Top Trends 2009 #4: Online Action Platforms

by Nathaniel Whittemore

Published December 29, 2008 @ 06:01AM PT

Number four on the list of the trends that will shape social entrepreneurship in 2009 is the rise of online action platforms.

We'll look back and remember 2008 as the year that launched online social action platforms into the mainstream. Kiva, my.BarackObama.com, and Twitter (not to mention Change.org, of course) will stand out as seminal examples. These platforms have enabled social entrepreneurs to promote their work, engage stakeholders, and raise funds in more creative and engaging ways than ever before.

2009, I think, will be the year where some of the first generation online action platforms actually fail. Part of it will be that the economic crisis will have created a financial situation more prone to fostering winners and losers. But a bigger piece will be the natural convergence around platforms that do what they do (and what people need them to do) best. I think the winners will be those that recognize that platforms for action are different than reasons for action, and create meaningful, interesting, and captivating contexts for donating, volunteering, voting, or whatever else they're trying to get people to do.

I think that there are a few distinct trends that will shape the world of online action platforms: micro-ization, aggregation, the return of content, rating systems, and mobile action opportunities.

Micro-ization
Everything went micro this year. In large part, Twitter was an enabler and a touchstone for this process. In terms of online action platforms, Kiva also provided inspiration, although many groups fell into the trap of just trying to copy chunks of Kiva without really respecting how the pieces all fit together, with limited success. The flurry of small-scale fundraising that happened via Twitter during the holiday season indicates we're just at the beginning of this process. Beth's Blog is still the place to learn about this.

Aggregation
Most of the platforms are trying to find new or better ways to aggregate lots of small efforts into something big. For my money, The Point is the most interesting effort along these lines. Entrepreneur Commons is a startup that hopes to provide an alternative to venture capital by getting socially-minded entrepreneurs to lend to and mentor one another. Social Actions has done some tremendous work beginning to design tools that actually centralize action opportunities from across the web.

The Return of Content
There is great power in providing people space to have smart, directed conversations about issues they care about. More platforms seem to be recognizing that their success might involve balancing pure user-generated content with more directed conversations and institutionally-facilitated actions.

Startup Funding
One of the major challenges for social entrepreneurs is startup funding. While groups like Echoing Green offer seed grants to truly exceptional groups, the competition is fierce. For many of the new social venture capital firms, it makes more sense in these early days to focus on expansion capital. One of the leaders in providing creative support for early stage groups is Ideablob, which helps organizations compete for $10,000 a month, as well as get advice and support from other professionals.

Rating Systems
It seems to me that one of the big opportunities for online action platforms is to create opportunities to rate and review nonprofits, report instances of "green-washing" (like the Starbucks Challenge), and generally hold all of our feet to the fire in terms of the quality of our action. Great Nonprofits is attempting to build something like this.

Mobile Action
I wrote extensively about mobile technology as top trend #5, but there are a variety of platforms that are specifically trying to connect your offline opportunities with your offline world, such as mobile volunteer group The Extraordinaries. I think the real opportunity here, though, are platforms that engage the ostensible "beneficiaries" of development programs to give them more power over their experiences.

Predictions

• A whole, whole lot more platforms will try to get in on the game. Only a few of them will offer something really new
• A lot of attempts to better coordinate online with offline action
• Some of the groups that aren't offering unique value will close their doors, helping the field learn what's really needed
• There will be a dramatic influx of new users as online action platforms become standard tools for nonprofits and other institutions
• There will be "next Kiva:" a platform that offers a new context for some certain type of action in such a compelling way that it storms to the center of our collective imagination

The logos of online action aggregator Social Actions platform partners.