This summer, Mashable (where I am editor) has been part of a major charity drive: The Summer of Social Good. It’s been a huge initiative on our part to use the power of social media and social networks to do some good for the world. The money raised will go to four charities:

- Livestrong
- Oxfam America
- The Humane Society
- World Wildlife Foundation

So far, the Summer of Social Good has raised over $30,000, In two days, the closing event and conference will take place and the Summer of Social Good will end.

That’s why I am going to make the case for donating by this Friday, August 28th. I could list a million reasons why you should donate – and you can come up with a million more – but these seven reasons really call out to me, and I hope they call out to you. Please donate to the summer of social good.

1. Because We Have an Obligation to the World

We’ve taken so much from this world, it only seems natural that we’re obligated to give back to help it. There are millions of people that aren’t even fortunate enough to have a hot dinner, not to mention a computer and an Internet connection. If we don’t take care of each other and the planet we live on, we’re in for serious trouble.

2. Because It’s So Easy to Do

The web’s made it easier than ever to give back. PayPal, electronic banking, and social apps (i.e. Causes). Or, in the case of the Summer of Social Good, widgets:

Yes, all you have to do is click “donate now.” I will give you a strong thumbs-up (or a mini-party) if you do.

3. Because You’d Be Donating to Four Great Charities That Create Major Social Change

If you have never heard of LiveStrong, the Humane Society, Oxfam America, or the World Wildlife Foundation, here’s your quick charitable education. Each cause is beyond worthy of your support:

1. Livestrong: More than 12 million worldwide are diagnosed w/ cancer and 8mil will die from the disease each year. We will end the stigma of cancer and turn cancer victims into cancer survivors, build an international grassroots movement, take cancer from isolation to collaboration and ,together with world leaders, will transform cancer from obscurity to a global priority.

2. Humane Society: Established in 1954, The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals—a world that will also benefit people. We are America’s mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond. Our mission statement: Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty.

3. Oxfam America: One in six people worldwide now suffers from chronic hunger. More than 2.5 billion people live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day—and the numbers are growing. But we at Oxfam believe that it doesn’t have to be this way. If we work together, we can turn the numbers in the other direction. Along with individuals and local groups in over 100 countries, we save lives, help people overcome poverty, and fight for social justice.

4. WWF: Our environment and earth’s future is in great danger. It is estimated that, over 75% of the world’s marine stocks are currently over fished, we lose 36 football fields of rainforest on the earth every minute and we will possibly lose up to 10,000 species this year. NOW is the time for action. WWF needs your help to strengthen global awareness of these issues and ensure that the best possible solutions are implemented for a sustainable future.

You’re saving the world by helping these charities. Period.

4. Because You’re Proving Social Media Can Change the World

Ever hear someone dismiss Facebook or Twitter as dumb wastes of time? This is your chance to prove them wrong.

The Social Media Smackdown and Twestival have been great demonstrations of the power of social media in changing the world. If you haven’t had the chance to show the world that social media really is a driving force in our society with these charities, then now’s your chance with a donation to the Summer of Social Good.

5. Because You Don’t Have to Even Donate Money to Help

Wait, what?! Isn’t the Summer of Social Good a charity drive? Yes, yes it is, but that does not mean you can’t help these great charities via social media in other ways. In fact, my colleague Sharon Feder highlighted 5 great ways to help the Summer of Social Good. I’m going to summarize the first four right now:

1. Donate.

2. Retweet: Ford Motors is donating $1.50 for each retweet of Top 10 YouTube Videos for Social Good and $2.00 for each retweet of HOW TO: Support Social Good on Your Blog. 30 seconds and you’ll have helped donate $3.50 to charity.

3. Watch a Video: Ford is once again displaying its generosity by donating $1 for every video view of the Ford Fiesta Movement video. Watch a video, save the planet.

4. Attend the Summer of Social Good Conference This Friday.

6. Because You Can Help Us Understand The Web’s Impact on Charitable Giving

Social media and charitable giving have been uncharted waters, and we’ve learned a lot from running this campaign. However, your input, thoughts, and donations on the Social Good survey will help improve charitable giving on the web for years to come.

7. Because We Need You

I hope you will support me and the Mashable team in our efforts to change the world for the better. I cannot even begin to explain my passion for making this world better. I hope you have a similar passion, no matter how you choose to make your mark.

If you’ve been following my Twitter account, you might have noticed some new Post.ly links, pictures of cute animals, and even a photostream of the Congressional Roundtable I attended yesterday.

That’s because I have set up a new, complementary blog to BenParr.com, powered by Posterous, a YCombinator-funded company. The purpose of the Posterous blog is primarily to share photos and the little gems that I find on the web.

It’s a more lighthearted blog – thus why I am going to consistently post pictures of cute animals to lighten your day. But when I am on the go, I will use it over TwitPic or YFrog to share what I am doing or who I am meeting with. I hope it better organizes what I’m doing and gives me a new avenue to share the best things I find on the web.

BenParr.com will still be my primary blog. I will continue to post my insights, my interviews, and my projects on this blog. I will post commentary that I don’t place on Mashable here. In fact, you will soon see an increase in blog posts on BenParr.com due to a new project/experiment I’m hoping to announce this week.

If you’re interested in keeping up my Posterous posts/photos, you can subscribe here. I also suggest subscribing to BenParr.com because there’s a lot of new and useful content coming soon.

- Ben

Today I was reading through my usual news sources on the train when I stumbled across this article by Zed Shaw on Hacker News. Aptly titled “I’m Moving To San Francisco, I Need A Job,” the well-known programmer (and nemesis to Ruby on Rails developers everywhere) announces that he’s moving from NYC and wants to be situated with a job and a place by September 1st.

For the normal individual, if he or she made that type of post on his or her personal blog, nobody would hear, and thus nobody would listen. But that won’t be the case for Zed Shaw. He’s going to get interviews every day he’s in SF and he’s going to have the leverage to choose a company and a job that suits him – not to mention compensation.

So why can he do this? Why does he have this type of leverage? Two comments in the Hacker News thread caught my attention:

This is why having a well-known online presence is important.

It’s worth noting that it’s an online presence backed by serious code, which makes Zed worth listening to (and hiring). It seems like many online presences have the attitude without supplying the code.

• Zed has strong visibility in programming and technology circles. His up-front nature, his blogging, and his wit have all earned him an online persona.
• Zed can back it up with some damn good code (*cough*Mongrel*cough*

His abilities are the foundation of his online image, but his communication skills cannot be underestimated either. Combined, they allow him to do this sort of thing. And there are plenty of other people who can do the same thing if they need to get a job, recruit new employees, etc.

I cannot stress enough the importance of building an online presence. Yes, it can be egotistical, but only if you let that happen. You may think it’s not important, but when you’re handed a pink slip without a large network to tap into, you’ll be regretting it.

I’ll write a more detailed post on building your online presence in the future, but in the meantime, keep networking, keep writing, keep tweeting, and stay relevant.

Oh, and most importantly, build something of value. There is a reason people listen to Zed, after all.

[Image thanks to Adewale Oshineye on Flickr]

I know, more video on BenParr.com! How did I find myself in front of all these cameras, anyway?

Last month, I was honored to be part of a panel for The Commonwealth Club. The subject was how to utilize social media for small business and non-profits. The hour-long panel included myself and some other great new friends: Adam Lasnik of Google, Jeremey Toeman of Stage 2 Consulting, Chris Lindland of Cordarounds, and of course our wonderful moderator, Sarah Lacy (yeah…you might want to buy her book: Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good).

We discussed specific social media tools, absolute no-nos, shared some of our personal experiences, and answered questions from the audience. Like I warned before, it’s an hour-long video, but it’s an hour filled with awesome sauce. Yeah, I said it. Enjoy.

Last week, I had the great pleasure of interviewing a tech entrepreneur and actor, Greg Grunberg, for a piece on Mashable: How Heroes Star Greg Grunberg Dominates Social Media.

The half-hour interview includes crazy hand motions, discussion about his iPhone app Yowza, and what’s coming up in the next season of Heroes. So take a gander and give me your thoughts in the comments:

On Tuesday, I was invited onto CNN Live to discuss how Iranians have been utilizing social media tools like Twitter and YouTube to communicate about the Iran election protests. I have been covering the subject extensively over at Mashable.

The below is the recorded video of my appearance. I was on the “Blogger Bunch” with Fausta Wertz (FaustasBlog.com) and Brad Friedman (BradBlog.com). Although I thought it would focus on social tools and Iran, I had to pull out a bit of my Poli Sci education and discuss Iran’s stability and the Grand Ayatollah.

I will once again appear on CNN Live Friday at 12:00 PM ET/9:00 AM PT, this time to discuss the iPhone 3G S and iPhone applications. Now, how did I do? Please let me know so I do better tomorrow!

Recommended Reading:

- HOW TO: Track Iran Election with Twitter and Social Media

- U.S. Government Asks Twitter to Stay Up for #IranElection Crisis

- Mindblowing #IranElection Stats: 221,744 Tweets Per Hour at Peak

The widget below is a live stream of all of the pictures taken on my iPhone while moving across the country. You can also follow the stream by following Twitter account.

P.S. – Here’s the widget

I have several major announcements to make, many of which you have seen if you’ve been following my Facebook or my Twitter stream.

1. I have left Spine-health:

If you did not know, I was the Interactive Content Manager for Spine-health, the web’s leading patient resource on back pain and chronic pain. I did everything from SEO (search engine optimization) to usability to adding new doctor-written content to the website.

I have nothing but the most profound respect for Stephanie Burke, Sylvia Marten, and the Spine-health team. However, I decided it was time for some changes in my life. It has been a great learning experience, and I am glad to have left on great terms.

2. I am now Associate Editor at Mashable:

I have been an occasional writer for Mashable since August 2008. But perhaps you’ve noticed a recent influx of articles from me in March, especially on weekends. Well that’s because I was training for a new role, as associate editor at Mashable. Mashable, for those who do not know, is a leading news and resource blog on social media and web technology. Now I get to talk about, debate, and discuss social media like Twitter, Facebook, iPhone applications, and more.

I can’t wait to discuss social media with the world! Interested in my writing? You can always find my work at my Mashable Author Page.

3. I have started an analytics and consulting firm:

Mashable won’t be my only job. I have opened up a consulting firm, Engage Analytics, which will provide strategic and consulting services in three specific areas:

• Website Optimization and Usability
• Web Analytics
• Web and Social Media Marketing

For more details (and a rough look at the still-being-built website, visit here.

4. I am co-hosting Tech&Beer, a live tech entertainment show:

In the next month, Matt Schlicht and I will be launching Tech&Beer, a twice-weekly live tech entertainment show. On the show, Matt and I will bring aboard tech personalities, entrepreneurs, and celebrities as co-hosts. We will interview them and discuss the week’s major technology-related events with them. We will use audience questions and topics to fuel the show. And as the title may indicate, we will drink beer and have a little fun as well!

Each episode will air live on Ustream.tv as well as be recorded via Vimeo. If you’re interested in the show (either as a co-host, sponsor, or interested fan), be sure to email Mazy Kazerooni, our producer, at mazy[at]techandbeer.com.

Also, follow the Techandbeer Twitter account.

5. I am moving to Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay:

The final announcement, and perhaps the most significant, is that I am relocating from Chicagoland to the heart of Silicon Valley. I’ve lived in Illinois my entire life, with brief stints in Santa Barbara, Croatia, D.C., and Thailand. Chicago has been great, but I need a chance of scenery.

The Tech&Beer show will be broadcast from Mountain View, CA, and I will be covering stories for Mashable from the silicon technology hub. I leave for San Fran/the valley on April 13th.

I will have more to announce and discuss in the next few weeks, but wanted to let you all know now. . Thanks for your support. I’ll try to post more about all of this soon.

There were a few interesting conversations yesterday and today on the role of “Internet presence” in the job hunt. Will a blog help you get a job? What about an online resume? Should you beef up your LinkedIn account in case employers look at it?

The omniscient blogger Robert Scoble started with a list of ways to socially network if you are laid off. Then he stated that “if you don’t have a blog, you don’t have a resume,” which led to this argument over his words.

Sorry I had to go through the history of a conversation, but I needed to frame the picture. A post on Mashable by Dan Schawbet discussing how to use social media to build an online resume also piqued my interest.

All of this conversation needs to be filtered. We need to ask the big question:

To answer that question, I need to say this: what you put online isn’t going to get you a job. It’s what you have accomplished and what the interviewers believe you could accomplish that will get you the job. Having a blog on marketing isn’t going to get you a marketing position at Apple if your competition has successfully executed major marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. What a blog will do is accentuate your experience, your strengths, and leave a lasting impression.

So what do I suggest? Be passionate and be professional. Employers will indeed Google search you, so make sure those inappropriate pictures never, ever get taken and put online. After that, just do what excites you. Creating a blog when you hate to write is a waste of your time and the time of a potential employer. It’s clear as day whether or not you put time into your website. Pointing out your accomplishments in a video or an about page can help, but it only helps if you’ve actually accomplished something.

So instead of worrying about what Scoble is saying about online presence, focus on making solid, meaningful accomplishments and conveying that experience when you finally sit down with that interviewer.

Image credit to stayrudee at Flickr

Internet celebrity is a unique, rather odd phenomenon. We as a culture (I’m talking U.S. here) have an almost unhealthy fascination with the latest Britney Spears news or an unusual admiration for Samuel L. Jackson. As you might expect, this phenomenon applies to Internet culture as well.

We Internet nerds are no exception. We have given people like Tay Zonday millions of page views (and recording deals) and shower lifecasters such as iJustine with abnormal amounts of praise and love. We’re just a strange culture, aren’t we? And even more so, a lot of us would love this kind of attention, even if we aren’t willing to admit it.

Come on, who doesn’t want hundreds of thousands of readers for their blog? (And yeah, I know a lot of you out there want to be admired by strange guys playing WoW in their basements. Seriously!).

So, with the help of Sarah Austin of Pop17, I’ve compiled seven different themes for how people become Internet celebrities. Most are obvious, a few are Internet-specific, and a few more are more confusing than a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

(Thank you for your time Sarah!)

1) Do something unusual, something people have never seen
Unlike general celebrity culture, Internet culture seems to place high value on being original and unique. Doing something that nobody else can do or has ever seen is going to give you a better shot at being an Internet celebrity.

Example: Tay Zonday
You just don’t expect the deep and booming voice to come out of his mouth, and the lyrics are simple and catchy. Put both together, and you have something unique, addictive, and original. It helped propel Tay to commercials, record deals, and Internet stardom.

2) Do it by complete accident
There’s millions of YouTube videos, blogs, startups, and people on the Internet. What separates a few from the rest? Sometimes, it’s just dumb luck. You may not be shooting for stardom, but because of a combination of hilarity, uniqueness, and dumb luck (in some cases, back luck), your face spreads across the Internet.

Example: Gary Brolsma (Numa Numa Kid)
All he really did was lip sync and make awkward dance movements. I’m pretty sure 80% of guys have done that at a club, half of those caught on camera. But his video had just the right amount of head-scratching hilarity to propel him to unwanted Internet celebrity. After years of saying it ruined his life, he of course cashed a check and made a second video.

3) Be strange. Very strange.
Just be…weird. You make yourself memorable, and that’s a key to sticking around. Sometimes you can make yourself so memorable that people will want to burn the image out of their heads.

Example: Chris Crocker
I don’t have to post the video for you to understand the strangeness – you’ve already seen the “leave Britney alone” video enough times already. It’s become an Internet phenomenon with 23 million views. Even if he did do it as an act, it doesn’t matter – the effect is still the same. You know he is because it was one of the strangest videos you’ve ever seen.

4) Work your ass off
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Samuel L. Jackson didn’t become a star by laying on the couch all day. And Internet celebrity rarely occurs without creating lots of content, connecting with fans, building a brand, and sleeping half the recommended amount. Working your ass off does actually pay off. Seriously.

Example: Sarah Austin.
I had to suck up at some point during this article, right? But really, when you’re editing videos at 2:00 AM to get things just right, you know you’re talking to someone who wants success and will go through the grinder to get it. To be honest, a lot of the people who are popular on YouTube and on the blogosphere work ridiculous hours…

Don’t worry, we’ll talk about life balance in a future article.

5) Be really attractive, preferable in the form of a woman.
Do you really think Natalie Portman or Megan Fox would be on the big screen and in demand without having the looks to back up their acting skills? Having looks that make guys or girls oodle over you is simply an asset. Period. And unfortunately, there is a double standard based on gender on this rule as well.

Example: Justine Ezeraik
iJustine is a lifecaster. She’s also one of the top ten most followed people on Twitter and landed her own show, among other things. She has quietly built a mini-empire out of her lifecasting and her face. To build that empire (and that insane following), she has used two major assets – Tireless work ethic and attractiveness. I’m sorry, Justine just wouldn’t be an Internet celebrity if she had looks closer to that of the wicked witch. Guys go ga-ga for curvy blondes.

(Since I haven’t met my sucking up quota yet: Sarah Austin is also gorgeous)

6) Be passionate about your work
Being overly passionate about what you’re doing and what you love simply bleeds through your screen. Really, that’s all there is to it.

Example: Gary Vaynerchuk
This man loves wine like Favre loves football. Okay, dumb analogy, but you get the point. Vaynerchuk has built a brand by simply being passionate about his work, no matter where he is or who he is with. I can’t remember the last time he’s been off his game. And why is that? Because he is the same passionate wine man off camera as he is on camera.

7) Create something of great value
This is a different type of celebrity. And, in my opinion, the most important. Just as Bill Gates is an international celebrity and worldwide brand for creating Microsoft, the founders of great Internet startups can gain micro-fame on the Internet. This is because they’ve clearly built something people use everyday. They’ve built something of value, just like Gates did when revolutionized the world with Windows.

Example: Jason Calacanis
Say Jason’s name to Joe the Plumber, and he’ll wonder who you’re talking about. Say Jason’s name to Jane the Blogger, and she’ll know exactly who you’re talking about. Calacanis built Weblogs, Inc., making him one of the godfathers of blogging. Now he’s running around as the CEO of Mahalo, retiring and quasi-retiring from blogging in the meanwhile. But you probably already knew most of this, which is why he’s an Internet celebrity in his own right.

So, what should we take away from this little dive into Internet culture? That really, in the end, the same things that get people to the top of Hollywood can get you to the top of YouTube or the blogosphere. Hard work, providing value to people, some eye candy, and unintended hilarity all add up to Internet celebrity.

I don’t suggest debating about whether or not Internet celebrity is a useful pursuit of your time, because it doesn’t matter. It is established now. People are creating following and making money off of it. The question is how far it will go and how well it will translate to fame amongst the general population.