In Wine there is Truth. Social Philanthropy has Arrived.

Last week Biz Stone announced that Twitter will launch a program in partnership with Room to Read, the non-profit literacy organization headed by CEO John Wood. Crushpad, whose mission is to democratize the wine industry, will collaborate with Twitter, whose mission is to democratize access to information throughout the world.

Social Philanthropy has arrived. Twitter staff will participate in making two wines, a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay with Crushpad (www.crushpad.com), a San Francisco based custom winery. We the people are invited to follow the progress of winemaking on Twitter, and pre-order the wine at a reduced $20 dollars per bottle here www.fledglingwine.com.

The best part is that $5 from every bottle will go directly to Room to Read, an organization that BRANDfog supports through our work and that of our CEO clients. Room to Read enables literacy programs in some of the poorest regions in the world. BRANDfog supports this organization based on one simple truth. If you can read, you can do anything.

You can follow updates, participate in a Social Philanthropy, and feel good all at the same time at: www.fledglingwine.com. What a great corporate holiday gift idea.

Panic Can Also Spread Virally

This fall the H1N1 Swine Flu has the potential to cause irrational fear and widespread panic, in addition to the real threat of sickness and death. The government is trying to ready themselves for both aspects of the potential epidemic. The real risk is the spread of the contagion across the population, but health officials are also bracing themselves for misinformation that can spread fast and furiously through social media channels.

Swine Flu vaccinations began this week, and health care workers, pregnant woman and child care providers are among the first to be vaccinated. Although deemed perfectly safe by the C.D.C, officials are worried that unrelated health problems may mistakenly be connected to the Swine Flu vaccine. Separating the incidents of naturally occurring strokes, heart attacks, miscarriages and death from the coincidence of receiving the vaccine will be a big challenge for health officials this year.

Managing the public perception about the Swine Flu, and keeping the population calm and well informed is shaping up to be the Super Bowl of public relations challenges for the government . With incessant social media chatter and the 24 hour news cycle, serious consideration needs to be given to the question of how we can control the flow of global information during times of crisis.

Fortunately, the C. D.C. is prepared to provide rapid-fire communications and information which is widely available through many social media channels. Press conferences can be seen live on the agency’s website, flu.gov, and updates are available through many social media outlets such as Facebook , Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube. All of these channels and more can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/.

So what else can the C.D.C. do for population? In addition to providing an outgoing, one-way flow of information, the C.D.C. would be wise to take advantage of the higher level of engagement that social media offers. By monitoring and then quickly responding to trending topics on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the blogosphere, they can build credibility and defuse rumors and fears before they can spread virally and cause real harm.