Britt Bravo is on a much-deserved vacation, so I'm stepping in for her to keep news and information about the social change web coming your way!

The UK Catalyst Awards highlight examples of individuals or groups putting social technology to use in connecting people and doing good. "It doesn't matter if you're a community group, a charity, in business, or just doing something smart in your own time – we can all do our bit." These stories offer ideas and inspiration about innovative uses of social technology that you or your organization can learn from.

But who won? The eight winners include:

Social media practitioners must understand what not to do in the space, as the grassroots are extraordinarily unforgiving and interconnected. Don't be a weed. To wit, I received a message from a friend on Facebook, and immediately it struck me that he was shooting himself in the social media foot with an uzi. The message which I received was sent to 18 persons whose first name begins with the letter R. One can only assume that this instance of his message recurred many times, hence the uzi. It comes across as spam, however well-targeted it might be. It is a formula for failure.