. Also, it can be when one makes a facial expression, and another subconsciously mimics a similar expression. People who live together for a long time eventually start to have similar mannerisms.
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1. The Sameer story to introduce the Dragonfly Body section is remarkable. Just sayin.
2. The dragonfly is an interesting metaphor throughout this chapter. “A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony. Metaphorically, then, the central body of the dragonfly should embody the heart and soul of the concept or person you are aiming to help.” The mnemonic “Focus +GET” is a 4 step process to achieve effectiveness and success in whatever campaign you chose to run. It stands for : Focus, Grab attention, Engage, and Take Action.
3. On page 17, there are bulleted lessons to learn from Team Sameer and Team Vinay. I thought the last point was very inspiring: “don’t ask for help, require it.” Something like this bone marrow transplant situation is literally a life or death situation, so requiring people to do certain things to achieve the goal of “life” is necessary.
Question: Which social media sites did Team Sameer and Team Vinay find most effective?
Intoduction:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragonfly is an insect that relies on an integrated effort from all 4 of its wings. The authors describe the Dragonfly Effect as, “people who discover they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources.” This means by doing a small task that would not seem to effect too many, can actually lead to an impact much greater than intended.
2. Creating a job where you can generate profit and still love the work you are doing is better for the sustainability of the organization as well as the social good. “Purposeful profit” is a result of people “aligning the work they love with a profit oriented business model.” These organizations will see more longevity which is another indicator of success besides profit. Those involved in an origination that they love will not back out when profits are low and cutting your losses is the best option.
3. A good example of a business model that keeps their employees happy while still generating profit can be seen with salfesforce.com. Their 1-1-1 model has the company “contribute 1 percent of profits, 1 percent of equity, and 1 percent of employee hours back to the community it serves.” This keeps employees, and customers pleased with the company, while also ensuring their loyalty to it.
The Dragonfly Body:
1. In the dragonfly model, “the central body of the dragonfly should embody the heart and soul of the concept or person you are aiming to help.” By keeping your message very specific and focused, there can be a clearly defined meaning for your efforts. If you can sell the images of the people you are trying to help, others can connect better to them, and will grow feelings for them which in turn may lead to better results for your cause.
2. It is important to utilize all available resources when campaigning. For example, Team Sameer, “mixed media, employing social media (blogs, video, viral email, Facebook, widgets, pledge lists) as well as traditional media (public relations, television, magazine, telemarketing, posters, and newspapers).” You will not find everybody you are trying to reach through one outlet. By sending your message down a variety of different paths, you will have a higher chance of grabbing more peoples’ attention.
3. Because of the efforts of their campaign, more than just Sameer and Vinay were helped. This opened up a network of South Asian donors who may have never donated their stem cells if they had not came across the campaign. A good example is of how Rina Mehta, “became a blood stem cell donar to an eighteen-year-old male leukemia patient.” Because of the initial emails sent out to Sameer’s close friends, others ended up being positively effected by it.
Question: By relying on others to help expand your message through networking, can it be possible for the message to go off course and head into an unwanted audience where it will not be effective anymore? Or is there no such thing as bad exposure?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. Happiness is contagious. The effects of one person's happiness on those around them and in turn those another degree of separation away is powerful. When looking at the social marketing campaigns in this course many of the more successful plans gave the audience something to be happy about, something to share that is infectious.
2. What we think makes us happy is the antithesis of what actually makes us happy. Attaining things and the pursuit of objects does is not what really makes up happy, in fact purchasing a product for someone else gives us more pleasure than purchasing a product for ourselves. I was surprised at how simple this idea was and how true it felt. Think about the holiday season; is the joy of the holidays in what we get or in what we give? Tapping into that instinct can be an incredibly powerful tool for social marketing.
3. Design thinking is important. Its a process that gets the marketer closer to the consumer and their individual needs. I've always been very intrigued by a similar idea found in my company's mission statement, "We put our client's customer before the client." Knowing exactly the needs of the consumer is incredibly important in terms of messaging.
Body:
1. Make it personal. If the plea isn't personal then why should anyone care about it. Make the initiative your passion or better yet make your passion the initiative. Just as happiness is contagious so is passion.
2. Target, target, target. The friends of Sameer and Vinay didn't cast a wide net and hope to get as much as possible. They targeted a very specific audience and tailored their messaging to that audience. I'm drawn to the example of my group's research on The Chesapeake Club. They didn't target everyone portion of the population, the seemed purely residential land owners with yards to save the Chesapeake Bay.
3. Think of it like a Kickstarter campaign. Be unrelenting in your pursuit of a goal and if you falter or fail try again. Keep on it and keep on task. Diligence is key, thats what i took away most from the work of Friends of Sameer and VInay, they were unrelenting and passionate.
Question:
What are the best tactics to imbibe the passion in your project?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1- “The dragonfly is the only insect able to propel itself in any direct – with tremendous speed and force – when it’s four wings are working in concert.” (xiii) The Dragonfly Effect is designed to promote the importance of integrated effort. It also is used to demonstrate that small actions can create big movements.
2- The “Ripple Effect” a concept that generates the greater good for society. “In Economics, the ripple effect is used to show how an individual’s increase in spending increases income of others and their subsequent ability to spend. In sociology, it describes how social interactions can affect situations indirectly. In charitable activities… explains how information can be disseminated and passed from community to community to broaden its impact.” (xv, xvi)
3- “The Dragonfly Effect is your road map to doing something purposeful, thoughtful, and well designed. Operating as ‘social change in a box’… to create rapid transformation.” The four key principles that are associated with the Dragonfly Effect that tap into human behavior… Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action.
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1- The Power of the Team Sameer s e-mail was so moving. “The effectiveness of the effort can be traced to four steps or principles – Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action.”(pg. 8) Team Sameer was able to do all 4 of these things and they got extreme results because of their effort.
2- F+GET – “F=Focus – Identify a single concrete and measurable goal. G=Grab Attention – Make someone look. Cut through the noise of social media with something personal, unexpected, visceral, and visual. E=Engage – Create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions through deep empathy, authenticity, ad telling a story. Engaging is about empowering the audience to care enough to want to do something themselves. T=Take Action – Enable and empower others to take action. To make action easy, you must prototype, deploy, and continuously tweak tools, templates, and programs designed to move audience membes from being customers to becoming team members…”(pg. 9)
3- Lessons from Team Sameer and Team Vinay – How to do Something Seismic – and Create a Movement: 1- Stay focused; develop a single goal. 2- Tell your story. 3- Act, then think. 4-Design for collaboration. 5- Employ empowerment marketing. 6- Measure one metric. 7- Try, fail, try again, succeed. 8- Don’t ask for help; require it.
Question:
When searching for “sustainable happiness” or what some may call “meaningfulness”, does a ripple effect manifest for others because they are seeking “meaningfulness” as well or would that be more of “emotional contagion?”
Intro:
ReplyDelete“Many of us are inundated daily with articles, emails, videos, and blog posts….Yet we glaze over and ignore many, if not most, of the pleas” (Aaker & Smith xiii). The authors make a point immediately within the first few sentences of the introduction about how many requests we receive at any given time to help different organizations and causes. This shows the importance of making your campaign unique and memorable. Your campaign needs to motivate people to act immediately and has to be something the user is going to think about when they log off of Facebook (if they ever do).
“Research on happiness makes it clear that happiness, in and of itself, is a bogus concept”(Aaker & Smith xiv). The authors go on to talk about how happiness eventually gives way to meaningfulness. This came as a surprise as this book is about the use of social media, but can also be useful for personal advances.
“The heart of this book draws on studies on behavior change and the stories of individuals determined to make a difference” (Aaker & Smith xxii). This book appears to be formed from actual research instead of just assumptions of how social media works. The authors of this book seem to be younger so they should be in touch with technology.
Body:
“Collectively, they decided they would attack Sameer’s sickness as the would any business challenge. It came down to running the numbers” (Aaker & Smith 3). This case, as in many others, the issue at hand is not a normal business plan. These friends needed to find a bone marrow donor for Sameer, so they used the skills they already had from business and social media to make that happen.
“Robert sent the email to Sameer’s closest friends and business colleagues- about four hundred to five hundred members of their “ecosystem”, including fellow entrepreneurs, investors, South Asian relatives, and college friends” (Aaker & Smith 5). The story refers to emailing members of their “ecosystem” much as we did in class to add a personal note to a request. Robert took the time to perfect the email to make it as personal as possible.
“They just wanted to save their friend’s life. But in exceeding the goal by registering 24,611 South Asians into the NMDP registry in eleven weeks, Robert and the team uncovered a process that can be applied to reach any goal” (Aaker & Smith 8). This shows the ripple effect. It went from an email to around 500 people, and resulted in the actions of over 24,000. That is truly a ripple effect.
Does each increase in technology allowing greater connections over a wider area increase society exponentionaly?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1.It takes more that creating a Facebook, Youtube or blog to connect with your intended audience. It is difficult task for people to create meaningful campaigns that resonate. “The Dragon Fly Effect is the elegance and efficacy of people, who through passionate pursuit of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources.”
2.In today’s world we see countless campaigns for various groups/ organizations everyday. However, there are few campaigns that really stick with the audience. “To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy,” so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post or email, long after they leave their computers.”
3.Many campaigns use the ripple effect to create somewhat of a group dynamic. The ripple effect starts out small and grows to create an atmosphere where others feel the same emotion that you’re feeling. “This phenomenon whereby emotions you feel infect others is called emotional contagion.”
The Dragon Fly Body
ReplyDelete1.The Dragon Fly effect can be defined by four steps or principles; focus, grab attention, take action and engage. When a campaign is able to follow these steps, there is a high potential for success. Team Sameer is an example of an organization that successfully used these steps together to generate interest and support. “None of these methods would have been effective without the prior, contributing impact of the other steps driving the audience toward becoming active participants.”
2.Another one of the reasons Team Sameer was so successful was because of its somewhat unconventional approach. Robert Chatwani, Sameer’s best friend and head of team Sameer said; “We often tried to think if the traditional way to do something and considered what would happen if we did the exact opposite—reversing the rules.” This approach was extremely successful because it was able to generate interest, support and most importantly people to take action and register as bone marrow donors.
3.To start off the campaign, Robert sent out an email to friends, family and colleagues to inform them of the situation. I thought that the email was extremely well written and powerful. I thought that it was very effective because it “informed the people about the situation, told them what they could do and asked them to spread the message even further.” I believe this email was a crucial start to the campaign.
Question: Which of the four wings (focus, take action, grab attention, engage) is most important to focus on?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1) You can combine the power of social media and your passion to promote something that matters. “To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy,” so that
your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers.” “When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning (or something that you believe will make you happy in both a profound and long-lasting way), a multiplier effect can occur.” Using social media doesn’t have to be about trying to make a profit, it’s actually better at spreading awareness which can be extremely beneficial to a cause.
2) Happiness comes from finding meaningfulness. “[…] the happiest people are those who have stopped chasing happiness and instead search for meaningfulness, a change in direction that leads to more sustainable happiness—the kind that enriches their lives, provides purpose, and creates impact.”
3) Emotional contagion is the spreading of happiness. “Increasing (and sustaining) your happiness is possible—even easy—if you focus on others (rather than yourself) and on time (rather than money).” “Eudemonia, or fundamental happiness, is the result of an active life governed by intrinsic meaning, self-sacrifice, and self-improvement.” “[…] human beings are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their sense of self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others).” “[…] emotional contagion is pivotal because it underscores the importance of cultivating social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning.”
Body:
1) Only a properly designed will give you the results you’re looking for. “Emails must be specific and action-oriented: informing people about the situation,
telling them what they can do, and asking them to spread the message even further.”
Emails must be made: personal, informative, and direct.
2) The effectiveness of the effort can be traced to four steps or principles—Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action
a. Focus– identify a single concrete goal. Grab Attention- make someone look. Engage- create a personal connection. Take Action- enable and empower others
3) With the power of technology growing, social media and other platforms have become the new way of reaching the masses. With this kind of reach, technology can be used for the greater good.“The technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives.”
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1) The Dragon Fly effect is away to create movement through discovery. That discovery being the key to equipping people with the knowledge of their ability to propel any subject forward separate of the resources they have. But instead through mastering four key skills “focus, grab attention, engage, and take action”(p xiv).
2) The Dragon Fly Effect falls in place with ripple effect, that one step can cause many positive steps to be taken causing a great impact. It is described as ““social change in a box,” it illustrates how synchronized ideas have been used effectively to create rapid transformations- and unveils the secrets to doing just that, step by step, so you can try it too” (p. xxi). In following this statement it also taps into human behavior and how to use “focus, grab attention, engage, and take action” to flourish ones own impact.
3) It dives into the emotional need to create happiness through consumerism and the pursuit of wealth and money. It ends the introduction with the description of a study that shows “ Increasing (and sustaining) your happiness is possible-even easy- if you focus on others (rather than yourself) and on time (rather than money) (p.xxi). The Dragon Fly Effect acts as a means to achieve the bond that “ binds us to others, to large communities, and to social causes (p.xxi)” all by taking that first step that leads to many positive steps and a greater impact.
The Dragon Fly Body
1. In the first few lines of the chapter I had already been drawn into the story of Sameer and his diagnosis. I feel that the strategy of simply taking the first step in order to get the subject out there is demonstrated here. I feel that the email that was “ personal, informative, and direct (p4)”was the first step that obviously ignited and propelled the subject extremely far achieving a large impact. That impact being able to expand the way in which bone marrow donors are registered as well as finding the two donors needed in both cases.
2. The story was a clear demonstration of the ripple effect because the email was sent to 500 people initially who then sent it to their friends and by the end the numbers show “Within in forty-eight hours, he email had reached 35,000 people and the Help Sameer campaign had begun (p6.)” This example of how the numbers grew greatly also shows the impact that people want to help others and they are happy to do so, the Dragon Fly Effect truly can ““ binds us to others, to large communities, and to social causes (p.xxi)”
3. The Dragon Fly Body has depicted what the over all picture of the Dragon Fly Effect can look like and does look like for some people and the pursuit of propelling a subject forward. In the story of Sameer, he was able to share his goals with people around the world..” Through an integral strategy that leveraged technology, passion, and persistence, as well as an understanding that they couldn’t succeed without the help of others p15.” I feel that the success of this story shows the focus, through their clear goals of getting a donor and registering more donors. It grabbed attention by targeting the donor audience. It engaged with the audience by involving those with Sameer’s story. It achieved take action by using the tools available to them and executing a clear plan.
Question: It seems that the first step is the most important, here it was email, but further down the line, in measuring the true success of this campaign, I feel that it made the audience feel as if the success of the story was also their success. How do we today maintain that personal touch on an email especially if we don’t know the person?
Three Specific Observations:
ReplyDelete1.The Dragonfly Effect is the way people discover they can make an impact not dependent on their resources.(pg xiii)
2. The “ripple effect” is also an important concept.
3. Emotional contagion is an important concept because it emphasizes the importance of “cultivation social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning” (xix).
Dragonfly Body:
1. The Dragonfly Effect includes four steps: 1. Focus 2. Grab Attention 3. Engage 4. Take Action. Just like "a dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony." (pg 9)
2. The Dragonfly Effect includes four steps; focus, grab attention, take action, and engage. In a charitable situation the ripple effect happens when a social campaign reaches an audience successfully so that the audience passes along the message to their networks.
3. “The technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives (P16).”It is clear from Sameer’s story that the power of technology is real, and if used properly will have the ability to truly change a person’s life.
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. I had never heard of emotional contagion before The Dragonfly Effect, and after reading about it, I think that it is a very true phenomenon. “emotional contagion can be physically manifested by someones tendency to unconsciously mimic and synchronize facial expressions, postures, and movements with those of another person and consequently for the people to converge emotionally” (xvii). I have experienced this in real life but am interested to see how it works through social media.
2. The introduction explained a lot about what makes human beings happy on a sustainable level. “human beings are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others)” (xx). These three things are probably why people want to constantly find meaning in their life to achieve satisfaction in life.
3. I wasn’t surprised to read that money doesn’t buy happiness. “spending money on others has a positive impact on happiness---much more so than spending money on oneself...Eudemonia, or fundamental happiness is the result of an active life governed by intrinsic meaning self sacrifice, and self improvement” (xx). But it was news to me to find out that people achieve a greater level of happiness by spending money on other people.
The Dragonfly Body
1. Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action are the four “wings” of the dragonfly model. “A dragonfly flies with speed and directionality only when all four of it’s wings are moving in harmony” (9). A social media campaign will only be effective when all four aspects of the campaign are covered.
2. I just wanted to use one of the observations to say how cool I thought it was that Sameer and Vinay both blogged throughout their illness and I can see how it would be so effective! Making it personal can be very powerful.
3. “The story of Sameer and Vinay is one with a remarkable impact: it shows how the technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives” (16). Social media isn’t just a way for people to share every thought that they have anymore. It can be a powerful tool to make meaningful change and help others.
Question:
In Yak it to Me we saw that email was the most effective platform to use to get people’s attention and it still surprises me. Why exactly is email a better channel than Facebook or Twitter?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. “The dragonfly is the only insect able to propel itself in any direction- with tremendous speed and force- which its four wings are working together” (xiii). Like a dragonfly, we each have the ability to use social networks to propel our messages in whichever direction we choose. By focusing, grabbing attention, engaging, and taking action we can create results far greater than what we could have imagined.
2. Our small, yet concerted efforts can affect audiences far outside our own personal networks. This is known as the ripple effect. “Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others and over time.” Others around us may feel the effects of our efforts, and by affecting those close to us, they too will cause change within their own networks.
The Dragonfly Body:
3. Through the creation of an email and systematically using social media outlets, a team of friends were able to find their friend a bone marrow transplant match. By using the Focus+GET Dragonfly Model (focus, grab attention, engage, and take action), explained on page 9, Team Sameer was able to break down barriers and create a huge network of people to engage about bone marrow donations.
Question: From the Dragonfly Model “Focus + GET”, which aspect is the most critical when constructing a campaign/message?
Introduction:
ReplyDeleteThe dragonfly effect is about knowing that you can make a difference. Every small start can potentially turn into a big movement. It’s about people “who through the passionate pursuit of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources” (xiii)
In order to make this seem achievable to the average person the book has highlighted four skills every person should learn. These skills will help them create the networking and growth necessary to get to the larger movement. “Four key skills- focus, grab attention, engage, and take action-which you will use to produce your own colossal results” (xiv)
Studies have show that emotions are indeed contagious. “This phenomenon whereby emotions you feel infect others is called emotional contagion”. Emotional contagion can affect people up to two degrees of separation from the original person. Many studies have shown also that these emotional transfers spread gratification that is stronger and lasts longer than any monetary gain.
The Dragonfly Body:
In order for your message to be heard you must cut through the clutter. In order for your message to stick with people you must find a way to make it personal for them. With the help Sameer project the team “used targeted messaging to help audiences see themselves in Sameer.” They made sure to make all messages “compelling and personal” (10)
It’s important to remember all four “wings” of the dragonfly (focus, grab attention, engage, and take action) by leaving one out you are setting yourself up to be less successful. Much like an actual dragonfly, all four components need to be present and working together in order for true success. “Although each wing was important individually, it was the integrated impact of the four wings working in concert that led to [their] disproportionate results.” (13)
Technology can be used for much more than it’s direct and obvious purpose. Technology can be used to “break down barriers and boundaries” and can “enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change lives.” (14-16) Keeping this in mind will allow a daunting task (such as finding a donor match with odds of 1/20,000) seem more achievable.
Question: With the for-profit and non-profit world’s merging, do you think it is now every companies top priority to fit in with this model of “creating a greater good”?
Introduction-
ReplyDelete1. The dragonfly effect focuses on creating movements, and harnessing the ripple effect. The book also promises in the introduction to harnessing “stickiness”, that all powerful method of creating momentum and buzz around a new product, campaign, or brand. “We will reveal the secret to cultivating ‘stickiness’, so that your goal is not relegated to Internet oblivion but instead reaches an audience of people who will help propel it forward. Stickiness is an interesting concept to me, and I can’t wait to see how the authors will describe it in contrast to Malcolm Gladwell’s book on the subject, The Tipping Point.
2. “A leader’s emotional state can impact the rapport, morale, and even performance of a team of organization.” While we can certainly all sympathize with this statement, it’s helpful to see it in writing, as it makes me think about my own leadership style and the emotional ripples that I might be sending out. We’ve all had bosses and teachers who inspire us to do a great job by virtue of their awesomeness. It’s interesting to think about becoming one of those people, and radiating happiness in that way from a leadership perspective.
3. The three factors necessary to happiness as described in the book, competence, autonomy, and relatedness come into play when we speak about businesses donating profits, time, and equity to social causes. The discussion of salesforce.com’s efforts to increase meaningful philanthropic work in the communities in which they are based directly ties back to these three factors. Their employees are loyal and happy because they feel competent for completing meaningful work, have the choice in the actions they are participating in, and become more intertwined in the community.
The Dragonfly Body-
1.Sameer’s story of the search for bone marrow donors hits close to home, because as many UVM students know, a popular DJ in Burlington was diagnosed with a similar form of Leukemia, and is searching for a bone marrow match as well. His situation is similar, as he is of an ethnicity lacking in donors. Sameer’s story is a powerful one, and demonstrates the ability of social media and the internet to do a huge amount of good in the world. They were focused, grabbed people’s attention, took action, and engaged their audience in an inspiring way.
2. The metaphor of the dragonfly wings perfectly sums up the needs of social media campaigns. We are aiming for a few things at once, and a good campaign listens, speaks, engages, and measures its actions. Without all four of these things, the campaign would fail, much like the dragonfly. We need to focus efforts, grab attention, take action, and engage to be successful.
3. Team Sameer and Team Vinay created seismic movements out of simple messages. They were focused enough, and harnessed networks in such a way that their movement grew at an amazing rate. Although Sameer and Vinay ultimately passed away, they created a legacy that inspires and helps so many others through a relatively simple networking campaign.
Question- How can companies help inspire their employees, and lead in a way that radiates happiness, and helps workers to feel autonomous, competent, and a sense of relatedness?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete-"The Dragonfly Effect is the elegance and efficacy of people who, through the passionate pursuit of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources" (xiii).
-The Ripple Effect is accounted for in a number of studies like economics and sociology. In economics, it is used to describe how one persons spending affects others ability to spend but when dealing with sociology it describes how interactions indirectly affect one and other. This book looks at the broader definition and how "small acts can create big change."
-"The Dragonfly Effect is for anyone motivated to act on, propel, and accomplish a social good. Whether you're an entrepreneur, an employee of a for-profit company, a volunteer at a non-profit, or simply an individual trying to improve someone else's life, you can learn about the world of possibility available to you when you leverage social media appropriately" (xxiii).
The Body:
-"The Dragonfly Effect relies on four distinct wings; when working together, they achieve remarkable results: Focus. Identify a single concrete and measurable goal. Grab Attention. Make someone look. Cut through the noise of social media with something personal, unexpected, visceral and visual. Engage. Create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions through deep empathy, authenticity, and telling a story. Engaging is about empowering the audience to care enough to want to do something themselves. Take Action. Enable and empower others to take action. To make action easy, you must prototype, deploy, and continuously tweak tools, templates, and programs designed to move audience members from being customers to becoming team members- in other words, furthering the cause and the change beyond themselves" (9).
-Technology has made so many things possible today especially in the health field. If it wasn't for the ability for Team Sameer to reach so many people via the internet he may not be with us today. We are now capable of fundraising and raising awareness in general in so many new ways thanks to social media options.
-"Big revolutions start with simple ideas" (page 16). This is the idea that the body emphasizes. If you target specific and simple ideas/goals then you are able to see a big outcome ultimately.
Question: how does one decide what is appropriate for context of emails etc. when trying to reach a large number of people like Team Sameer did?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. I was intrigued by the emphasis on happiness. The book claims that humans are happier when they give to others, and intends for the reader to become happier after reading the book. I am interested to see whether I become happier by the "heartwarming" stories I read or if I will become happy from the the knowledge I gain, or if I will find myself any happier than I was before I read The Dragonfly Effect.
2. Still on the topic of happiness, I thought the power of happiness to be very important in the introduction. "A leader's emotional state can impact the rapport, morale, and even performance of a team or organization." (Although we can't always choose to be happy, I believe that even pretending to happy or amiable will get you further than any other attitude.
3. The dragonfly effect refers to the four wings of a dragonfly, "an insect that is able to propel itself in any direction." The book will focus on four main principles, focus, grab attention, engage, and take action-work. The focuses of the book will all refer to the goal of behavior change.
Body:
1. My first observation is how powerful people, can create powerful results. The case of Sameer is interesting because he was a person with 400-500 connections. If I had been in his situation, I don't think anyone campaigning for me could have been as successful, simply because I don't have that many connections, and especially within their target audience.
2. Secondly the power of email, and the deliberation before sending the email. I thought it was very impressive that Sameer's friends had a period of deliberation, and really acted as if the campaign they made for Sameer was for business. I also find it interesting that they had a target audience, "those who were well connected with others, those who were parents, and those who could relate to Sameer and his story."
3. Lastly I found one of the most effective "lessons" from the book was, "don't ask for help, require it." Between the internet and texting I think our generation/culture has become too passive, and I know many people who can't even ask for help, let alone require it. I think the point that in order to get the change you want you must be active and demanding is very important.
Introduction-
ReplyDelete1. People can make a positive impact that is disproportionate to their resources, this can be done by a passionate pursuit of goals. Which is what we refer to as the dragonfly effect.
2. Happiness is not always what you think it is, it is not something that you should chase, but happiness should be obtained through the meaningfulness that you give to what you have in your life now.
3. Social change is not something that is only accomplished by people with money and power, but anybody can achieve social change through energy, focus and a strong wireless signal.
The Dragonfly body-
1. Anybody can create a successful social media project, all it take sis that a person stays focused, tells a story, is empowered and gets the message out there. If you focus, grab attention, engage and take action you will be able to require people to help you.
2. Blogging can be a very powerful way of connecting with people, it allows the audience to connect more with the person blogging, and three aspects of a successful blog are: getting the person you are trying to help to write. Be authentic. Use the blog as a platform to take a stand and incite action.
3. Emails are a great way to reach people that you want to take action, within an email you can list all the information you need and you can make the call to action very clear. Its important to remember to make an email feel personal, to make it informative and to make it direct.
Question-
With all these forms of web 2.0 is there one form that is more effective than others?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. Creating a successful campaign is not just about using social media but understanding how to do so in a way that is effective. “ Promoting a personal goal is inherently social” (xiv). The book, using social research, provides a framework for executing a personal goal. “In these pages, we will teach you four key skills- Focus, Grab Attention, Engage and Take Action- which you will use to produce your own colossal results” (xiv).
2. In order to achieve happiness, one must also find meaningfulness. What is meaningful to an individual changes throughout the course of ones life thus what it means to be happy changes as well. “The meaning of happiness is not idiosyncratic, individualistic, or random- nor is it singular and stable. Happiness has a clear pattern, indicating that people are pursuing different things across their lifespans” (xv).
3. “The Dragonfly Effect binds us to others, to larger communities, and to social causes. There is really no better way to strengthen the connection between ourselves and our surroundings, fulfill our psychological and emotional needs, and, above all, create meaning in our lives than by cultivating social good” (xxi). Happiness and meaningfulness can be created through helping others, establishing a deeper connection to those around us.
The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1.There are three important steps that one must implement when writing an email to inspire change: make it personal, make it informative, and make it direct. “Emails must be specific and action-oriented: informing people about the situation, telling them what they can do, and asking them to spread the message even further” (6).
2. The Dragonfly model explains the dragonfly effect at work when applied to a personal goal. “The Dragonfly Effect relies on four distinct wings; when working together, they achieve remarkable results” (9). The mnemonic device for the four steps is Focus + GET: Focus, Grab Attention, Engage and Take Action.
3. By looking at the stories of Team Sameer and Team Vinay, we can see how the Dragonfly Effect works when put into action and take away lessons when applying the Dragon Effect to our personal goals. “How to Do Something Seismic-and Create a Movement: 1. Stay focused; develop a single goal. 2. Tell your story. 3. Act, then think. 4. Design for collaboration. 5. Employ empowerment marketing. 6. Measure one metric. 7. Try, fail, try again, succeed. 8. Don’t ask for help; require it.
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. On the first page of the introduction, the author explains how a Dragonfly, “demonstrates that small actions can create big movements.” (xiii) When talking about social media as a channel for social responsibility, this quote means to connote how effective a viral message is in informing a large population. For example, you can reach virtually millions of people by making a video in a couple hours with very little start up cost.
2. Going a long with the quote above, the author describes how the ripple effect can be connected to social responsibility. The author states that the ripple effect, in relation to charity, means that, “…small acts can create big change.” (xvi) An example of this in my life is the Relay for Life. Small communities all over America raise money and, together, are helping the fight against cancer.
3. The author states, “…emotional contagion is pivotal because it underscores the importance of cultivating social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning.” (xix) It continues to say that this connection between happiness and doing social good has lead to the creation of for-profit businesses that are also socially responsible. This is a much needed trend in today’s business world.
Dragonfly Body
ReplyDelete4. “The effectiveness of the effort can be traced to four steps or principals-Focus, Grab Attention, Engage and Take Action.” (pg 8) If an individual or group follows these steps, they are capable of big things. This is the same system that Sameer’s team used and they were successful.
5. “First, the team focused sharply by concentrating exclusively on a single goal.” (pg 9) By doing this, they could concentrate on this objective and focus all their energy on it. In high school, I was on a sustainability council. We wanted to increase the number of households who used florescent bulbs. We focused on this objective and made a big difference in our community.
6. The author states, “Big revolutions start with simple ideas and ordinary people.” (pg 16) Sameer’s team was composed of ordinary people trying to achieve a simple goal. By succeeding, they have proven that big things are capable by anyone who put’s their mind to it.
Question: Can the “wings” be used in traditional media channels as well as social media outlets?
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ReplyDeleteIntroduction
ReplyDelete1.) In order to be successful at promoting a personal goal, you must impact your audience that effects them in the long run. “You must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy”, so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email long after they leave their computers”.
2.) Participation is a way to impact the people and make them understand how passionate you are about your goal. The “ripple effect” would describe this. The ripple effect is a movement that allows people to feel apart of the cause and feel the emotion you are feeling.
3.) Emotional contagion is a phenomenon that describes how the emotions you feel can infect others. It is important to understand this concept and apply it to marketing and campaigns for it can have a positive impact.
Dragonfly Body:
1.) I felt that Sameer’s story was incredibly interesting and inspiring. I thought it was amazing how they used various media platforms in order to campaign for these bone marrow drives and help their friend.
2.) There are four steps in the Dragonfly Effect. This includes focus, grab attention, take action and engage. Sameer’s team utilized this process and were success because of it.
3.) The “How to Write an Email That Inspires Action and Spurs Change” section was very interesting and me. “Emails must be specific and action-oriented: informing people about the situation, telling them what they can do, and asking them to spread the message even further”. These steps are very important and are useful for public communication majors like myself.
Question: Is the Dragonfly Effect effective for small scale campaigns?
Introduction
ReplyDelete1.“In fact, the happiest people are those who have stopped chasing happiness and instead search for meaningfulness.” “The definition of happiness changes every three to five years throughout one's life. The meaning of happiness is not idiosyncratic, individualistic, or random-nor is it singular and stable.”
2.“In this book, we describe it [the ripple effect] as the simple idea that small acts can create big change.” “Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others and over time. When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning, a multiplier effect can occur.”
3.“Understanding emotional contagion is important.” “Your feelings of happiness or meaning can actually infect others helps explain why some initiatives work and others don't.” “Emotional contagion is pivotal because it underscores the importance of cultivating social good, which is often most resonant with happiness and meaning.”
Dragonfly Body
1.Blogging can be a great way to get your message out, as long as you follow some basic rules. “Get the person you are trying to help to write.” “Be authentic.” “Use the blog as a platform to take a stand and incite action.”
2.Specific elements of emails are very important when attempting to get someone involved in a cause. “Make it personal.” “Make it informative.” “Make it direct.”
3.“The effectiveness of the effort can be traced to four steps or principles--Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action.” An easy pneumonic to help remember these four principles is “Focus + GET.” These are the four main elements of the Dragonfly Effect.
Question: Constructing a well written email is very important, but how do you create a subject line that will make people willing to read it?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1.For us the Dragonfly effect is “the elegance and efficacy of people who, through the passionate pursuit of their goals, discover that they can make a positive impact disproportionate to their resources. “ and “ takes small actions and create big movements”(xiii)
2.“When the action at the epicenter of the ripple effect is based on deep meaning, a multiplier effect can occur.” So through fully engaging in the technology, the social marketers can make a larger number of audience, and to bringing more attention and to the public.
3.“This book demonstrates that you don’t need money or power to cause seismic social change. With energy, focus, and a strong wireless signal, anything is possible” (xxiii). When we properly using the social media it can promoting a campaign to become more effective.
The Dragonfly Body
1.“A dragonfly travels with speed and directional only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.” The Dragonfly Effect telling that there includes four steps; focus, grab attention, take action, and engage at the beginning.
2.When we are using the blogs, videos, email, Facebook or something else, it can make remain authentic, and facilitate human to connection to each other. To using these social media to make to thousands of strangers people to know as well.
3.The final skill that the Dragonfly Effect engages in is taking action. In order for others to take action it must be made those things more easily and simply. Such as it is asking for donations or to register for a community members, those should be clear and easy it can make a big difference.
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. The dragonfly’s movement and the reality of achieving goes are combined to create a metaphor "small actions can create big movements." What this shoes is that even the smallest thing can make a big difference with what is going to happen.
2. Social marketing is a tool that anyone can use and even the smallest or simplest ideas can make a big change in what is going on Tweeting isn't just sharing about what you ate for breakfast this morning; Facebook isn't just for poking friends. You can leverage these social technologies, strategically and interactively, toward a specific goal that deeply matters to you"
3. Another concept is that money and power are no longer needed to be effective in making a change in something. His movement means that more people can be heard.
Dragon fly body
1. The first way to contact people by Sameer’s method would be by using email “detailing their challenges and ending with a clear call to action” (p.4) however people some times when they see mass email on there account will delete them
2. There are four skills, which include focus, grab attention, engage and take action. “When working together they achieve remarkable results.” (P 9)
3. Things have to be made simple and easy for other to take action. No matter what you are asking for if it is not easy people are going to give up.
Introduction-
ReplyDelete1. The four key skills to drawing on underlying truths found in psychological research are: focus, grab attention, engage, and take action. Using these will produce immense results, generating participation, and forming a movement.
2. Purposeful profit is created by “aligning the work they love with a profit oriented business model.” (p. xv) Organizations engaging in purposeful profit are evolving and are much more sustainable and generating a social good compared to traditional businesses.
3. An important concept of The Dragonfly Effect is the ripple effect. It has multiple meanings but “in this book we describe it as the simple idea that small acts can generate big change.” (p. xvi) The ripple effect is crucial in the concept of purposeful profit.
The Dragonfly Body-
1. The first steps taken by Team Sameer, was communicating via email. 48 hours after the emails were sent, and began circulating, 35,000 people received it, and were aware of Team Sameer. This demonstrates the power of email. It was successful because it was “…specific and non oriented: informing people about the situation, telling them what they can do, and asking them to spread the message even further.” (p. 6).
2. The dragonfly effect is made up of four skills, known as the wings. These include: focus, grab attention, engage, and take action. “The Dragonfly Effect relies on four distinct wings; when working together, they achieve remarkable results.” (p 9) Focus: identify a single concrete and measurable goal, grab attention: make someone look, engage: create a personal connection, take action: enable and empower others to take action.
3. A great way to gain a following during a campaign and keep the audience interested is to blog. “Sameer and Vinay both blogged throughout the course of their illnesses, and this served as a critical brand-building force for both teams. The blogs created a human connection and proved to be an easy, efficient, and authentic way to circulate the message,” (p. 11). This is an easy and inexpensive tool that allows for the integration of several other communication methods including downloadable information, customized banners, and email templates.
Question- What are some possible obstacles that one could face in developing a strategy similar to Team Sameer that were not
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. The dragonfly effect focuses on creating movements, and harnessing the ripple effect. The book also promises in the introduction to harnessing “stickiness”, that all powerful method of creating momentum and buzz around a new product, campaign, or brand. “We will reveal the secret to cultivating ‘stickiness’, so that your goal is not relegated to Internet oblivion but instead reaches an audience of people who will help propel it forward. Stickiness is an interesting concept to me, and I can’t wait to see how the authors will describe it in contrast to Malcolm Gladwell’s book on the subject, The Tipping Point.
2. In order to achieve happiness, one must also find meaningfulness. What is meaningful to an individual changes throughout the course of ones life thus what it means to be happy changes as well. “The meaning of happiness is not idiosyncratic, individualistic, or random- nor is it singular and stable. Happiness has a clear pattern, indicating that people are pursuing different things across their lifespans” (xv).
3. A good example of a business model that keeps their employees happy while still generating profit can be seen with salfesforce.com. Their 1-1-1 model has the company “contribute 1 percent of profits, 1 percent of equity, and 1 percent of employee hours back to the community it serves.” This keeps employees, and customers pleased with the company, while also ensuring their loyalty to it.
Introduction
ReplyDelete“The for-profit and nonprofit worlds are merging, creating an opportunity for masses of people who drive more profits and create greater good”(xxix) It is this merger of the nonprofit and the for-profit worlds that make Public Communications such a unique, extremely applicable major. We live in a world of conscious consumers and it is important to acknowledge them as so.
“There really is no better way to strengthen the connection between ourselves and our surroundings, fulfill our psychological and emotional needs, and, about all, create meaning in our lives than by cultivating social good.” (xxii) Creating social good makes people feel good and that is what is so great about social marketing. Instead or marketing a product, we are marketing movement and behavior change, we are marketing real human emotion.
“Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on other and over time.” (xvi) Social marketing is only effective when many people are involved and that is why the ripple effect is so important for us. People interactions with each are equal or even more important that the initial getting the world out.
The Dragonfly Body
“To understand how the team was so effective, consider each of these principles: Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action” (9) This is not a one step process and it is important to acknowledge that patience is required to execute a social marketing campaign. These steps make this a little easier.
“None of these methods would have been effective without the prior, contributing impact of the other steps driving the audience toward becoming active participants.” (12) You need to start with real problems that affect a group of people. If people cannot relate to your message they are not going to react to it.
“The technologies we have at our fingertips can enable us to share stores, mobilize support, and take action to change lives” (16) We need to stop looking at technology and social media as the enemy! They are here to stay and should be used for our advantage because they are the simplest and most cost efficient ways to reach large groups of people.
Question:
While I agree that social media is a great marketing tool, how do you use it to set yourself apart from other organizations and not just become another like on a facebook page? In other words how do you turn people from following a page on facebook to actually doing things to make a difference?
Body:
ReplyDelete1. The Dragon Fly effect can be defined by four steps or principles; focus, grab attention, take action and engage. When a campaign is able to follow these steps, there is a high potential for success. Team Sameer is an example of an organization that successfully used these steps together to generate interest and support. “None of these methods would have been effective without the prior, contributing impact of the other steps driving the audience toward becoming active participants.”
2. Secondly the power of email, and the deliberation before sending the email. I thought it was very impressive that Sameer's friends had a period of deliberation, and really acted as if the campaign they made for Sameer was for business. I also find it interesting that they had a target audience, "those who were well connected with others, those who were parents, and those who could relate to Sameer and his story."
3. Using the internet to share stories and information is an extremely powerful and simple way of connecting to the entire world. Team Sameer used this method in order to reach and mobilize more than 20,000 south Asians in a matter of weeks. "The idea that we could use technology to break down barriers and boundaries was very powerful. It was our way of connecting Sameer's friends and family from around the world to his memorial, which was a celebration of his life" (15).
Question: Which of the four wings will our class focus most of our attention on?
1. The Dragonfly Effect shows how much input you make in order to make a “big movement.” The four main skills are focus, grab attention, engage, and take action. This four steps make it easier for you to reach your goal.
ReplyDelete2. A ripple effect is when a small action has a big impact on others. It starts from the center and expands outwards. When you are the center of a ripple effect, it is called an emotional contagion.
3. “Design thinking takes a methodical approach to program and product development.” This helps perfect projects and “encourages a human-centric orientation, hypotheses testing, and frequent, rapid prototyping.”
Dragonfly Effect Body:
1. Designing a concise, and persuasive email is the most effect way to reach and persuade people. A mass direct email is the best way to start action immediately.
2. Focus: Identify a single and measurable goal that’s attainable.
a. Grab Attention: Make it stand out
b. Engage: Let them in, tell stories, show pictures/videos
c. Take Action: Make it easy for people to make a positive and sustainable change.
3. Traditional media, such as TV, telemarketing, radio, and newspapers, help build relationships with the target audience and help effect change at a faster rate.
Question:
Is there a specific method we should follow to help write an engaging email?
1.Singular goals are the most attainable as they are stable and palpable. Our social networking abilities are making it simple and easy to collect supports and join forces in order to attain a single goal. “In the past ten years, social networking technologies have revolutionized the way we communicate and collaborate online. Each day 175 million of us long on to Facebook. Each minute twenty hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.” The Dragon Fly Effect, is emphasizing how easy we have made communicating for our selves, which used to be the most difficult piece of campaigns to achieve. Expression of self and ability to learn to use social media to your advantage, we have learned, can be the tools to success.
ReplyDelete2.Work and pleasure can be found in the same job. We have learned that not only is it possible to love what you do, but many social campaigns used to operate under the ideas that if the campaign was collecting profit that they were not necessarily benefitting the “greater good”. “Although most people still believing that creating meaning or greater good in the world doesn’t align with profit making, we have seen many people and organization that have created a golden quadrant of “purposeful profit”. But aligning the work they love with a profit oriented business model, they have evolved the organization into something that is much stronger much more sustainable, and much more effective at generating greater social good.”
3. It all starts with a singular, simple idea. We see that in most experimental situations a minor idea or singular stable goal can be the best path to success. A small idea resulting in a wide reach result is what social marketing campaign professionals call the ripple effect. “In this book, we describe it as the simple idea that small acts can create big change. Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others and over time.”
Body:
1.We have been equipped with tools through social media that can greatly help us to broaden our reach. One of the most successful tools that we have seen used is the blogger sphere. The dragon fly effect clearly depicts that blogging can be a more communicative way to campaign especially when there is an emotional aspect of your campaign. Blogging not only allows the material to be more personable but also allows the reader to identify with the writer and be inquisitive in their analysis of the material.
2.Emails are an effective way to communicate. We saw this in Sameers campaign and the wide reaching success it had. Using tools like email can make it possible to communicate with a lot more people at once while still allowing the message to feel personal and not as scripted as other mediums of communication such as a mass post or information pamphlet.
The four steps of importance in this chapter were emphasized as Focus yourself and others, Grab the attention of directed audience, engage your audience, and then take action.
Question:
In the reading we see that passion should play a large role your campaign and message. As consumers, what do we define as the biggest indicators of passion in a message, person or campaign.
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. The big question on everyone’s minds in this new age of social media is can it be used for the better and is it effective in creating change. The authors claim that there is replicable framework that prove yes! Social media can be very effective.
2. One key aspect in creating successful change with social media is engagement, meaning simply pressing send on an email is not guaranteed to work.
3. Gap’s innovative “give and get” program, now a web-based system created engagement and an emotional commitment from the customers to gap. Gap created a good sale for its customers and promised 5% giveback of the profits earned to charity. This is a very effective use of the web and social media to engage customers and create a relationship.
Question: How can you create a viral phenomenon while still being personalized and participatory?
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ReplyDeleteIntroduction
ReplyDelete1. Happiness is not always what you think it is, it is not something that you should chase, but happiness should be obtained through the meaningfulness that you give to what you have in your life now.
2. The dragonfly is the only insect able to propel itself in any direction, with tremendous speed and force, whens its four wings working in concert. Almost anything is possible when everything is working for you in the same positive direction.
3. Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others and over time. When the center of the ripple effect has a positive based effect it can keep rippling for years to come affecting many people.
Dragonfly Body
1. A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony. These four wings represent focus, grab attention, engage and take action. These four steps help make it easier to succeed in reaching your goals.
2. The power of email can be so strong and overpowering that it can reach people all over the globe in a matter of seconds helping to reach any goal that is to be attained. Designing a concise, and persuasive email is the most effect way to reach and persuade people. A mass direct email is the best way to start action immediately.
3. Big revolutions start with simple ideas. This quote puts to point that the spawn of a great revolutionizing idea can stem from such a simple idea, as long there is someone to help follow through with it and push it forward with the help of others.
Question
What is one of the greatest "big revolutionary" simple ideas to ever come about?
1. The Dragon Fly uses four key skills; Focus, Grab Attention, Engage, and Take Action. All four of these skills must be used together in order for the goal to be reached and achieved. Using these four skills is similar to how a dragonfly must use multiple techniques in unison in order to fly, “a dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.” (pg. 9)
ReplyDelete2. “Small actions can create big movements,” the introduction introduces the idea that big goals must be achieved through the combination of small steps. Realistic steps combined with each other will result in an end goal that is achievable. Unrealistic, over the top actions, will not be nearly as effective.
3. “This phenomena whereby you emotions you feel infect others is called emotional contagion.” Having the ability to change and persuade peoples happiness was an interesting topic for me to learn about.
Q: How have your personal experiences with social media influenced how you teach this class?
Three observations from the Dragonfly Effect Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. Consistent with the title, the dragonfly is an important piece to the metaphors used. The dragonfly is the “only insect able to propel itself in any direction with extreme speed and force when its four wings are working together.” The use of the dragonfly highlights the importance of “integrated effort.”
2. The ripple effect is important in many areas of study including economics and sociology, but also in the spread of information throughout communities. “Research shows that ripple effects result from small actions that have a positive significant impact on others over time.”
3. The idea of “emotional contagion” is also an important concept that is important to understand in relation to spreading your personal goal and engaging others in it. It is crucial for two reasons: your feelings of happiness can spread to others which essentially mobilize them to do what you want, and it explains the importance of social good which is often related to being happy. “Emotional contagion ripples through social networks, and its important to understand how the contagion of positive emotions can lead others to help.”
Three observations from The Dragonfly Body:
ReplyDelete1.The Dragonfly Model relies on four parts or “wings.” 1. Focus: “identify a single concrete and measurable goal.” 2. Grab attention: “Make someone look.” 3. Engage: “create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions through deep empathy, authenticity, and telling a story.” 4. Take Action: “enable and empower others to take action.”
2.“A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all four of its wings are moving in harmony.” Although each component of FGET are important, it is all aspects together that accomplishes “something seismic.”
3.Technology is a great asset to us when creating social change. “The story of Sameer and Vinay is one with a remarkable impact: it shows how the technologies at our fingertips can enable us to share stories, mobilize support, and take action to change our lives.”
Introduction
ReplyDelete1. “It is clear from our research that, in contrast to what you may think. Promoting a personal goal is inherently social. To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy,” so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers.” (pg xiv)
2. “Although most people still believe that creating meaning or greater good in the world doesn’t align with profit making, we have seen many people and organizations that have created a golden quadrant of “purposeful profit.” By aligning the work they love with a profit-oriented business model, they have evolved the organization into something that is much stronger, much more sustainable, and much more effective at generating greater social good. “ (pg xv)
3. “The dragonfly effect is for anyone motivated to act on, propel, and accomplish social good. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an employee of a for-profit company, a volunteer at a nonprofit, or simply an individual trying to improve someone else’s life, you can learn about the world of possibility available to you when you leverage social media appropriately…” (pg xxiii)
The Dragonfly Body
1.The dragonfly effect is very effective. “It relies on four distinct wings when working together, they achieve remarkable results.” (pg 9)
-Focus, grab attention, engage and take action
2. Lessons from team Sameer and Team Vinay were very inspiring and informational. The eight different steps by Robert Chatwani were, stay focused; develop a single goal. Tell your story. Act, then think. Design for collaboration. Employ empowerment marketing. Measure one metric. Try, fail, try again, succeed. And don’t ask for help; require it.
3. I thought this quote was very realistic. “Although each wing was important individually, it was the integrated impact of the four wings working in concert that led to Team Sameer’s disproportionate results. None of these methods would have been effective without the prior, contributing impact of the other steps driving the audience toward becoming active participates.” (pg 13)
Question: How can companies help inspire their employees more?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. "-promoting a personal goal is inherently social. To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates "contagious energy", so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers," (xvi).
-The Dragonfly Effect does a good job of providing statistics that demonstrate how much social media content is out there. To put out an effective message, you must put out a message that is going to stand out among the masses and most importantly, stick with your audience.
2. "The for-profit and nonprofit worlds are merging, creating an opportunity for masses of people who drive more profits and create a greater good," (xix).
-Now more than ever, the worlds of business and philanthropy are merging. In this day and age it is possible to make money and create a positive impact in the world.
3. "-humans are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their sense of self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others)," (xx).
-Effective social media messages play into all three of these basic needs of fulfillment. If you tap into each one with your message, you are more likely to receive positive results.
The Dragonfly Body.
ReplyDelete1. "Collectively, they decided they would attack Sameer's sickness as they would any business challenge," (3).
-To create change, apply traditional techniques to non-traditional goals or campaigns. Campaigns for social-good should implement business sales strategies.
2. '"We often tried to think of the traditional way to do something and considered what would happen if we did the exact opposite- reversing the rules," says Robert,' (13).
-This technique was successful because it made the campaign something freshly innovative and as a result, memorable for the audience.
3. Lessons from Team Sammer and Team Vinay. #8. "Don't ask for help; require it", (17).
-The correct language a wording will obtain the results you are looking for.
Q: How do you make a specific message something relate-able to a diverse demographic?
Introduction:
ReplyDelete1. It is interesting that this is the first attempt to study the effectiveness of social media in creating position social change. This book was written in 2010, yet I feel as though people have been launching social change campaigns for years and using social media to do it. Social media was incredibly powerful during Barack Obama’s campaign and various grassroots efforts. In fact, as this book was being written, #OCCUPY was launching its incredibly powerful campaign. It is surprising to me that this is the first attempt to nail down social media as integral in a campaign.
2. The author writes that personal stories are important. She writes that by telling your story to promote your cause, “your personal goal then becomes collective.” This is interesting because it relies heavily on the assumption that the larger community shares a common sense of empathy. This is not something I necessarily consider to be true and I would think this formula is far more complicated and accounts for apathy as well.
3. The introduction focuses a lot on personal happiness. It says that a goal that operates outside of the person’s sense of contentment will be not successful. It says that money, if spent on others, can buy you happiness. I never necessarily think about social change campaigns as having anything to do with the influencers’ sense of happiness, but moreover, I see social change campaigns as effecting change in the degree of community happiness.
Dragonfly Body:
1. I think it’s interesting that the authors use Sameer’s story as a “blueprint” for the rest of their book. This was an attempt to incite behavior (bone marrow donation) on a mass-participatory level. It ended up being successful. Sameer’s success points towards a larger possibility of successes in other areas of social change. The only difference is time. There was an urgency in Sameer’s case which leant to the success.
2. Something really interesting that the authors write refers to the body of the dragonfly. They write, “Metaphorically, then, the central body of the dragonfly should embody the heart and soul of the concept of person you aiming to help.” This ties into their previous statement about the happiness of the influencer and also earlier concepts we learns about formative research. Your goal should have the spirit of the individual you intend to help, therefore, as an influencer, you should understand that person.
3. In reading this book, I am the greatest example of the power of a personal story. The authors are simultaneously telling us to rely on a personal story to affect social change and also they are relying on Sameer’s personal story to affect our receipt of the message. I am personally transformed by Sameer’s story and therefore, more likely to continue reading and to believe in the message.
Question: How does the influencer become a part of the message if they are not affected by that social wrong?
1. The Dragon Fly is all about utilizing effort however that maybe categorized to achieve a simple focused, concrete goal. Using four key skills to master social media, the Dragon Fly Effect is also said to make you a "happier person"
ReplyDelete2. "Purposeful profit" sounds like a great way to hang out with the non profit crowd while still making a profit. Aligning a love of something also helps create a more powerful sustainable business. pg. xv
3. The Dragon Fly Effect is a road map to doing something meaningful purposeful, thoughtful, and well designed. The book aims to synchronize ideas so that messages can be more effective. Following an order seems to be the base "focus, grab attention, engage, and take action"
Q: How is the ripple effect measured, and is its reach limited by personal actions/lack there of
The Body
1. An email that inspires action and spurs change: Make it personal, make it informative, make it direct. I feel these should be used i nearly all situations, why would you not want to.
2. The results: Vinay and Sameer both found matches. This proves the power of the net, the dragon fly model really worked. Making sure each wing is working in harmony is curtail.
3. Harnessing the power of Blogging. Personality is huge, being authentic has both its positives and negatives. Depending on audience the approach to authenticity can draw in more people, and lastly using the platform both ways. Being active and voicing opinions to get people going.
Q: The transplant story was powerful and meaningful, I feel as though different campaigns will not spread as easily?
Introduction
ReplyDelete-The Dragonfly effect helps us break down culture media. It helps “teach you four key skills-focus, grab attention, engage and take action which you will use to create colossal results.” It also helps discuss how making sure your message is remembered and not just forgotten.
-The next step is making sure the audience is engaged after hearing your message. This process is completed through steps that not only reach out to the audience but also in return reach back towards the messenger as well.
-The book helps us understand insight and what makes people happy, broken down further then just the standard perception. Along with that social marketing job is to both keep people happy and leave a positive mark on what its task is.
Body
-The Dragonfly’s body shows four key concepts which include, “Focus, which identifies a goal, Grab attention as in make someone look, Engage to create a personal connection, and take action which empowers and enable others to take action”. These make up the wings of the dragonfly.
-It also discusses how all though there is four wings, they can not work alone, saying that all for wings must be used at the same time in order for it to work and success to occur. Without this nothing can be possible or completed.
-By targeting and using the channels that people most frequently use such as google, youtube, email, social media we are more efficiently able to convey our message. This tops over advertising, which you do not want to do because they are more likely to then just ignore your ads.
Question
- What are more examples of when one wing doesn’t work they all fail?