How A Nonprofit Funded 1,000 Students With Micro-loans [EXCLUSIVE]

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How A Nonprofit Funded 1,000 Students With Micro-loans [EXCLUSIVE]

A Seattle-based non-profit has helped 1,000 students in developing countries get a proper education — thanks entirely to its micro-loan platform and donations from the public.

Vittana was founded in 2009 with the aim of helping students in developing countries pay for their education through student loans. Two years later it has funded 1,000 students in 10 developing countries.

While that may not seem like a lot, it’s a major milestone when you consider those micro-loans are being paid by micro-donations from around the world. The platform’s high return rate doesn’t negate the amount of blind trust and goodwill necessary to make Vittana run. So far it’s been paying off for students like Bernarda Esmilsen Escobar, a young woman studying nursing in Paraguay and Vitanna’s 1,000th student.

Escobar didn’t have enough money to finish school and requested a $900 micro-loan. When she graduates she’ll earn more than $20 per day, up from $9 per day, to support herself and her son. That improvement is typical, according to Vittana, which claims its students earn nearly three times their original income after graduation.

Student loans can amount to thousands of dollars in the U.S. In developing countries, student loans are much less expensive, but there are also fewer options for help. Vittana acts as a way to provide those people with the loans needed to finish their education. Users can pledge as little as $25 to be repaid by the student over time. Although repayment isn’t guaranteed, the non-profit claims a 99% return rate. Users can then reinvest that money, donate it to Vittana or withdraw it as cash.

Does Your Digital Marketing Agency Have a Creative Office Space? Send Us Your Photos

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Does Your Digital Marketing Agency Have a Creative Office Space? Send Us Your Photos

When you spend eight hours a day in your office, a stimulating work environment is key to creative success.

That’s why many digital marketing agencies — where creativity is everything — have made a solid investment in office space. Whether it’s ergonomic desk setups, interactive wall art or office pets, digital agency spaces have become much more inviting places to spend your Monday to Friday.

Now we’re asking you: What does your inspiring office space look like? How does it help you to brainstorm creative digital marketing campaigns? Upload your photo to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram, or the photo-sharing service of your choice, and drop us a link to it in the comments below. Be sure to tell us where you work and why it’s the perfect creative work environment.

Send your submission by Wednesday, July 27 at noon ET. We’ll choose the most inspired submissions to be featured in a follow-up post next week.

In the meantime, here’s a gallery of Edelman Digital’s New York City office, featuring EVP of Global Strategy and Insights Steve Rubel.

Twitter Finally Unlocks New St. Vincent Track,

Twitter Finally Unlocks New St. Vincent Track,

Is Phone Hacking Ever Justified? [OPEN THREAD]

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Is Phone Hacking Ever Justified? [OPEN THREAD]

Following the News of the World shutdown, the media has been buzzing with reports of the tabloid’s phone hacking exploits. Targets of the hacks included celebrities, members of the Royal Family, family members of dead soldiers, terror victims and Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old who was murdered in 2002.

While hacking into the phones of high-profile figures may be easily classified as an unjustifiable invasion of privacy, the ethics of covert reporting can raise questions.

A journalist’s job is to seek the truth and make it known. According the Society of Professional Journalists’Code of Ethics, journalists must, “Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story.” Like all questions in ethics, this exception leaves much room for debate.

A journalist’s primary obligation is to pursue the truth in significant, important and meaningful stories. Is it acceptable for laws to be bent when serving the “common good” — such as exposing business or government corruption? So we ask:

Is lying to get to the truth ever justified?

Roku 2 Gets TV, Games & Movies in a Tiny Package

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Roku 2 Gets TV, Games & Movies in a Tiny Package

It was only last fall that Roku revamped its line of players, introducing the Roku XD and XDS. The new Roku 2 comes in at the same price as the previous units, but it comes in smaller, sleeker and with support for a Bluetooth motion-remote control.

The new remote will be bundled free with the $99 Roku 2 XS and will come bundled with a version of Angry Birds built just for the Roku.

Roku says it plans on bringing a large collection of games aimed at casual gamers to the platform between now and Christmas.

AmEx Offers Deals Based On Your Facebook Likes

AmEx Offers Deals Based On Your Facebook Likes

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First Google eBooks Device To Go on Sale at Target This Week

Google will make inroads into the ereader market next week when the first such device using the Google eBooks platform will go on sale at Target.

The iriver Story HD will retail for $139.99 — the same price as theKindle and the Nook Simple Touch Reader — at the chain July 17, according to a blog post from Google. The device sports a qwerty keyboard and a black-and-grey screen similar to the Kindle. It also can access more than 3 million free Google eBooks and hundreds of thousands of paid ebooks in the system. The device is the first to be able to access titles via a Wi-Fi connection. Previously, users had to download the titles with a PC and then transfer them to the ereader.

Google entered the ebooks market in earnest in December with its Google eBookstore. Since then, the company has been expanding distribution for the format — it added its 250th independent bookstore partner in May.

The flying car one step closer to hitting the highway

The flying car one step closer to hitting the highway

If you’ve ever dreamed of being able to simply fly over that parking lot posing as a highway after work, the most recent victory scored by Terrafugia, Inc. will brighten your commute today if not yet ease it.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has granted the special exemptions necessary to put the company’s “roadable aircraft,” the Transition, one step closer to becoming a reality for consumers. The use of plastic windows that wouldn’t break in flight as automotive safety glass could and tires fit for both highway speed and the rigors of landing were the two major points given the thumbs up, and the first model should be delivered in late 2012 rather than the original date of later this year.

That delay just leaves more time to get those “So long, suckers!” bumper stickers ready for the release.

By: Holy Kaw http://holykaw.alltop.com Full story at Wall Street Journal via Neatorama

HOW TO: Use CoTweet as a Marketing Tool

HOW TO: Use CoTweet as a Marketing Tool

The Social Media 101 Series is sponsored by Global Strategic Management Institute. GSMI’s Social Media Strategies Series are the leading educational events for organizations looking to advance their online capabilities. Learn more.

One of the greatest challenges of social media marketing is juggling multiple accounts across a variety of networks. As messaging, engagement and analytics differ from platform to platform, keeping yourself organized is vital.

A great way to keep your social media presences in line is with CoTweet, a web-based social media management and analytics tool. It has a simple design and the basic plan, which has fairly robust features, is free. Like HootSuite, it’s accessed through your web browser rather than a desktop client.

Mashable spoke with Kevin Bobowski, CoTweet’s marketing director, for an explanation of how to use the platform for social media marketing.

Setup Support

While some platforms might leave you to your own devices after a product demo, CoTweet’s Services team is on hand to help you set up your account. This can be helpful if it’s your organizations first go at social media management. The social consultant will customize the setup and training based on your needs, and he or she will also record the training session, so you don’t have to worry about memorizing each step.

Already a social media management pro? You’re welcome to pass on the setup help and get your business started on the platform however works best for you.

Tweets as Teamwork


CoTweet is an excellent tool for small businesses or divisions of larger businesses that spread social media duties among team members and have a customer service approach to engagement. It has a number of features in place that ensure each employee is doing his or her work — and taking responsibility for it.

Like many social media management services, CoTweet allows updates and follow-up messages to be assigned to specific social media managers. This can make responses more relevant as team members with certain knowledge bases can handle appropriate questions and comments from followers. The responder’s initials are included at the end of the tweet, letting the follower know there’s a person behind the handle. This not only puts the follower at ease, but also the marketing manager as he or she will know who to talk to if questions (or congratulations!) arise for a specific tweet.

What’s different about CoTweet is its OnDuty status, which notes who is responsible for social streams at a certain time. Aside from organizing your social updates schedule, it allows for more passive monitoring. The person on duty can receive e-mails when something needs to be acted on, freeing him or her up to go to meetings or take calls while remaining aware of social media activity.

Campaign Conversion


The ability to track campaigns is the most important feature many marketers look for when deciding on a social media management tool. With CoTweet, you can not only manage clicks on content you publish within the application, but also integrate any web analytics platforms with campaign codes and shortened URLs.

“This provides closed-loop reporting and allows marketers to associate revenue and other success metrics to social media activity,” Bobowski says.

The platform recently launched a new Data Integration framework that allows you to extend the CoTweet application across other CRM tools, including Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Integration. This means you can associate a conversation from Facebook or Twitter with an individual’s existing CRM profile and then tag it as a lead or opportunity. The feature breaks down silos by integrating data across platforms, allowing you to create more comprehensive customer profiles and have more relevant conversations in social media.

“We’re delivering the industry’s first solution to give businesses a complete view of their customers across online, offline and social channels,” says Jesse Engle, general manager of the ExactTarget Social Media Lab, in a press release. “This will help enterprises significantly extend the benefits of social to sales enablement to better target campaigns, increase product demand, improve client satisfaction and quantify the true ROI of social media.”

Worth a Try?

Whether you’re looking for a high-level social data reporting solution or just combating “Twitter overwhelm,” CoTweet is worth a shot. The platform supports Twitter and Facebook and has an iPhone app. The Standard edition is free and allows up to six Twitter accounts. The Enterprise version costs $1,500 a month, but you can request a free demo.

Have you used CoTweet for marketing? Would you recommend it? Tell us your experience with the tool in the comments below.

Series Supported by Global Strategic Management Institute

The Social Media 101 Series is sponsored by Global Strategic Management Institute, a leading source of knowledge for today’s leaders. Learn more by visiting GSMI’s website, liking it on Facebook and following it on Twitter.

Intel’s Little Laptop That Could Brings Tech to Millions of Children Around the World

Intel’s Little Laptop That Could Brings Tech to Millions of Children Around the World

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Intel has created a low-cost, high-function laptop designed to get beat up, dropped and deliver education to children around the world.

The Intel-powered convertible classmate PC is about the size and weight of two iPads stacked on top of one another with a soft rubber backing and carry handle. The idea was to get computers into young hands to connect them to a larger world and improve the learning experience in global classrooms, explains Wayne Grant, the director of research and planning for Intel’s Education Market Platforms Group.

The PC has a swivel screen, allowing the clamshell laptop to turn into a pseudo-tablet with full touch-screen functionality. It also has a webcam and an accelerometer. The computers are designed for tough conditions. The battery lasts four to eight-and-a-half hours working on a minimal charge. The PC has been drop tested, baked in an oven and frozen in a refrigerator. It may seem like a lot of punishment for a piece of tech, but the tests ensure that the computers can’t break down in the remote areas where they’re being sent. So far, Intel has placed more than 4 million PCs into places like Argentina (1.5 million), Nigeria (150,000) and the Republic of Srpska (10,200).

That’s nearly twice the amount delivered by One Laptop Per Child, perhaps the best known non-profit trying to get low-cost computers into children’s hands. Grant says he admires One Laptop Per Child and its custom-built laptop, but he does see some clear-cut differences between the program and Intel’s efforts. Intel has created a software suite of education tools to help teachers in the classroom. This includes cloud-based programs that allow teachers to send out quick questions and quizzes to their students and collect data from work projects. “Without software, this isn’t much more than a friendly hand-warmer,” Grant jokes.

Grant spent 15 years in education, as a math and science teacher at Red Lake District High School, and then as a curriculum designer at Confederation College of Applied Arts & Technology. That influence is clear in the PC. Rather than just parachuting technology and letting kids figure it out, Intel augments that free time with a software suite and training from Intel employees. “Just because you make it available in a classroom doesn’t mean a teacher know what to do with it,” Grant says. Employees head to classrooms across the world and help train teachers to get the most out of the hardware and the software.

That kind of training is more of a resource drain than One Laptop Per Child, which purports to be more intuitive. That, combined with the software and touchscreens, means that Intel’s PCs run in the $400 to $500 range. It is significantly more than One Laptop Per Child’s price point.

Interestingly, Intel doesn’t actually sell the classmate PCs, but instead licenses them out to local ODMs (original design manufacturers) that make and sell the Intel-branded computers. Because of this, the price can skew high or low. However, this also means that Intel helps create jobs by outsourcing manufacturing to the same communities that are getting the technology.

So is the classmate PC a win-win for everyone? Are technology and education the best resources we can give underserved communities? Sound off in the comments.