I find it’s pretty rare that you come across good, fresh case studies of how non-profit organizations are using social media. And I’m not talking about “we use Facebook, too.” I mean something that shows how an NGO actually managed to get a concrete, measurable result with the help of social media.

Tactical Tech managed to do a whole whole movie worth of case studies:
http://sm4good.com/2010/04/19/social-media-case-studies-nonprofit-organi...

From Facebook and Twitter to Google Maps and SMS, we've got loads of new tools that we can use to communicate. But how do we use those tools to create real-world change?

10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action is an independent film that documents inspiring info-activisim stories and uses the lessons learned in those stories to create a set of 10 pieces of advice to help aspiring do-gooders to plan their own information acticvism. The film is currently being screened all over the world.

I recently wrote about the British documentary “Us Now” and what I thought about its content. In my latest blog entry I'm talking about what can be learned from the web site and why it provides an excellent lesson in how to make advocacy films that extend beyond the screening room: http://sm4good.com/2009/11/24/open-source-documentary-advocate

Hello from Toronto,

There are a number of global social tech and community engagement awareness days throughout the year, so I thought I'd help shine a brighter light on the awesome social tech community. Based on the success of the Toronto screenings I organized, I thought it would be fun for social tech and social change makers to self-organize screenings of Us Now around the world to inspire new opportunities for collaboration across government, education, technology and volunteer communities.

Here are the cities that have hosted Us Now screenings:

Portland screening at OneWebDay PDX

Did you know that new car smells and new shower curtain smells are from poisonous chemicals off-gassing from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic? Or that children can be exposed to phthalates, poisonous chemicals that PVC releases, by chewing on vinyl toys? I sure didn't. Even more disturbing, PVC plants are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color.

The nice folks at Free Range Studios whose Principal, Jonah Sachs, I interviewed for the Big Vision Podcast, wanted me to let folks know about a new 3-minute movie they've created for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice to teach people about the dangers of PVC called, Sam Suds and the Case of PVC, the Poison Plastic. I thought NetSquared readers would appreciate this example of using an Internet movie for advocacy.