Jumping Into Jumo

New social media platforms seem to crop up and die out (or get bought out) with regularity in this day and age. Whereas the social media map used to consist primarily of MySpace and Facebook (and Friendster if we’re feeling generous), now there's Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Wikipedia, just to name a few. With stories of upstarts like FriendFeed or Lala getting swallowed up by the big guns in the business, it’s a landscape that’s constantly changing.

But the great thing about this open environment is that it isn’t a zero-sum game, as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg put it at the Web 2.0 Summit 2010 a couple of weeks ago. As a result, while it’s a noisy scene, the best “artists” making the best “music” rise to the top and get noticed.

The newest kid on the block

Which brings us to Jumo. The latest project from Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, Jumo is a new attempt to merge the burgeoning movement for social change with the power of social networking itself.

While social change and humanitarian efforts have existed in many formats (with varying degrees of success) on the Web, Jumo’s concept is centered upon fostering a deeper interaction with issues and causes. By focusing on the heart of what drives people to get involved in generous giving and living, Jumo is banking on helping charities and nonprofits connect with potential supporters.

The point of connection is not the “ask,” whereby a nonprofit initiates their relationship with you by requesting a donation. No, Jumo takes a few steps back to first ask, “What is it that you’re passionate about?”. From there, the site connects you with organizations that are working in related fields.

In other words, the relationship that you develop with a charity begins organically with a question of the heart, not a question of the wallet. The end result – financial support – might not be that dissimilar, but the means are profoundly different. Jumo's approach could mean the difference between creating a one-time giver and inspiring a life-long supporter who not only gives but actively recruits others to join the cause through their heartfelt passion.

Why Jumo matters

What does this mean to you as an online citizen?

The Jumo model is important because there are lessons from this approach that apply to us all. Whether you’re running a business or a charity, your interactions – both online and in-person – with your clients are what ultimately drive the machine. You might have the coolest product or the most moving cause in the world, but if you’re not taking care of your customers or donors, you won’t last long.

While on one hand, social media has made it easier to keep people at arms-length behind the safety of a computer screen, it’s also helped to remind us all of what’s important in the social realm: relationships. Without them, you’re sunk.

The nuts and bolts

So how does it all work? It’s quite simple, really.

Step one is signing up for an account, which unsurprisingly starts with a prompt to connect to your Facebook account.

Next you create your profile, with Jumo pulling in your profile picture and basic personal information from Facebook. From there, you review a list of core issues and causes, including poverty, peace and governance and human rights. Each topic leads you further down a path of discovery that ultimately ends in a list of specific organizations that are doing work in the fields that you’ve selected.

Once this process is complete, your Jumo home page will be generated. This page features an aggregated news feed from the projects that you have chosen to follow. You’ll also have a sidebar with suggested projects and issues that might interest you as well as a “Talk” column that reflects updates from all projects, issues and people with whom you’re connected.

If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The format and terminology will be second nature to anyone who’s already on Facebook and Twitter. That familiarity should be a strength for Jumo moving forward, as it makes the new environment easy to get used to.

It’s also fairly easy to add a new organization or project on Jumo; the key is that you must have a valid Employer Identification Number (EIN) as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity. Beyond that, it’s a simple process of plugging in basic information such as your organization's mission and links to your website.

Again, Jumo presumes that your organization has already established a Facebook Page, as it will ask for your Facebook ID number to pull a profile picture in for your new project. From there, it’s up to you to connect with individual users on Jumo, though the platform aids the process by allowing you to select the same topics of interest of as an individual, only this time the selections will help to define what your project is.

A step in the right direction

Only time will tell if Jumo will actually reach the lofty goals that its creators have set forth, but it so far it seems to be off to a promising start.

The interface is easy to navigate, but the site has been plagued by performance issues due to an overwhelming amount of traffic in its first few days of beta launch. The team is working to alleviate those problems, and hopefully, once fully launched, any minor issues will be resolved so that users can get down to the business of changing the world.

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What are You Doing to Move the Chains?

Football is a game of yards.

Talent is scouted out and recruited. It’s not just about creating an army of superstars but also achieving a balancing act of strength and weakness. Teamwork is essential. Individuals must come together and function like gears in a machine to achieve the goal. If even one part is out of sync, the best-laid strategy will break down quickly. No single player – no matter how skilled – can advance without the cooperation and support of the other 10 men on the gridiron. Discipline is the mantra of the team. The fundamentals are never taken for granted. They are practiced and reinforced and sharpened with rhythmic and unfailing consistency. The hard work of training and conditioning is done in blistering heat, driving rain and freezing cold. Film is studied. Strategy is debated, refined, challenged and retooled. Tactics are meticulously planned and plotted in playbooks. The competition is scrutinized to identify advantages and vulnerabilities. All of these acts are performed in the quest to gain yards, because those yards add up to wins, and victories add up to championships.

Business is a game of yards, too.

These yards aren’t measured by hashmarks on a field but by the trust cultivated in your customers and your community. Just like in football, it’s up to you to create opportunities to advance down the field. It starts with making sure you have the right players on the field – ones who not only have the skill set needed to execute the plays but the vision to see the field and react to unforeseen challenges when necessary. Teamwork is not just a warm-and-fuzzy HR concept but a critical element of success. Your employees must believe in their stake in the ultimate goal and take full ownership of executing their routes without fail to minimize the chances of blatant mistakes and errors that result in costly setbacks. Yards must be earned one at a time through the demonstration of good values, honest communication and commitment to service.Discipline can never be abandoned. The process of building trust is challenging and never-ending. It can’t be accomplished by writing a check or putting up an empty facade. These yards must be earned one at a time through the authentic demonstration of good values, honest communication and commitment to serving your customers and their needs. Vigilance to strategy must be a constant. When innovation is absent, when tactics do not evolve, when shortcuts are taken, the cost is missed opportunities and lost yardage while your competitors advance on your goal. All of these acts must be performed to gain trust, because that trust yields a stronger community around your brand, and a growing community paves the way to owning your market. Find the right talent, cultivate good internal synergy, remain vigilant in serving your tribe and refine and sharpen your approach, and you’ll create opportunities to grow your business. By contrast, if you allow team spirit to fall by the wayside, become complacent, stick only with old, familiar marketing tactics and fail to lead your tribe, you’ll be watching your competitors sail across the goal line while you scramble to catch up.

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