Envisioning a Social Actions Firefox Extension

Posted by JoeSolomon on May 15, 2008 at 8:23pm

Peter and I have been talking about the possibility of a Social Actions Firefox Extension.

((Quick intro - My name's Joe Solomon, I'm a big Social Actions fan, and I'm also helping to spearhead the KnowMore Firefox Extension - a NetSquared Featured project.))

Basically, I want to build on Peter's ideas for integrating with news sites and explore the possibility of an extension that integrated with any site that had Google Ads -- and replace these Ads with keyword-relevant Social Actions from the Social Action's Mashup of 29+ Social Action Platforms. This extension would build on the success of adblock extensions like AdBlockPlus.com and ad-replacement extensions like Add-art.org (an awesome new extension that replaces ads with art!). This wouldn't require Peter and the Social Actions team to make deals with Reuters, CBC, or the NYTimes -- it would put social actions in the hands of the people that wanted access to them as they browsed the web.

Imagine you're reading an article on the NYTimes.com about the crisis in Burma. The Social Actions Firefox Extension could replace the Google ads on the bottom of that NYTimes article with relief oriented actions from the Social Actions API. Or maybe you're reading a blog about poverty and instead of seeing Google ads for get-rich-quick-schemes - you saw social actions for campaigns involving micro-lending.

The problem, which I need help with solving, is sometimes Google's ads are highly relevant. For example, if you type "Burma" into Google -- the top three ads for Vancouver, BC are the Red Cross, World Vision, & FoundationBurma.org. I wouldn't want to remove those ads -- they're right on target!

There's a bunch of other great stuff to explore with extensions (like replacing banners, visual aids, etc) - as well as with thinking about social actions as ads. For example, imagine if I could place Social Actions on my blog in the same way that I could add Google Ads. As a blogger interested in social change, I would be keen to add relevant social actions next to my content. Even though Social Actions wouldn't earn me money, I would feel good knowing I was enabling change around the world.

Tags: actions, change, extension, firefox, foxforgood, social

Comment by Peter Deitz on May 16, 2008 at 8:48am: Hi Joe, I really like the idea. Thank you for taking our email conversation onto the Social Actions blog. I hope others will post comments in response. A few thoughts:

1) I wouldn't want to get into trouble with Google Adwords. Is there anything illegal/against the terms of service related to overwriting the adwords generated content?

2) Can we create a Firefox extension that simply suggests actions without overwriting other content?

3) In response to your comment about the relevancy of Red Cross as a response to the Burma crisis, some people would argue that highlighting grassroots projects and facilitating direct connections with people in Burma working on the recovery would be much better than facilitating direction connections between donors and the Red Cross. I would love to see the Social Actions open API help highlight the actionable opportunities that connect donors with very specific projects on the ground, instead of established intermediaries like the Red Cross. Your thoughts?

Comment by Philippe Bradley on May 16, 2008 at 10:56am: brilliant idea (though it's always a bit iffy to radically alter someone's website - who 'owns' the content?) - ambient, contextual, embedded exposure

brilliant lateral thinking

Comment by JoeSolomon on May 17, 2008 at 12:38am: Peter - Great questions!

1) Beats me about Google's Terms of Service. But I do know that 'Adblock Plus' reportedly has over 18 million users! And Adblock Plus basically removes Google ads - as well as other advertisements. See https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

2) Sure, you could definitely explore ways to provide relevant social actions as you browsed the web (without overwriting any content). I would imagine you could add a second column in Google's search results. Notice how when you search for stuff on Google - assuming your monitor is decent sized, there's a column of white space between the search results and the advertisements. You could explore placing social actions here. You could also explore the possibilities of sidebars. Check out a project I worked on called RaytTheNet.com for example of a drop down bar or see ReframeIt.com.

Another option would be to add a button in the bottom of the browser tray that lights up when it finds relevant social actions that match the page you're browsing. Then if you click the button, a list of the available actions slides up.

There's really unlimited potential for suggesting actions in creative ways - that's the joy of working on extensions :)

3) I agree that grassroots actions and opportunities are extremely important. It just becomes tricky if you're tearing out a link like http://www.worldvision.ca/give-a-gift/Pages/PowerfulCycloneHitsMyanmar.aspx - regardless of what you're replacing it with. This may still be a direction to go in - since you could potentially be adding social actions in a great many places where the google ads would have nothing to do with social change.

I think also exploring a way to enable any web content producer to add relevant social actions next to their blog posts, etc. could have a lot of potential. Imagine the nptech feed - but on steroids. Or just think a non-profit version of Google AdSense -- where all the 'advertisements' are about social change.

Philipe - Thanks for your support!!