Tag Archive for 'nten'

New Book: #NONPROFIT SOCIALMEDIA tweet

Published in resources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Tap into the consciousness of social media and remarkable things can happen. That’s how #SOCIALMEDIA NONPROFIT tweet came to be. The Nonprofit Technology Conference is in Atlanta April 8-10 and Beth Kanter and Janet Fouts crowd-sourced a book of tips and tricks for the event.

They blogged and tweeted top nonprofit and social media folks for help. In a week they got quotes in 140 characters or less from over 30 different sources.

After weeding out the self promotions and the duplicates, there were 140 quotes from 28 individuals and some really great tips and tricks. Beth and Janet did a little writing to set the stage, edited a few of the bits that are un-intelligilable to any but the Twitterati (Srsly we needed 2 do that evn tho we luv to tweet) and fine tuned a bit off it before it went to the publisher for copy editing. The team at Happy About had the cover laid out in three days and the copy edits took three more.

Start to finish the entire book was done in 3 weeks! Is that a social media success or what?

Proceeds from the book go to the Nonprofit Technology Network and Janety will be giving away books at the NTC.

Check out #Nonprofit SocialMedia tweet and buy it today!

—–

I’m so excited and honored to be part of this very fun collaborative work.  Janet and Beth had a great idea to open it up and I think the tactic worked really well for them in this situation.  Those of us that saw the calls to contribute via blog and Twitter were given a clear deadline, an easy way to contribute, and quick follow up from Janet with thanks and next steps.  They did a great job and I’m excited to see the book in print!

Published on April 5, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Social by Social Giveaway for 10NTC

Published in events and socialbysocial. 30 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I’m getting my bags packed to fly to Atlanta for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference and discovered that I have 4 copies of Social by Social left – and I’m going to give them away!

About Social by Social

Co-Authored by Nigel Courtney (CASS Business School), Andy Gibson (Sociability), Clive Holtham (CASS Business School), David Wilcox (Social Reporter) and myself, Social by Social is a practical guide to using new technologies to create social impact. It makes accessible the tools you need to engage a community, offer services, scale up activities and sustain projects. Whoever you are, it shows you how to take technology and turn it into real world benefits.  Social by Social isn’t a manual in the classic sense. This work is still pretty new and there isn’t a simple model to follow. Instead, it asks you the questions which you will need to answer, shares some of the routes other people have tried, and offers signposts to help you find your way. And it invites you to join an ongoing conversation as we all find the way together.

The book is available to read online or download in PDF format for free, the hard copies are print-on-demand, all available at: SocialbySocial.com

How to Win

My favorite part of the NTC is getting to sit down, in person, with so many different people and learn about their work.  There are really amazing things emerging and growing in our sector and the more we talk about what we are doing with others interested in weaving the network, the more collaborations emerge and more impact can be made.  So, to win a book, you have to want to tell me all about the work you do – simple enough, right?  To win a book, simply leave a comment with:

  1. Who you are
  2. What you are working on
  3. What you’d like to talk about at the NTC

To qualify you have to be attending the NTC so that I can give you the book and we can talk in person.  I only have 4 copies left so I will draw 4 names at random from all those who leave a comment at noon (Atlanta time) on Wednesday, April 7th.

Really looking forward to hearing from you!

—–

UPDATE: Winners selected!

I took all those that are attending the NTC that added comments below and assigned each name with a number, then used the random number generator at Random.org (in case you ever want to have an easy way to get random winners in something you are doing, too!) to select the four winners.  And they are, random order:

  • Margaux
  • Erin
  • Eric
  • Jennifer

I’ll email all of you to be sure you know you’ve won and to arrange your book pick up!  Thanks everyone for commenting and getting conversations started. I know I’m looking forward to chatting with you and hope others use your comments to start conversations, too!

Published on April 5, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 30 Comments

Building Stronger Online Communities Without Losing Your Sanity

Published in community and presentation. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Next week I’ll be in Atlanta for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference (connect with me there!).  One of the sessions I’m a part of, along with Manny Hernandez, Peggy Duvette, and Christine Egger, hopes to answer the question how you can build strong online communities without losing your sanity.

If you want to build a strong online community, getting the right platform in place is only half the battle, and it’s the easy half. In this peer-led discussion, we’ll share our experiences of online community building and build lists of best practices around recruiting new members and retaining them, increasing participation and moderating your community.

Takeaways:

1.  Examples on how to grow your online community.
2.  Tips for encouraging interaction in your online community.
3.  Examples of successful online community engagement.

We need you!

Here’s the catch: we may be presenting and leading the discussion, but we know you all have some terrific experiences, examples, and stories to share.  So, we have a few ways you can join in (even if you aren’t in Atlanta) and make this session even more valuable for everyone!

  1. Start Sharing Today:  We’ve set up a google document as a shared space for anyone interested in the topic, whether they are in the session with us or not, to post links, resources, examples and more.  Please add to it today, during the session, and after!
  2. Include the Hashtag:  We know that you’ll have lots of things to share and say on this topic (we’re hoping you do!) but want to be sure all those following the session from outside Atlanta can catch it all (and so you can find what everyone else is sharing, too!).  Please use the hashtag #strongbunch for this session!

We are all really looking forward to this discussion and hope that be creating the google doc ahead of time we can let the community build a resource far better than we could have alone.  Please do share your ideas, links, or examples!  Here are our slides if you want a sneak peak at the presentation:

Building Stronger Online Communities Without Losing Your Sanity

Published on April 2, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

If you missed it: Crowdsourcing Innovative Social Change

Published in presentation. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX, was a blast this year, due in no small part to the huge honor of speaking on a panel with Beth Kanter, Dave Neff, Holly Ross and Kari Saratovsky.  Beth facilitated a conversation, among the panelists as well as the standing-room-only room of participants, that focused on the power of crowdsourcing and the application of social media in nonprofit program delivery.  If you missed the session, you can revisit it via twitter, or video below!

Using the hashtag #crowdx, we had an enormous conversation via Twitter during the session – you can see the recap captured from that time here: http://twapperkeeper.com/hashtag/crowdx

You can listen to the audio recording of the session or watch the video, thanks both to David Wells at Socialize Your Cause:

Crowd Sourcing Innovative Social Change from Socialize Your Cause on Vimeo.

Published on March 30, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Let’s Connect at the NTC!

Published in events. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , .

It’s that time again: time to meet up at the Nonprofit Technology Conference!  This year it’s taking place in Atlanta, GA and I’ve got such a long list of people to meet, talk to, and learn from. This year’s event will have me quite busy so I’m hoping that by putting out some of my plans, we can find time to connect so I can learn more about your work!

These are the sessions I’m participating in and other sessions by TechSoup Global staff that I may be supporting or checking out as well.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

NetSquared Open Space (NOS): APIs and Open Data

  • Who: Facilitating: Amy Sample Ward | NetSquared; Billy Bicket | NetSquared
  • When: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  • What: Learn how your organization could use open data and APIs to show your impact, coordinate volunteers, or inspire supporters to take action. The NOS session is a chance for anyone interested in open data and APIs to connect and collaborate. Even if you’ve never participated in an ‘unconference’ event like this, no worries! The NetSquared team will be working the room to activate and facilitate conversations so everyone can enjoy the ride.

Social Media Veterans (#smvets)

  • Who: Speaker: Rachel Weidinger | TechSoup Global
  • When: 10:30 a.m.
  • What: This meeting is for for people at orgs who have been using social media for several years and will be a forum to exchange advanced level tips and stories, as well as share what’s worked and what hasn’t.

Local Community Organizers (#localco)

  • Who: NetSquared and other Community Organizers
  • When: 10:30 a.m.
  • What: This is a chance for local organizers to share stories and lessons learned and network with those considering starting a group.

Science Fair: The NTC Exhibit Hall

  • Who: TechSoup Global staff
  • When: 3:00 – 8:00 pm
  • What: Booth #4 – The Science Fair is an opportunity for companies and organizations that provide technology services to the nonprofit sector to show off their latest and greatest offerings to everyone attending the Nonprofit Technology Conference. This marketplace of ideas will be filled with simultaneous presentations and hands-on demos, and includes the conference’s Opening Reception. It’s open to the public so invite your local Atlanta friends to meet you there!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Member Lounge Hosted by TechSoup Global Redwood Room

  • When: All Day
  • What:  Relax, or join the fun – it’s up to you! In the lounge you’ll be able to do both with snacks and wi-fi in addition to smart activities that’ll promote engagement with other do-gooders. Activities include:
    - Human Bingo: A fun and easy way to network with other attendees
    - Event Space Hacks: Two great ideas, unlimited open dialogue with peers
    - Open Data Storytelling: Learn how to best tell your organization’s story
    - East-West Technology, Culture & Food Exchange: Innovation and culture sharing with NGO counterparts in India

Listen First! Finding Networks and Connections in Social Media – [Juniper] (#netconx)

  • Who: Speakers: Susan Tenby | TechSoup Global; Janet Fouts; Kira Marchenese
  • When: 10:30 a.m.
  • What: An important part of your social media strategy should be listening for people and organizations who are talking about the issues you want to discuss.How do you know which networks will be most effective to reach your goals? Listen first and discover where the conversations are!

Bringing Community Organizing Into Online Campaigns – [International Ballroom C] (#co2oc)

  • Who: Speakers: Amy Sample Ward | Netsquared; Debra Askanase; Ivan Boothe
  • When: 1:30 p.m.
  • What: What is the basis of community organizing and why is it important to online campaigns? Traditional community organizing informs a successful online campaign and lays the groundwork for a sustainable, effective movement for social change. In this session, participants will get their hands dirty planning a social media campaign that integrates traditional organizing theory and practice. During the workshop, we will present traditional community organizing principles and methods of campaign mapping. We will also ask up to three attending organizations to present an idea for an upcoming campaign and goals. Attendees will divide into break-out groups to design the online campaign. The groups will use both community organizing principles and social media tools to create an online social media campaign. Each group will present its campaign strategy and tactics to the entire workshop. Workshop leaders will offer feedback and evaluation. Come to the session with your online campaign ideas, and get ready to have fun mapping out a campaign!

Unleashing Technology to Advance Social & Economic Development – [International Ballroom A] (#tech2adv)

  • Who: Speakers: Marnie Webb | TechSoup Global; Michael Best; Edward Granger-Happ; Jane Meseck
  • When: 1:30 p.m.
  • What: Technology can be an amazing tool for social and economic development. It can help people get a better education, learn new skills to earn a living wage, or start a business. It also can enable organizations to meet community needs by broadening access to healthcare, education, micro-banking and other essential services. One of the most significant advances in information technology (IT) today is the growing connectivity among devices— computers, mobile phones and even televisions. With the widespread penetration of mobile phones and other handheld devices that connect to the Web, nearly 4 billion people worldwide now have some level of access to computing. Increasingly powerful and feature-rich software applications are emerging to run these intelligent and interconnected mobile computing devices. At the same time, the Internet continues to mature as a gateway for “cloud computing,” in which remote datacenters host data and serve applications over the Web for use across a broad spectrum of devices and IT systems. The convergence of device connectivity, software innovation and cloud-based services offers great potential to improve how we all work, but even more significant promise for NGOs to manage their operations more effectively, deliver a broader array of services and achieve a greater impact in the communities they serve. This Leadership session will bring together a panel of top NGO IT experts and CIOs for an interactive and forward thinking discussion of technology’s potential as a disruptive force o better achieve their missions and accelerate social and economic development.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Member Lounge Hosted by TechSoup Global Redwood Room

  • When: All Day
  • What:  Relax, or join the fun – it’s up to you! In the lounge you’ll be able to do both with snacks and wi-fi in addition to smart activities that’ll promote engagement with other do-gooders. Activities include:
    - Human Bingo: A fun and easy way to network with other attendees
    - Event Space Hacks: Two great ideas, unlimited open dialogue with peers
    - Open Data Storytelling: Learn how to best tell your organization’s story
    - East-West Technology, Culture & Food Exchange: Innovation and culture sharing with NGO counterparts in India

Building Stronger Online Communities Without Losing Your Sanity – [International Ballroom B] (#strongoc)

  • Who: Speakers: Amy Sample Ward | Netsquared; Mrs. Peggy Duvette; Christine Egger; Manny Hernandez
  • When: 10:30 a.m.
  • What: If you want to build a strong online community, getting the right platform in place is only half the battle, and it’s the easy half. In this peer-led discussion, we’ll share our experiences of online community building and build lists of best practices around recruiting new members and retaining them, increasing participation and moderating your community.

Cross Platform Events that Rock – [International Ballroom A] (#cperock)

  • Who: Speakers: Susan Tenby & Megan E. Keene | TechSoup Global; Evonne Heyning
  • When: 10:30 a.m.
  • What: Online events aren’t only about having a conversation on your own website. How can you get more people involved by meeting them where they’re at? We’ll use the TSdigs event in October 2009 as a case study. The event took place on forums, webinars, Tweetchat, Second Life, flickr and YouTube. This cross-platform event allowed for multiple levels of interaction with the single goal of teaching nonprofits how to tell stories digitally. The panel will take place across a mixed-reality framework, to illustrate the process and feeling of a cross-platform/mixed reality event.

Greening Your Technology – [Cottonwood B] (#greentech)

  • Who: Speakers: Anna S. Jaeger | TechSoup Global; Robin Billings; David Deal; Steve Lippman
  • When: 1:30 p.m.
  • What: Learn how to reduce the environmental impact of your information technology and how to effectively use IT to improve your organizations’ efficiency. In this session, we will explain how to green your IT infrastructure and effectively use software and hardware to reduce the environmental impact of your operations. We invite audience participation, so bring and share your ideas. We will start out with a panel of nonprofit technology and vendor product experts and then break out into smaller groups to discuss best practices and real-world solutions. Often going green does not necessitate spending more money; in fact, it frequently can help you reduce energy, resource usage and costs. Whether you are thinking about cloud computing, power management, hardware procurement or travel reduction come join our workshop to discuss tools and practices that can help you go green.

Follow the Conference Live

There are various ways you can follow the NTC online from wherever you are, as select sessions and key note speakers will be live-streamed, various people will be live-blogging, and the Twitter stream for sessions will be active.

I will also be using Twitter and blogs during the event: Twitter @amyrsward and @NetSquared as well as this blog and the NetSquared Blog.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Published on March 29, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 8 Comments

Crowdsourcing: Community vs Crowd

Published in challenge, community and presentation. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I’m really excited and honored to be speaking today at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX, on a panel with Beth Kanter, Dave Neff, Holly Ross and Kari Saratovsky.  We’ll be facilitating a conversation, more than doing a formal presentation, and will focus on the power of crowdsourcing (using our own case study from conducting the Social Media for Social Good case study competition) and the application of social media in nonprofit program delivery.

If you’re here in Austin, do join us!  If not, you can follow the conversation in real time on Twitter with the hashtag #crowdx.  (We’ll put up more notes after the session, too!)

Here are some of my thoughts going into the conversation and slides if you prefer engaging that way:

Crowdsourcing for Social Change

Crowdsourcing for Social Change

The competition we conducted as part of this panel surfaced a collection of case studies of organizations using social media in their program delivery.  You can see the full collection, and how they were voted on by the community here: http://nten.org/vote-sxswi-panel

The Value-add of Crowdsourcing: For me, the two biggest reasons to include crowdsourcing in your strategic design of community building or contests are:

  1. Crowdsourcing invites diversity by encouraging anyone with an idea or interest to participate
  2. Crowdsourcing levels the playing field so it isn’t just your “favorites” or those you already know that get to play

For the most part, I agree with the way the crowds voted – but, given that people were able to submit and vote at the same time, it means some groups only submitted on the very last day, not leaving much time for votes. There are also two major issues that groups need to consider when using the wisdom of the crowd voting approach:

  1. Crowds are susceptible to encouragement/asks/campaigning – meaning, a group that enters and has LOTS of followers or active community members can send out an appeal for people to vote and get a big response; some say this is just playing the game.
  2. Criteria is really important to consider: the crowds voting = who do you want to win this; the hosts/judges/experts voting = quality, value, innovation or alignment with competition/organizational goals

I think the most important part of designing a competition that leverages crowdsourcing is to strike a balance between too many voices, and too few.  I think you create balance by focusing the competition on the stages of:

  1. Open door policy for contributing/submitting
  2. Public voting process
  3. Public’s favorites put to expert judges for final selection

A process like this can ensure that lots of different ideas are included but that the competition can stay true to it’s purpose or the goals of the sponsoring organization.  For example, if the crowd voted in huge numbers on a submission that didn’t necessarily fit the criteria, it doesn’t mean it should win.

The most important way to use social media in a crowdsourced process is to allow the community to use social media anyway they want! Using tools that allow reposting, sharing, emailing and so on will give anyone the options they want to push your content around the web for you.

Convincing your executive team to use crowdsourcing shouldn’t take bribery.  There are lots of examples of projects that use crowdsourcing, even this one! Their hesitancy may come from not knowing what crowdsourcing means or how it works: so show them examples, but also show how the project you are working on could benefit from crowdsourcing and how the elements of crowdsourcing align with your project goals.

Sometimes what you want to do and the tools at your disposal just don’t match. Sometimes that means crowdsourcing. It isn’t right for every project or process.  Especially when you need things to be very specific or follow tight criteria, you are working very quickly or flexibly where communication with the crowd could be difficult or time consuming (or even confusing), and when you already know what you want (be honest).

Social Media in Program Delivery

The Seattle Free School is a really interesting case study for a number of reasons:

  • Social media is integral to the success of the program because it is online but it is also the mechanism for growth and community building
  • Collaboration via social media has enabled the program to come together and launch
  • Social media tools allowed for distribution of roles/responsibilities across the community (including garnering press coverage)

There are many ways to include social media in your work. But within the scope of crowdsourcing, there is still a range for how you can use the elements of crowdsourcing and social media tools. Three specific examples that are very different include:

  • Connectipedia: a wiki-based platform that allows anyone interested in philanthropy or social impact in the Pacific Northwest (or beyond) to share research, resources, information, or data about people, places and topics.  The value of the tool grows as people value the tool and add more content.  The crowd decides and creates everything that it is.
  • Ushahidi: most recently, Ushahidi adpated it’s platform for use in Haiti and Chili to let the crowd both in Haiti/Chili and outside share information and data in real time via mobiles or a web browser.
  • Nature Conservancy’s photo contests: The crowd, in this case it’s one that loves nature photos, shares the pictures they love about nature and in the process grow their community.  The contest attracts lots of participants and generates great content for the organization – but more importantly provides an engaging space for the community.

Measuring success of social media in your work can be a tricky thing to do, especially as we all explore and experiment with the tools every day and many tools and processes are still very new.  Here’s 5 key steps to mapping your work towards metrics:

  1. Problem: Be as specific as possible, focus on the problems you will be addressing directly (not just changing the world)
  2. Strategy: Highlight the strategies that specifically address the problems (this assumes you’ve already used a process to identify your audience and goals and chosen the corresponding/appropriate tools to match)
  3. Benefit: These are both tangible and intangible, and can also include things that you don’t see or expect at the beginning but develop later
  4. Value: These emerge from the Strategy choices and Benefits
  5. Metrics: You can identify the corresponding metrics of your tools and your actions based on what has emerged above; again some of these are basic numbers/data and others will have to be qualitative

How do you keep supporters engaged in creating change over the long haul? This is something that the 350.org campaign has done really well.  The basics include:

  • Show impact in real time
  • Create opportunities for iterations and involvement by community
  • Embrace storytelling

Crowd vs Community

When creating a competition or open call, or any other programming/process, designed to use crowdsourcing I think the biggest issue to explore in the designing/strategy and the implementation stages is the idea of community or crowd.

A community shares values, experiences, goals, or interests in a long-term way; the crowd may share those same things but usually for only a specific time period or around a specific event.  Introducing a crowdsourcing opportunity to a community means the call to participate, the value of participation and the way participation works all need to match the modes of operation or goals of the community already in place.  When creating a crowdsourcing event for the crowd, you match the elements of the event to only your own goals, hoping/expecting that the participants will self-select out of the crowd (and probably opt-out again after the event is over).

That sounds like it is easier to creating a crowdsourcing event or call for the crowd instead of a community; and maybe it it.  But, I think there can be higher expectations and more predictable value exchange when crowdsourcing happens within an already established community.  Why? For a few reasons:

  • the community has a shared context or starting place, there’s less to explain upfront
  • the value and practice of contributing back to the community is probably already in place
  • the community leaders or influencers have already emerged and can contribute to the crowdsourcing project’s success
  • the crowdsourcing event or project can add to the value and collaboration of the community’s growth and long-term goals

I’m really interested in the dynamics for both crowdsourcing and campaigning between communities and crowds.  Looking forward to exploring all these topics in the session today and in future blog posts!

What do you think?

Published on March 14, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 8 Comments

Vote for your favorite examples of Social Media for Social Good

Published in case studies and challenge. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Social Media for Social Good collection from NTEN and NetSquared calls for your case studies in leveraging social media tools in your program work.

Social Media for Social Good

Everywhere you turn, you’re hearing about social media. Especially when it comes to fundraising. But at NTEN and NetSquared, we know that social media is good for a lot more than raising money. We know that social media can be used to change the world. That’s why we’re launching the Social Media for Social Good case study collection!

Whether you’ve run a successful advocacy campaign, integrated social technologies into your education programs or have found innovative ways to use social media to further your mission in any other way, we want to hear about it.  There is still time to submit your case study – but hurry!

Why participate?

We know that one of the best ways to learn is to hear how others have succeeded before. Submitting your case study means you can share your story with others looking to learn and explore the social media for social good space.  It also means that you’ll be entered into our competition:  We will choose 3 case studies to be featured in our session with Beth Kanter at SXSWi this March!

Vote!

Over the past month, organizations have already submitted their case studies and now it’s time for you to cast your vote! Rank your favorites to help decide which case studies are featured at SXSWi.  (Don’t worry, if you haven’t submitted yet, you can still do that, too!)

Deadline for submissions and voting is February 26th!

Published on February 19, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 4 Comments

The Social Media Response to the Disaster in Haiti

Published in fundraising, maps and mobile. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I have a guest post up on the NTEN blog discussing some of the ways social media was put into action as soon as the earthquakes struck in Haiti:

When disaster strikes, we want information as soon as possible and we want to help just as quickly. How can we do that? Whether we look at mapping tools, fundraising, or missing person systems, the social media response to the January earthquakes in Haiti all leverage the powerful technology we can hold in our hands: our mobile phones. But the way we think about and turn to social media in a time of disaster is changing.

The disaster in Haiti is a perfect example of these changes: the impact of the Real-Time Web and the power of our phones.

Read the full post to learn more about mapping, mobile fundraising, volunteering and the Real-Time web impact:

The Social Media Response to the Disaster in Haiti

Published on February 18, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Creating Social Change with Social Media

Published in case studies, socialchange and storytelling. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

nten

Over the last week, technology has played an unprecedented role in bringing aid to and saving lives in Haiti. Over $22 million has been raised by the American Red Cross via text message (about a fifth of total Haiti-related giving to the organization so far). And then there’s the role that Facebook and Twitter are playing.

Those social media tools, along with dozens of others, have been used to help family and friends locate one another, to direct food, clothing and medical support to specific locations, and to help direct rescue workers to individuals alive and trapped under rubble.

That’s social media for social good, and that’s exactly what NTEN and NetSquared want to highlight with Beth Kanter this spring at SXSWi.

Of course, we don’t just want to talk about Haiti — we want to highlight some amazing work from around the sector, while also building a nice little library of case studies we can all learn from. So, we invite you to share your social media for social good story. We’ll choose three to highlight in our session, and we’ll share all the stories we can on our sites and at We Are Media.

Submit your Social Media for Social Good story today!

Published on January 21, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 6 Comments

Great reads from around the web on November 18th

Published in roundup. 19 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources across the web ever day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of November 18th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

  • 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network – Have you registered yet for the Nonprofit Technology Conference? This is one of the best opportunities each year to meet others from the nonprofit technology sector, learn what other organizations are up to, what's new and what's next! I'll be there and hope you will be, too :)
  • What is your conversation strategy? | Powered by John Haydon – John Haydon has an excellent post today to get you thinking more strategically about your use of social media, and not just what tools to use but what to say once you're using them! "When most businesses and non-profits start using social media, they start with “small talk” with their communities. They politely reply to tweets, express appreciation to donors, respond as quickly as possible to customer support issues, and generally try to add value to their network. But all to often, they fail to move beyond the “small talk” and create meaningful discussions that their communities are dying to have."
  • Whuffie Webinar – "What if you had access to the latest big ideas from the corporate world, distilled into a 10 minute video that was 6.5 more memorable than other ways of learning? What if you then had access to one of the leaders in the not-for-profit world who would show you how to take these principles and apply them to your day to day activities? What if all of this was free, every month?" You do! Check out this great webinar series from Polar Unlimited.
  • Idealist.org: Imagine, Connect, Act – Idealist is trying something. They want to see what could happen if we serious commit to working together, on an offline. "It's time for the world's idealists to work together, online and in person. The first step in this campaign is to ask you to take a few minutes to read this proposal. What you'll find there is a vision for this network, a path and a timeline to build it, and an invitation to be part of this movement from the very start. Then, to share your thoughts and join the 1,361 people in 91 countries who are making this happen, please sign up here."
  • YouTube – Direct's Channel – "YouTube Direct allows you to embed the upload functionality of YouTube directly into your own site, enabling your organization to request, review, and re-broadcast user-submitted videos with ease. News organizations can ask for citizen reporting; nonprofits can call-out for support videos around social campaigns; businesses can ask users to submit promotional videos about your brand. With YouTube Direct, the opportunities to connect directly with the YouTube community are endless."
Published on November 18, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 19 Comments