If you like social media (and obviously you do because you’re reading this), you’re going to love BluMail’s “trifecta” of social media sites which, unlike today’s most popular alternatives, lets you connect more deeply and meaningfully with others. 

Accessible on BluMail’s homepage, Share a Story, What Do You Think? and Write About Your Life/The Remembering Site are three different, easy and fun formats enabling anyone, anywhere to share his or her life experiences – whether an account of a single incident that changed the way you think or live; answers to thought-provoking questions; or a complete memoir chronicling your life or something in between.

And whether you post something on these sites or not, you can read what others have posted and if a posting moves you, you can simply and securely connect with that person to share thoughts, ask questions or communicate whatever you’d like.

We developed these sites so people could truly benefit from whatanyone – anywhere in the world and from all walks of life -- has learned through both common and extraordinary life experiences. These sites support BluMail’s broader mission of promoting meaningful connections, cultural understanding and networking among people everywhere throughout the world, regardless of geographic and other barriers.

Let’s face it – you just can’t get that value from most of today’s other popular social media sites where you typically only get tidbits of pretty mundane information about things like "I just got upgraded to first class - woot!" or "The brilliance of 'Billy Jean' just dawned on me on the drive into work.  Seriously." or "I just had the best tuna fish sandwich of my life."

We're not saying cancel your Facebook or Twitter accounts.  We enjoy and value those sites as much as anyone – they have an important place in the social media “ecosystem.” We simply encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences at 1) add Share a Story, What Do You Think? and The Remembering Site

And please ncourage your relatives, coworkers and friends to do the same.

We can’t wait to read your stories!

More of What's New ... and Blu!

In follow-up to our quarterly BluMail Advisory Board meeting held in June, following is a summary of we've been and where we are headed in 2009. 

WEBSITE UPDATE

Learning Center  -- All content is finished and fully edited.

Email System  -- Our email account registration system is fully operational with a simple, and quick email account registration process.  BluMail email accounts offer great email functionality including instant chat, video conferencing, and generous storage. 

World’s Best Websites – This is one of the most popular sections of the websites, currently at about 100 of the world’s most popular websites.  We are thrilled to have reached agreement with World Summit on the Information Society to feature their list of world’s best content websites.

Take Action – Overall, functionalities have been or will be developed in 2009 to allow for:

Get Involved – finished Google AdWords – finished 

Read / Share a Story - finished 

Search Optimization – finished 

Tell 5 friends – finished 

Write About Your Life - finished 

What Do YOU Think - finished 

Be / Find a Mentor 

Tribute / Donate   

Women Stand With … 

Text Messaging Project   

Volunteer 

Find A Job 

Sell Your Product

What Do YOU Think / Proust Questionnaire – This site asks 35 provocative questions intended to allow the respondent to write one-sentence answers, upload a photo of himself or herself, and to communicate with other respondents. 

Read / Share A Story -- The intent is to encourage all people of the world to write about a memorable event that will be featured at Read / Share A Story.  The 1-3 page stories are moving, insightful, funny, poignant, triumphant, indignant, nostalgic, and powerful.  Anyone who reads a compelling story can connect with the person who has written a memoir that has inspired the reader.

Write Your Life Story at The Remembering Site -- This is a project that a group of us started in 2002 to make it easy for anyone, anywhere to write, share, archive and publish one’s life memories and memoir.  The site has been redesigned to be similar in design the BluWorld website.    

EVENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS

BluMail Event at the United Nations -- On June 17 from 3:30 – 5:30 pm, an awareness-raising event was held at the United Nations to inform UN agencies, missions and Ambassadorial staff to the UN, and New York-based organizations about BluMail. 

The intent of these awareness-raising seminars is to provide an overview of BluMail, invite new alliance members, and receive in-country contacts, ideas, comments and recommendations to build awareness for BluMail with, again, the focus on reaching our goal of 2.5 million active email account registrations.

Sponsorship of the event was by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations.

Remarks were made by BluMail Alliance Member and Supporting Organizations and H.E. Mr. Peter Maurer, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and Chairman of the Working Group on Informatics; Sarah McCue, PhD, Founder, BluMail; Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food for the Poor and BluMail alliance member; and Claudia Maffettone, Youth Alliance Coordinator, BluMail

ALLIANCE

We are in the process of building an alliance of 100 non-profit organizations, technology firms, and foundations from developed and developing countries to grow BluMail into an email and content portal similar to Yahoo, Hotmail and other commercial email and content portals.

IN CONCLUSION

We had a soft launch of the beta version of BluMail in September 2008 and we look forward to many more public launches to celebrate the launch and growth of something new ... and something Blu!

All the best and regards, 

Sarah McCue, PhD

Board Chair, BluWorld / BluMail  

What's New ... and Blu!

In follow-up to our quarterly BluMail Advisory Board meeting held in April, following is a summary of we've been and where we are headed in 2009.

BACKGROUND

In sum, in the spring of 2007, Vint Cerf (the person most often called ‘the father of the Internet’) made the right introductions at Google for them to create a prototype for BluMail, a free email, learning, action and networking portal for youth and others coming online in developing countries.   

Last year, we finalized the email sign-up functionality, developed the website wire frame, and worked with designers to create most of the functionality currently at the website.

In January, we were awarded a grant from Cisco Foundation that will allow us to create additional functionalities, globally market BluMail, and grow to an alliance of over 100 NGOs and UN organizations.

ADVISORY BOARD

With thanks to the following individuals and organizations that have agreed to serve on the Advisory Board to provide advice, guidance, and support as we take BluMail from its founding years to a reputable global entity.

Cisco Foundation — Charu Adesnik, Program Manager
Convio — Vinay Bhagat, Chief Strategy Officer
DayLife — Upendra Shardanand, CEO, and John Henry Zipps, Managing Editor
Equal Access — Ronni Goldfard, President
Fab Foundation —- Stuart Gannes, Executive Director
Hanmark LLC, Hanna Kebbede, Founder
Harvard Law School Reginal F. Lewis Fellow — Eleanor Brown
IMG — Gilonne d'Origny, Manager
Interaction — Lindsay Coates, Vice President

International Commission on Workforce Development, Brad Kane, CEO
Nanoscience Exchange — Jim Hurd
One Global Economy — Moustafa Mourad, President
Teachers Without Borders — Fred Mednick, President
Telesonique — Adel Labib, CEO
The Remembering Site — Sarah McCue, CEO
Transclick —- Robet Levin, CEO
United Nations Development Fund for Women — Antonie DeJong and Eduardo Gomez
United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (invited) — Sarbuland Khan, Executive Coordinator
web2africa — Cina Lawson, Founder
Women's World Banking — Michaela Walsh, Founder
World Computer Exchange — Timothy Anderson, President
World Federation of United Nations Associations — Pera Wells, Secretary-General
World Pulse — Jensine Larsen, Founder
World Technology Network — Jim Clark, Chairman
Youth Noise — Ginger Thomson, former CEO

We seek to grow the Advisory Board and welcome suggestions of organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

WEBSITE

Please see what's new at http://www.BluMail.org including:

Learning Center – Check out our new content in the areas of conflict resolution, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, youth leadership, healthy lifestyles, environment, religious understanding, world knowledge, and human rights. 

Email Account Registration -- Our sincere thanks to website design firm Spinbox Creative for creating what is a simple, and quick email account registration process, and thanks to Google's technical people for answering our multitude of questions to ensure our globally available email system is safe, secure, and easy to use.  BluMail offers great email functionality including instant chat, video conferencing, and generous storage per account.

We encourage you to register for a BluMail account by going to http://www.blumail.org/registration/account/signup.php.

Multiple Languages – And our gratitude to Spinbox for creating the beta version of our site - that can be instantly translated into 10 languages with more on the way!  Currently the website can be instantly translated into ten languages by clicking the Translate This Website button (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portugese, Japanese, Korean, simplified Chinese, Arabic and Hindi).  We plan to add several more languages each quarter.

New Functionalities -- New sections have been or will be developed over the next several weeks to allow for:

• Get Involved – ways to become active in your community and world
• Volunteer – ways to volunteer your time and talent 
• Donate – organizations that are in need of your financial commitment
• Find A Job – currently a list of job sites but we plan to create a global jobs portal
• Be / Find a Mentor – in development
• Read / Share a Story – share an interesting part of your life
• Sell Your Product - currently a list of sites to sell and buy products
• Write About Your Life - write a mini-biography about your life

Planned for 2010 -- We plan to create an Online Enterprise Academy, a one-stop source for entrepreneurs in developing countries.  We plan to also create country-specific content portals.  We plan to create a daily text and email messaging platform to send daily educational messages to individuals in target countries.

MARKETING

Currently Hotmail and Yahoo have an estimated 500 million email account registrations each, totaling 1 billion email accounts after ten years in operation.  Our goal is to have 2.5 million registered email accounts by the end of 2009, and 25 million accounts by 2020. To build global awareness, we will:

1. Reach to the most popular local media in 100 developing countries 

2. Reach to the largest local ISPs in 100 developing countries to encourage new Internet accounts to register for BluMail email account

3. Have our 100 alliance members encourage their members to register for a BluMail account

4. Place the BluMail logo on website of 100 alliance members 

5. Send monthly press releases globally

7. Create a Did You Know? global viral clip campaign – planned for fall 2009

8. Create BluMail pages / presence on 150 social networking, book marking and directory platforms

9. Create AdWord campaign and related Search Engine Optimization 

10. Create events that build awareness in developing countries -- a “Meeting of the UN Ambassadors” is being planned for June

etc.!

THE BLUMAIL ALLIANCE

We are in the process of building an alliance of 100 non-profit organizations, technology firms, and foundations from developed and developing countries to grow BluMail into an email and content portal similar to Yahoo, Hotmail and other commercial email and content portals.

The complete list of organizations that have been invited to join as founding alliance member organizations is available at http://www.blumail.org/partners.html. 

We welcome your organization to join as an alliance member.

SPONSORSHIP

We seek to be financially self-sustaining by 2011 through advertising sponsorships by only the most relevant and globally, socially conscious and reputable firms and organizations.

Annual sponsor advertisement rates are $40,000 for firms and $20,000 for organizations.   Please contact us for a website advertising section, a sponsorship prospect list, media kit, and insertion order.

JOIN OUR TEAM

BluMail is managed by a small team with expertise in global marketing, alliance building, website technologies, research, editing and content writers.  We welcome you to submit your resume with passionate ideas on how you can contribute to the growth of BluMail.  

IN CONCLUSION

We welcome the involvement of organizations and individuals who seek to participate in the growth and development of BluMail throughout the developing world.  Please contact us at info@blumail.org

All the best and regards,

Sarah McCue, PhD
Board Chair, BluMail

Happy Blu Year!

With happiest new year wishes to all, in anticipation of the new (and blu!) year, we've been doing a lot behind the scenes these past several weeks. Here's a quick update:

JOIN THE BLUMAIL COALITION

Our goal is to bring 100 organizations to the BluMail coalition from the global community of NGOs, UN organizations, foundation, and tech sector. Coalition members agree to serve on one of the BluMail Content Committees; to inform their members about BluMail; and to place a link to BluMail from their website. In exchange, we will feature all coalition members at the BluMail site.

Organizations with a focus on activism, conflict resolution, education, entrepreneurship, environment, health, human rights, humanitarian relief, news and reporting, religious understanding, women's empowerment, and youth leadership are invited to join the coalition. FMI, please contact us at info@blumail.org.

Join us!

REGISTER FOR A BLUMAIL EMAIL ACCOUNT

You can now register for your very own BluMail email account. We provide over 7 GB of storage, leading spam protection, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the ability to forward messages from other email accounts to your BluMail account.

Just go to www.BluMail.org and click the green Sign Up button.

SPONSOR ADVERTISING NOW AVAILABLE

We welcome the advertising and sponsorship of socially responsible corporations and organizations with a passion to build a better world in emerging economies. To receive a BluMail Sponsorship Advertising Kit, Sponsorship Terms, and BluMail Insertion Order, please contact us at info@blumail.org

Good News

Dear friends of BluMail,

You know what they say about no news being good news. Indeed there has been radio silence as we have been scurrying behind the scenes in preparation for a public launch of BluMail in early 2009. Thus we thought it was time to share some good news and latest developments:

A beta version of the site is available at www.BluMail.org. As you will see, sections still need content, functionalities will be developed over the next several weeks to allow for be / find a mentor; read / share a story; a mini-biography writing section to replace the current link; declaration of peace and 100 ways to become active; tell 10 friends; etc.

We are seeking content writers to research and write about 10-12 pages per Learning Center section in the areas of conflict resolution, entrepreneurship, women, healthy lifestyles, environment, world knowledge, and human rights. Each section needs content formatted in the following categories: Did You Know, Frequently Asked Questions, Helpful Hints, Books and Guides, Checklists, Inspiring Stories, Favorite Links and Alerts. We will pay $1,000 per section with content due December 12. Writers interested in writing for BluMail may request an explanation sheet be sent to them by writing to info@blumail.org.

We have been working closely with a major foundation to ensure that our proposal to them is accordance with their requirements, and we're hopeful that a grant will be awarded by the end of the year, allowing us to create "phase two" technical functionalities for the website.

Additionally, we are thrilled to have a team forming who have taken the lead in seeking advertising sponsorships, creating a press kit, press releases and media strategy; implementing our global marketing plan; helping us reach our goal of having 100 partner organizations join us by the time we launch; a fellow BluMail board member who is working with me to build a stellar Board of Directors -- 30 members who will represent developing countries, non-profit organizations and the technology sector; another who is advising on further foundation funding; and thank you to our angel advisers in New York, Silicon Valley and Washington who are providing invaluable strategic wisdom and advice on long-term growth opportunities for BluMail.

We are also in the planning stages to hold a "Meeting of the Ambassadors" to the United Nations to explain BluMail to Ambassadors representing developing countries.

Tomorrow we will be trained on how to manage content, allowing us to tweak, edit, update, and add content well into any sleepless night.

And soon, very soon in hopefully a matter of days, you will be able to register for your very own BluMail account. Deepest thanks to our website design firm, Spinbox Creative, for creating what I know will be a simple, and quick email account registration process, and thanks to Google's technical people for answering our multitude of questions to ensure our globally available email system is safe, secure, and easy to use. And our gratitude to Spinbox for creating the beta version of our site - that can be instantly translated into 10 languages with more on the way!

We had a very soft launch of the beta version in September and we look forward to much more public launches at the start of 2009 to celebrate a new year filled with hopeful beginnings, winds of change, something new ... and something Blu!

All the very best and regards,

Sarah McCue
Board Chair
BluMail

Why BluMail? and other questions

Why did you create BluMail?

It is undeniable that millions in developing countries will be gaining access to the Internet for the time over the next several years.  We wanted to provide a website whereby each time someone checks their email, they will be exposed to "make-a-difference" content rather than celebrity, entertainment and sports information typically found. 

Why did you choose the name BluMail?

We wanted a name that was easy to remember and applicable in most languages.  We selected the color blue because it is one of the dominant colors of the United Nations.

What is BluMail (beta)?

BluMail is currently in its testing and design phase.  From now until the early next year, we welcome your comments, criticisms, questions, and suggestions as we refine and add to the site.

Who created BluMail?

Dr. Sarah McCue spent the last twenty years focused on ways that technology can benefit humanity, many of these years with the United Nations.  She and the BluMail team spent most of 2008 wire framing the site, seeking the highest quality partnering organizations, and building the site.  She will continue to serve as chair of the Board of Directors. 

How can I get involved?

Ask us questions, give us your feedback, tell others about BluMail, sponsor an advertisement, become of the Founding 100 partnering organizations, participate in a content committee, send us your resume, become a mentor, share your story, post a job opportunity, and create an BluMail email account.

What do you think of us?  Join us in something new ... and something blue.