Tag Archive for 'blogging'

Blog Action Day 2009: Creating Actions for Everyone on Climate Change

Published in events and socialchange. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Today is Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is Climate Change.  Earlier this week, I posted a summary from this month’s #4Change chat that focused on social media in the Climate Change movement.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out here!

What’s Blog Action Day?

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web.

At the time of this posting, there are already 9,340 blogs contributing to Climate Change conversations today in 150 countries.  That’s huge!

Create Actions for Everyone

Something I’d like to focus on today comes about from two things: Tuesday, the eCampaigning Report was released that showed data and best practices for campaigning and advocacy online; and yesterday I met with a local climate change focused nonprofit organization about some of the work they are doing.

The organization comes at climate change from a nontraditional angle: their target audience are those that do not normally care about the climate or social action, spend their time off line and online focused on trends, fashion, networking and livin’ it up.  The organization works with scientists and other organizations to stay on top of the latest news and actions going on around carbon, energy, and other climate-influencing topics, then works to translate those things into relevant actions or news for their audience (for example, instead of breaking news about figures or facts, they may encourage people to share photos of themselves in winter woolies and encourage them to dress cozy and turn the thermostat down a couple degrees).

I asked the organization what they were doing next Saturday for the Day of Climate Action.  They quickly said, “oh, nothing – our target audience wouldn’t be interested in that.”  I was shocked!  I said, “really? They wouldn’t even want to get a discount for shopping at a vintage shop (used clothes, not new) only on that day, and have lots of folks going together (bridge online and offline communities)?”  The people I was meeting with looked at each other and said, “now there’s an idea!”

I use this story to say that no matter who your audience is, so long as you know them, you can provide relevant and exciting opportunities to take action to make a positive impact on our environment.

The first pieces of any social media strategy or campaigns are to identify the audience and get to know them – how do they want you to talk to them, where online do they want you to talk to them, what do they want to be able to do (give you ideas, share your content, campaign or fundraise for you, etc.)?  Knowing your audience is key in all the work you do.

And, when you know them, you can use days like today and next week’s Day of Action to link your network with networks around the world to make a bigger difference.

Join Blog Action Day

Published on October 15, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Women in Technology: 2 Ways you CAN get Involved!

Published in events and issues. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I’m a woman, and I work in technology.  I LOVE helping other women feel empowered to learn, share, and succeed in the technology sector, too.  Here are two terrific ways that you can get involved (even if you aren’t lucky enough to be a woman!).  Please do share these with your friends and colleagues because your invitation to participate can really make a difference in the lives of women all around you.

Women Who Tech TeleSummit: April 2009

The second annual Women Who Tech TeleSummit (which will take place in April 2009) is looking for panel suggestions. Have an idea for a fabulous virtual workshop that every woman working in online communications or technology must participate in? Think you or one of your colleagues would be a great panelist or moderator? We want to hear about it. Submit your panel ideas at here.
Panel submissions are due Feb. 7th.

While the 2008 Women Who Tech TeleSummit was a smashing success with over 650 women including Arianna Huffington and Joan Blades defying the stereotype that the tech world belongs to pocket-protector toting guys hooked on sci-fi and video games, 2009 will be even better. Women Who Tech brings together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology who use their tech savvy skills to transform the world and inspire change. We provide a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving women an open platform to share their talents, experiences, and insights.

For more info check out http://www.womenwhotech.com. You can also follow WWT on Twitter and join the Women Who Tech Facebook group.

Sign up on the website, or join the Facebook group to be sure you get details about the event in April.

Ada Lovelace Day: March 24, 2009

I signed the Ada Lovelace Day pledge on Pledgebank, will you?

Who’s Ada Lovelace and what’s this day all about?

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited to take part. All you need to do is sign up to this pledge and then publish your blog post any time on Tuesday 24th March 2009. If you’re going to be away that day, feel free to write your post in advance and set your blogging system to publish it that day.

We will gather as many of the posts together on the day as we can, and we’ll let you know exactly how we’re going to do that nearer the time. For ongoing updates about Ada Lovelace day, please follow us on Twitter, join our mailing list or see our blog.

http://findingada.com/
http://twitter.com/FindingAda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/findingada

Who was Ada?
Ada Lovelace was one of the world’s first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programmes for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.

You can learn about Ada Lovelace Day, how it got started, and sign on to the pledge here.

Published on January 9, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 4 Comments

Thank you, Beth!

Published in blogging. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

I hope all of you know Beth Kanter, and if you don’t, you can follow her blog at http://beth.typepad.com

Beth is a maven for nonprofit tech and a great resource for organizations and individuals looking to ramp up social media use for their social change work.  She had the opportunity to create a top ten list for Blogs.com and included this blog.  So, a big Thank You to her!

Check out who else is on Beth’s Top Ten NPTech blog list! Beth’s blog, obviously, would be #1 so this list is the following top ten. :)

It’s a great honor and I’m excited to be listed with other friends and bloggers.

What would your top ten list be?  What are your ten most-read blogs, the ones you just can’t work without?

Published on December 2, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 1 Comment

London Net Tuesday November: Such a success!

Published in net tuesday. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Last night was the inqugural London Net Tuesday.  With 45 people in attendance, we filled the space and more than our scheduled time slot with lively conversation, quality knowledge sharing, business cards exchanging, and even some drinks.

Our first event focused on blogging with a head-to-head competition of sorts and the building of a blogging strategy.

Head-to-Head Blogging

Brave and beautiful participants volunteered to represent some of the main blogging platforms including Community Server, Movable Type, Typepad and Wordpress.  We had a cheat sheet with pros, cons and comparisons (if you weren’t there, you can download the cheat sheet here) that was created via crowdsourcing before the event.  I posted the structure and basic content in a Google Document and then published it for others to contribute to – sending them the link via email and Twitter.

Our platform reps fielded questions from the crowd and shared stories from their personal experience using the blogging tools.  Questions included:

  • How much do you cost?
  • How tech-savvy do I need to be?
  • Can I monitor comments?
  • Can I control who sees my posts?
  • How quick can I get set up?

A winner?  Well, there wasn’t an official vote (though a very important vote was happening back in the US!), but the majority of bloggers in attendance used Wordpress.

Blogging Strategy

After our lively ‘debate’ of platforms, we took a step back to discuss what is most important for organizations to consider when just starting out with blogging.  We came up with lots of great things to keep in mind, questions to ask, items to identify, and so on.  After the big brainstorm, we picked out the five most important aspects of starting a blog:

  • Identify your goals (goals for content, goals for relationships, goals for measurement, etc.)
  • Write about what you are passionate about and know about
  • Practice writing blog posts for a month or so without actually posting (you’ll be surprised how much your posts change just in that first month, and you can identify if you are ready to go live or not)
  • Use your community (invite staff, volunteers, donors and email subscribers to read and comment)
  • Integrate your blog (link and content) with everything you do (email newsletters, handouts, business cards, other social media presences like Facebook)

What would you add?

London Net Tuesday

If you missed last night’s event, that’s okay.  Connect online to be sure you make the next one! If you were there last night, what would you add to this run down?

  • What was your favorite conversation?
  • Who did you meet?
  • What questions did you not get to ask?
  • What ideas do you have for future events?

UPDATE:

Miko has posted her terrific run down of the platform comparison.  And here is her post about our strategy conversation.

UPDATE:

Farhan has a great post about the event and blogging here.

Published on November 5, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

Good rules for using Twitter

Published in issues, marketing and socialmedia. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Is your organization using Twitter?  Are members of your staff using Twitter to representat your organization?  The wave of companies and nonprofits joining the growing Twitter community is increasing rapidly.  That doesn’t mean every group signing on has a good set of rules though…

Jeff Trexler asked if nonprofit staff using Twitter, Facebook and other social media during the election are doing so responsibly.  On the uncivilsociety blog, Jeff writes:

One effect of online social networking technology is that it intensifies the environment that Marshall McLuhan called “all-at-onceness.” Old divisions fall away–near and far, high and low, word vs. picture–in favor of composition.

Part of this integrative process is the fusion of the personal and professional. Topics that were once taboo in polite conversation–money, religion, politics–are now a salient feature of the connected self.

In most respects I have no problem with this. I see myself primarily as a Watcher when it comes to organizational technology–I’m interested in seeing what happens but have little to no personal stake in any particular tool.

But there’s something going on that’s gotta stop.

Namely, political campaigning in social networking accounts connected to 501(c)(3) organizations.  Read more…

Jeremy Pepper, a friend and PR-Social Media guru, coins a new term with Twitteriocy, claiming too many companies joining Twitter are doing so irresponsibly.  He suggests six rules for organizations adopting Twitter (and really, these rules can be expanded to work for most social media tools):

1. Don’t have your PR firm set up and be your Twitter account.
2. Don’t follow everyone willy nilly.
3. Get Tweetdeck.
4. Be engaged. Be personable. Be responsive.
5. Be a person.
6. Twitter is not for everyone.

You can read more of Jeremy’s post as well as explanations to all of these points on the POP! PR Jots blog.

What concerns has your organization had with using social media?  What policies has your organization adopted that really work for helping staff use social media tools responsibly?

Published on September 29, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

Blog Action Day 08: Focusing on poverty

Published in community and events. 2 Comments Tags: , .

I plan to participate on October 15th in the Blog Action Day 2008 and hope that you will, too!

"Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion."

Blogging, as I have talked about many times in the past, is really about conversations and I think the idea behind Blog Action Day is the perfect example of that.  By encouraging as many people to focus on the same issue for one day we can ignite ideas, conversations, and even actions to help fight poverty and the issues related to it.

I’m excited to participate and hope to blog about some great examples of social media use by poverty-focused organizations as well as the missions and work of those groups.  So, join me for Blog Action Day this year and help further the reach of the conversation!

Published on August 28, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

Organizations putting blogs to good use

Published in blogging and case studies. 8 Comments Tags: , , .

Posted first on the Net Squared blog

The number of people blogging is still growing (just check Technorati for numbers), but the number of organizations starting blogs is rising, too. After enough staff members and volunteers touted the usefulness of blogs for conversation, news, and general transparency, it seems organizations are looking to give blogs a chance. Organizations of all sizes and sectors are utilizing this community building tool. Here are some examples of how far and wide blogs are being used to reach out to the community.

ARK Adventure

The ARK Adventure is a small organization working to facilitate random acts of kindness and passion in the communities of members/participants.The ARK Adventure Blog provides a space for the organization’s directors/staff to share ideas and ignite conversation about social change and community involvement.

African American Environmentalist Association

AAEA is dedicated to protecting the environment, enhancing human, animal and plant ecologies, promoting the efficient use of natural resources and increasing African American participation in the environmental movement. The AAEnironmental Blog is a great example of a successful organizational blog. It doesn’t get a high number of comments, but it does get some and is providing thoughtful, timely, and important pieces of news, information and commentary to the community. It also makes terrific use of the side bar panel to provide more information, relevant links (like to the organization’s main website), and actions for readers.

Dining for Women

Dining for Women empowers women living in extreme poverty by funding programs fostering good health, education, and economic self-sufficiency and cultivates educational dinner circles inspiring individuals to make a difference through the power of collective giving. The DFW Blog covers big questions like sustainable program funding, as well as personal and fun stories like trips and meetups. Members have a valuable contribution to make to this volunteer-driven organization by participating in the blog; you can see this by reading comments to questions posed regarding the organization itself.

PolicyLink

The EquityBlog is a project of PolicyLink to help nurture and inspire the nation’s equity movement. It does a good job of providing relevant and fresh content in an engaging way, as well as provide additional resource links for visitors. Keeping the recent comments list at the top of the page encourages visitors to participate right away.

Meyer Memorial Trust

Meyer Memorial Trust is a private foundation serving Oregon and southwest Washington providing general purpose and strategic funding for over 25 years. MMT uses a few different blogs to engage different constiuents and provide tailored pockets of information. Most notably, the MMT Main Blog, which covers organizational updates and sector-wide news, engages nonprofits and other foundations alike in an open and conversational way—just check out the responses to the blog entry discussing what the name ‘non-profit’ means to the sector.

Does your organization have a blog? Who maintains/contributes to it? How does it fit in with other communications, fundraising, or campaign work?

Published on August 25, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 8 Comments

Now Blogging for Net Squared

Published in blogging and otherblogs. 6 Comments Tags: , .

I wanted to take a quick moment to let everyone know that I’ll be contributing some posts regularly on the Net Squared community blog. I think the nptech community has something special Net Squared and am excited to say that I’m now going to be a solid part of it! I’ll be posting there twice a week, with insights, case studies, and how-tos that I come across to help you all as you continue to adopt and evaluate technology for nonprofits.

Since I will be moving to London, UK, in just a few weeks, I’m really looking forward to sharing all that I learn about the similarities and differences between the US and UK as far as technology use and innovation by nonprofit organizations goes and hope that you all will be part of those conversations!

You can look for posts from me starting this week! I hope to hear from you all as we examine together what works and what is happening in this ever-changing environment we work in.

Thanks!

Are there organizations using technology, case studies, or tools in particular that you want me to cover? Just let me know and I’ll do my best to cover it!

Published on August 18, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 6 Comments

Posterous is blogging with emails!

Published in blogging and webtools. 9 Comments Tags: , , , .

I have talked about blogging and micro-blogging before, but what about blogging without a blog?

Posterous is a new tool that let’s you do just that! All you need is email, and I’d put money on the fact that you all have email already! All you need to do is send an email to post@posterous.com and you’ve just posted to your blog!

The subject line of your email is the post title. The message body is the post content. You can even send pictures, audio or video attachments to be posted as well! “If you can use email, you can have your own website to share thoughts and media with friends, family and the world.”

If you send in multiple photos, they’ll automatically make a photo gallery for you. If you send in a link, they will make it an active link; unless it’s a link to a video or photo or some other media, when they embed the video for you so readers don’t have to click to see it. And much more!

I just did it myself. It REALLY is just as easy as it sounds. All I did was send an email. But, it was fun so I did it twice. :) You can see it here!

If you want to try it out, just send an email to post@posterous.com! You can check Posterous out on the web, too; here are the FAQs.

With tools like this that narrow the adoption requirements for blogging and social media use, do you see the culture change or organizational use changing?

Published on July 1, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 9 Comments

Bloggers for change

Published in blogging. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Britt Bravo has accumulated a wonderful list of ‘change bloggers’ through suggestions and referrals from readers and facebook members.  If you are looking for a good lead on a new blog to add to your reader, check out the list here!

Published on May 28, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments