Last week I went to an NTEN event about how nonprofits can take advantage of Foursquare, a mobile app that is gaining about 100,000 new users a week.

At the event, Naveen Selvadurai, one of the founders of Foursquare explained how their invention was driven by a series of questions: “How can we get better at living in our cities?” And, “How can we turn life into a game?”

For uninitiated, here’s how Foursquare works: get to a location and “check in.” Once the app registers where you are, businesses and nonprofits nearby can alert you to special offers — like a discount for frozen yogurt. Like Meetup, it’s also a way to connect with friends in real time. Depending on the number of times you check in, you can earn “badges” or be anointed “Mayor” of that place – which can come with special privileges and…

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Who is Feminist Hulk? He’s a mash-up between a muscle-bound, radioactive monster and a card-carrying feminist whose own personal superhero happens to be Judith Butler. And he’s become a cult favorite on Twitter (16,000+ followers) with his ALL-CAP reflections on modern-day patriarchy, gender and feminist intervention.

Feminist Hulk isn’t formally tied to any nonprofit. But he could be. If you’re a cause-driven organization struggling to generate social media buzz and build Twitter followers, one approach might be to adopt a colorful persona who can add some winking humor and pop culture cool to promote your issues.

Ms. Magazine’s Blog recently did an interview with Feminist Hulk and “J,” his “literary life-partner.” Here’s FM’s response about his origins:

IN BEGINNING, HULK SMASH FOR LOVE OF SMASH. LATER, HULK REALIZE CRAVING FOR SMASH CAUSED BY HYPERLINK HEGEMONIC FORCES WHICH DISCONNECTED HULK FROM SELF. HULK QUESTION SYSTEMS OF PRIVILEGE. SOON HULK SMASH…

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GreatNonprofits develops “tools that allow people to find, review, and share information about great – and perhaps not yet great – nonprofits.”  They have launched a campaign to highlight nonprofits that help women.  Instead of generating their own list of winners, though, they are asking you to get involved and review organizations or post your organization to be reviewed.

The Women’s Empowerment Campaign 2010 is a collaborative of many led by GreatNonprofits and GuideStar in partnership with Kiva, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, MADRE, Wider Opportunities for Women, Dress for Success, Women’s Media Center, Women News Network, and Women’s Philanthropy — Women’s Issues.

Voting, reviewing, and other open-source competitions and collaborations online allow organizations like GreatNonprofits to learn about their audience, learn from their audience, and collect awareness on issues with a much wider net than they could alone.  It builds upon the…

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Have you heard of Shoes of Prey?  The custom shoe design site had an explosive experience last week – thanks to a 16-year-old’s YouTube site.  Juicysatr07’s had 450,000 viewers, and combined with a giveaway prize from the company, lured 200,000 to Shoes of Prey’s site, according to PSFK.

How are you adapting to and including new voices in your online marketing?  How do you find the right influencers?

You can learn how to apply every kind of makeup, reorganize your closet, sketch a portrait, and a million other things thanks to the force of young women on YouTube. The tone of the video, the number of YouTube subscribers, and their comments can help you figure out which YouTube lady is the best to help your product, company or organization.  If you have an evening, watch their videos!

Women research their purchases and the…

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In a recent Neilsen report, fifty-five percent of women use social networks while on their mobile, compared to 45 percent of men.

This isn’t a big spread but it does make you wonder why.

It’s not a big surprise to me. Women, in general, are more interested and engaged in social networking. They love to be connected whether by phone, laptop or desktop.

Mobile makers better make sure they are 1) hiring women engineers, 2) surveying their women customers for product design and 3) engaging their women customers in getting feedback on what’s working (or not) in their products.

The study also showed that while social networking is commonly thought of as something for “the kids,” the 35-54 age group had more active mobile social networkers than any other group.

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The old soda wars used to involve the “man on the street” blind taste test ads. Today, Pepsi is seizing the social media moment and engaging the public to do good. Since women make 80% of the consumer decisions, are the majority of socially responsible consumers and lead the use of social media it seems that Pepsi is targeting the woman consumer.

Their new campaign “be sociable, have a Pepsi” speaks right to the heart of what women want – a company:

1. with a social conscious that does good;

2. that taps people’s collective creativity; and

3. that connects people to each other.

You can see the campaign at: refresheverything.com.

Stuart Elliot, in today’s New York Times, covers the Pepsi push: ”Pepsi-Cola is formally introducing on Monday an ambitious campaign named the Pepsi Refresh Project, aimed at doing well by doing good. The brand…

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