AdWords-Style Widget Recommends Related Ways to Take Action

Note: We are asking people to Digg this launch announcement. (At last check, 252 people have dugg the article.)

Social Actions is proud to announce the launch of a revolutionary widget that recommends to readers of your blog or website related ways to take action.

The widget automatically identifies the keywords on any page and lists social change campaigns related to the stuff you're writing about. These campaigns are gathered from social action platforms like Kiva, DonorsChoose, Change.org, GlobalGiving, Care2, Idealist.org, and fourteen others.

Find out what actions would be listed for your blog (or any website)

Because the new widget pulls actions from 20 social action platforms, it can recommend actions based on a wide variety of content. Whether you're writing about your local community, pop culture, or green living - you can expect to surprise your readers with related ways to make a difference.

Check out these examples of opportunities to take action that would be displayed next to this New York Times article about the genocide in Sudan or this ReadWriteWeb article about Barack Obama's use of Web 2.0 tools:

Check out these examples of opportunities to take action that would be displayed on the National Wildlife Federation's website or on AmySampleWard.org:

Find out what actions would be listed for your blog (or any website)

David Cohn of Spot.us has Tweeted that he thinks the super widget has the "potential to change the way people find good causes."

Social Actions founder Peter Deitz is also extremely excited about this project. He has described the widget as a "game-changer."

How the new widget from Social Actions works
After you cut and paste the widget snippet code into your website, the widget automatically scans the content of each web page on which it appears and identifies the top three keywords for that page. The widget then searches for related campaigns on 20 social action platforms. It then automatically loads the top three campaigns for the keywords, with the option to discover more. As the content of your site changes, the widget checks to see if there are new keywords. As a result, your readers are always connected to fresh and relevant calls to action.

The technology underlying the new widget was developed as an open-source project under a GPL V.3 liscense. Eric Cooper served as the lead programmer. Joe Solomon served as the lead scientist and evangelist. The widget is also the first web application to be powered by the Social Actions open API - which will soon be available for any developer to use when creating social change web and mobile phone applications.

Josh Crawford and Jason Mott of The Brattleborro Tech Collective built the Social Actions open API and will be releasing further updates in the coming weeks.

Earlier this summer, Social Actions Labs launched a WordPress Plugin called "Possibly Related Classroom Projects." The plugin recommends related classroom projects from DonorsChoose. The success and popularity of this plugin helped to inspire the Related Ways to Take Action widget.

With the launch of Related Ways to Take Action, bloggers and web content producers are now able to add value to their blogs and websites by recommending opportunities to take action relateed to the content their readers are interested in.

About Social Actions
Social Actions connects people with actionable opportunities with the goal of increasing the scope and impact of the citizen sector. Social Actions also focuses on building capacity of social action platforms and fosters a community of social change makers.

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Got questions or suggestions for Social Actions? Please email peter@socialactions.com (Twitter.com/PeterDeitz)

For bug reports and questions about the widget, email joe@socialactions.com