If we move forward to the present day, then in Web 2.0 the idea of bringing in content from other sources is the distinct flavour of the month. In some cases this is still just images (for badges), but the norm is either to have RSS feeds (essentially bringing in HTML code, usually with no filtering of what is displayed) or JavaScript files (running programs in the end-user’s browser).

So you can imagine the following fictitious scenario. A well-known charity runs an extremely successful campaign using all the tricks of the social web trade. They’ve had fund-raising plugins downloaded & added to thousands of WordPress blogs; widgets on MySpace to email the key people concerned; badges appearing left, right & centre and RSS feeds being devoured. All being served from www.examplecharitycampign.org, which once the campaign is over is no longer required and the domain registration lapses.

In those circumstances it could be very easy for someone else to step in, and cause havoc – unsuspecting people could find themselves on what looks like a legitimate donation page, email addresses could be harvested if those were in forms, JavaScript programs not adding visible content to a page but still active (waiting for a browser security loophole, analysing what else is on the page, etc.), hidden links in RSS feeds to help with search engine ranking schemes, etc.

So it is important to plan what happens at the end of a campaign right from the start, rather than casually abandon it or start the process once it’s up and running. Amongst other things you need to decide whether you’re going to keep the domain name for the long term (in which case it needs to be treated like your organisation’s domain), where content is going to be made available (e.g. it could come from your organisation’s domain or from another ‘permanent’ address such as YouTube) and develop methods to try to keep in touch with your supporters/activists (not the easiest thing with viral marketing).

The typical patterns for badges/widgets are either to provide ongoing functionality (e.g. Flickr badges or Google Adsense) or to offer something time-limited for a specific campaign. For someone like the DEC where the timescales are compressed the second option isn’t really worth pursuing. They do have a Rapid Response Network for more traditional media outlets, e.g the main television and radio networks, the national newspapers, etc.

I think they could benefit enormously from providing a badge/widget that is available all the time. If there’s an appeal happening then content connected with that is delivered, otherwise it’s empty. This would allow the ongoing development of a network that could be brought into play (more or less) instantly that a new appeal is launched.

In the main this would mean that it would need to be designed to appear along with other small elements of a page (e.g. in the sidebar of a blog). It would be difficult to make allowances for a large banner ad to appear & disappear in the look and feel of most sites. However this obstacle could be overcome with a simple API (e.g. providing people with a web address that either said “yes, there’s an appeal on now” or “no, there isn’t”) so that with some additional programming the DEC banner could be added onto the page or something else put in its place.

Inevitably new technologies and ideas will spring up over time, which means that you will have different versions operating at the same time. So a few years down the road you will have meetings to decide what content/functionality to deliver to everyone left on version 1 compared to the whizzy new version 2, etc.

At some stage that will become too complicated to deal with effectively, so thinking about a support structure would be very beneficial. This could be as simple as expanding the web content from a single page of buttons/widgets to keep your network informed, along with an RSS feed so that you can push updates out to them.