Join OCEAN! The Online Community Environmental Action Network
posted under Announcements, Marine Conservation |
David Shiffman of “WhySharksMatter” recently unveiled the Online Community Environmental Action Network (OCEAN).
OCEAN is an organized method, utilizing all the resources of the internet, to spread the word about important environmental causes. Membership is free, and members will be asked to help promote certain blog posts, petitions, multimedia resources, and other conservation websites using a variety of resources (Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and Neatorama). If successful, it will allow the conservation movement to reach a wider audience.
To make this project successful, you can:
1) Write a blog post about OCEAN directing people to the link above for more information. The more members of the general public who hear about this project, the more successful it will be. We reach an enormous combined audience and if we pool our resources a lot of good can be done.
2) Become an OCEAN member and help spread the word via the online resources mentioned above! Anyone can join! E-mail at WhySharksMatter AT Gmail DOT com with the subject “OCEAN Application”, and I’ll send you the information!
3) Send David Shiffman content to distribute to the general OCEAN membership! Send an e-mail with the subject “OCEAN content to distribute.” Anyone can submit blog posts, petitions, or conservation websites; the best information will be shared with the OCEAN general membership.
Here’s how it works:
Members of OCEAN will help spread the word about certain blog posts, petitions, multimedia resources, and conservation websites. They will do this via the following online resources:
1) Facebook. Many people have a facebook account (I daresay most). Facebook has an easy link-share feature (indeed, some of you found this blog because of Andrew or I using the link-share feature). If you post a link to your facebook profile and include a brief personal message about it, all of your facebook friends can see it in their minifeed and some of them will click on it.
2) Digg. Digg is slightly more complicated to use, but if you have a facebook account, you have a Digg account. Basically, Digg is a community of people combing the internet for cool sites and voting on how cool they are (i.e. “digging” them). If lots of people (i.e. OCEAN members) Digg a site, then it will move up in popularity and the entire enormous Digg community will see it. Though any site added to Digg is technically viewable by the whole Digg community, the best way to spread information quickly is through the “Today’s Most Dugg” site, and to reach that we need a lot of OCEAN members to “Digg” a site.
3) Neatorama. Neatorama is a community blog that is meant to bring the “best of the internet” to its readers. It allows all of its registered readers to submit a website for consideration and then vote on whether a post is “Neat” or “Not” for 24 hours. If enough people vote it “Neat”, it is featured on the main page. Registering for Neatorama is free and only takes a minute.
4) Twitter. Twitter is a popular micro-blogging site, and thanks to services like TinyUrl it is possible to share links to those following your Tweets. This is probably the least effective way for someone to help spread the word if you don’t already have a Twitter account since it takes time to build up a following, but if you already have a Twitter account you can help!
E-mails will be sent to OCEAN’s general membership with a list of the best blog posts, petitions, and conservation websites. Each will have a direct link to post in your facebook profile, a link to where you can “Digg” it, and a link to where you vote “Neat” on Neatorama. Twitter users will receive a TinyUrl for those of you on Twitter.
OCEAN members will document what they helped to share and give me this documentation. Each month, the OCEAN member who helped the most will win a prize.
People who put lots of dedication and energy into OCEAN will be rewarded with leadership positions to help with the day-to-day operations.
Note: Content related to extremist groups or links that demonize people on the other side of the debate will not be shared. The primary focus is marine conservation. Send an e-mail to WhySharksMatter AT Gmail DOT com with the subject “OCEAN Application” and join the movement!
