Tag Archive for 'twitter'

Campaigning #4Change Recap

Published in events and socialchange. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Starting off 2010, the monthly #4change Twitter chat focused on the topic of campaigning with social media.  There were quite a few participants and some really great conversation.  I’ve tried to pull out some of the relevant tweets from the Twitter stream to help follow the flow of the conversation in case you missed it.
This is more of a transcript than a recap, more of what I hope can be a refresher or stimulator for follow up blogs than simply the whole story itself.  Please leave a comment or use the #4change hashtag to tweet  your post if you do write something of your own!
Question 1: How do we define campaigning in the context of social media?
amysampleward: does growing a Facebook Fan page numbers count? does growing an email list count? what about calls to action that aren’t online?
rootwork: In terms of #s, the easiest things to measure (FB fans, Twitter followers, web hits) seem least useful in online organizing
rootwork: I strongly believe list building w/ petitions etc. that are NOT actually effective for the movement is abusive of one’s supporters
annanten: @rootwork list building is just a strategy to engage more folks in your campaign
ChristinasWorld: I think campaigning has to do w/achieving a particular end – not building a fb fan page, but using that page to achieve x, y or z
engagejoe: Hmm…What about ‘using webby tools 2 organize ppl for impact on an array of issues, w/the goal of creating real world change?’
annanten: @rootwork list building is just a strategy to engage more folks in your campaign
rootwork: @annanten To me the goal should be change, not growing one’s base. 200 engaged members are better than 20,000 petition-signers
SethHorwitz: Seth from Philly here @rootwork altho building lists is not signif per se, NE1 of those low barrier entrants may bcome an advocate
realize_ink: Q1. A campaign (in my definition) is anything that mobilizes action
annanten: social media is here to help you empower your followers with a story to create powerful activists for your cause
lozz: @amysampleward Campaigning is obsolete – social media disrupts “start-end” mentality – constantly adapting efforts now
paddaniels: @realize_ink SM changing the way we see campaigning as not only r small acts of giving visible but so is the collective outcome
ChristinasWorld: building a network of awareness is different from campaigning: 1) campaigning is about mobilizing action toward specific objectives 
ChristinasWorld: 2) Network building is about communicating, telling stories, & building trust over time
realize_ink: @ChristinasWorld I agree completely! Good campaigns move away from awareness 2 spur action
annanten: @engagejoe online campaigning = (relationship building + storytelling) * shared cause ^ common goal
SethHorwitz: @ChristinasWorld: agree w/ distinction betw. network building (awareness, trust) and campaigning (action). Both important.
Question #2: what are some of the best examples you’ve seen? Why are they great?
@elliotharmon Here’s a good example from just today of the wrong way to use social media http://bit.ly/88sR45
creativegreeniu: The 350 campaign is one of the best uses of social media I’ve experienced and it worked on a worldwide basis.
creativegreeniu: and why the 350 campaign worked is because it effectively reached a diverse demographic & moved them to action on a complex goal
ChristinasWorld: @kanter’s recent campaign 4 Sharing Found. was amazing – what made it great was existing network ready to take action when called
5MillionPeople: GetUp in Oz do it well. Many of their online campaigns are short and sharp.
cian: Big up to @350’s work. So successful at creating real world actions. do they in themselves create behavioral change too
realize_ink: @creativegreeniu I’d add to that, it succeeded b/c it moved ppl toward a *specific* goal
5MillionPeople: @realize_ink: Agreed. Works best when people can see that action leads to affect. Specific goals help focus.
neddotcom: Another campaign worth mentioning http://twestival.com/
rootwork: I remember a campaign from some time ago about getting more women on tech panels, but can’t find specific blogs abt it.
annanten: @realize_ink @rootwork indeed – it was @WomenWhoTech who lead that – http://bit.ly/y2twf
rootwork: I think the Jena Six was an early (though not the first) success of social media campaigns http://bit.ly/5hKmih
rootwork: The Powershift youth climate change conf in 2007 was also largely organized via social media http://bit.ly/8MyWtH
elliotharmon: Great example of organizing people online: Sean Tevis campaign. http://bit.ly/5VSjxh
rootwork: @tomjd @bensaint My Society @mysociety is incredibly awesome. Produce great tools for effective UK campaigns
Question #3: What are elements in these examples that are integral to the campaign’s success?
realize_ink: Q3: specific ask.
rootwork: Key element for success, to me, is allowing ppl to speak in own voice, e.g. http://jointheimpact.com was abt ppl, not an org
rootwork: Creating a sustainable org #4change is good, but not at the expense of cultivating leadership among activists IMO
rootwork: Great repository of online campaigns #4change can be found at @DigiActive – lots to analyze: http://bit.ly/4BbKWG
creativegreeniu: Direct contact from national 350 organizers incredibly effective in motivating me. I used that tactic locally 2 move others to act.
creativegreeniu: first step is recognizing value & necessity of it and specifically asking campaigners to do it.
zerostrategist: Q3: I think Access 2 the net, uncensored information, being unmonitored or not fearing reprisals for being an active are important
engagejoe: ‘An element that’s integral 2 a campaign’s success?’ Agree w/@rootwork’s highlights: truly valuing & empowering supporters is key.
zerostrategist: Google / China comes to mind! Thank god for SMS, proxy servers & smart mobs right?
ChristinasWorld: key to good campaign is offering meaningful action for supporters to take; having a network who is ready to take action helps alot
realize_ink: Q3: empowerment & ownership
realize_ink: @amysampleward Giving ppl the opportunity 2 make it their own. Like @350 encouraged ppl’s cr8ivity 2 bring change but hd 1 ask
ChristinasWorld: @amysampleward sharing thru soc med can help maintain an action network – don’t just talk to supporters when u need something
5MillionPeople: @amysampleward: A big part of it is surely about making sure your network feel their actions are having an effect.
ChristinasWorld: Building an effective network #4change who is ready 2 take action requires consistency – sharing stories, building trust in an ongoing way
rootwork: Be honest w/ppl about how a given action gets the movement closer to change. Like a lg version of mission line-of-sight
neddotcom: Cluetrain may be 10 years old, but was 20 years ahead of its time, very related to social media today http://cluetrain.com/
ehon: Online campaigning – the power offer to stakeholders needs to be designed and executed properly & strategically.
Question #4: What are the most difficult aspects of managing/running a campaign?
engagejoe:  another best-practice for online campaigning? making it about the cause, not the org(s) that’s coordinating it.
rootwork Giving up control.
ehon: @engagejoe @rootwork valuing & empowering is obvious. Most campaigns lack long-term strategic plan to keep momentum flowing.
SocialBttrfly: @amysampleward For me, one of the more frustrating items, not nec. difficult, is overcoming the campaign mentality.
SocialBttrfly: Along lines of what @ehon was saying. Needs a strategic plan. Most campaigns address short term and focus on one P, promotion.
realize_ink: Q4: in some instances, seeing campaign as a tactic, not the entire strategy.
realize_ink: camp strat brings u closer 2 achieving org strat. camp success = met org objective. org success = worked out of a job.
ChristinasWorld: Q4 I think keeping up campaign momentum can be tiring for campaign champions. I hate that feeling of bugging people
zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld It IS tiring, mastering the art of the “light touch / soft ask” is not easy to keep that campaign momentum going
zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld I found that when you run a great social media campaign, other champions and supporters can help keep that going
SocialBttrfly I personally like the term “initiative” vs. “campaign.” “Initiative” tends to get people motivated and is action-focused.
neddotcom: Is your campaign for good push or pull? America’s Giving Challenge = push vs. Kiva peer-to-peer microfinance = pull
neddotcom: Pull can be more effective because people are coming directly to you, hopefully in great numbers and ready to do something
SocialBttrfly: I can expand in a post. In ways, it’s semantics. But the word campaign, to me, says push rather than a fueling a movement.
ehon: Challenge w online campaign – lots of sympathisers not enough activists. Inspiration doesn’t transform to action.
rootwork: .@ehon That’s why “awareness-building” is such a limited goal. I’ll take “action-building” or “change-building”!
zerostrategist: @ehon Might be right about that challenge, but I have seen the reverse too. Where everyone wants to lead but no one wants 2 follow
Question #5: What are the best ways for would-be campaigners to identify possible collaborators/partners?
engagejoe:  w/online campaigning, seems a (natural?) challenge 2 coordinate w/other movement builders working on same issue
rootwork: With social media, it seems easy (maybe too easy!) to find the natural leaders & activists and bring them into the “inner circle”
rootwork: But I think that leadership cultivation is key. Someone always Tweeting out yr action alerts? See if they want to help plan them!
ChristinasWorld: Q5  thinking of @kanter & #tweetsgiving, seems clear that existing networks built over time produce strong natural collaborators
ChristinasWorld: btw – meant @kanter’s recent b-day campaign & #tweetsgiving from @epicchange as 2 examples where collaborators identify themselves
engagejoe:  w/@christinasworld that building on & seeking connections from yr ntworks makes for a gr8 starting place 2 find potential partners
Question #6 – something people always ask me:  how do you measure impact of campaigns (esp w/ social media)?
ChristinasWorld: Measuring impact of #4change soc med campaigns: count unique actions/donors/RTs/shares/posts… but most important, was objective achieved?
zerostrategist: Q6 Most SM people say that it’s the number of “social actions” taken during campaign period, but I think it is much more then that #4change
zerostrategist: Q6: The fact is many things are just just not measurable even with the best tools so pay, attention to tangibles & intangibles!
zerostrategist: Q6: Do the best u can to setup automated systems to capture metrics, look at the numbers, but don’t obsess over them or the ROI
Steveistall: @zerostrategist Agreed! It’s much more important to measure outcomes (especially behaviour change) than to measure outputs
engagejoe:  w/@zerostrategist that “How do you measure impact?” will never be as easy as counting clicks, challenges & solutions too complex.
engagejoe:  few measurement of success: Did you build relationships? Is the mvmnt bigger, stronger? Are we closer 2 our goals?
zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld Like how can you measure the depth of a “social action” or an interaction with a human (virtual or physical)?
sdmediareform: Measure campaigns by if it is helping advance community exposure. Ask around…
engagejoe:  social media also offers a gr8 opportunity 2 discover, seek out, & highlight the stories which may show the success of a campaign
—–
Future chats:
The idea was suggested during the chat last night that next month we discuss the issue of “Cause Fatique.”  I think there are lots of stories to tell, questions to ask, and examples to share on this topic and hope you’ll join us!
You can stay on top of the #4change topic by following the hashtag on Twitter or following the blog at:
Published on January 15, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

January #4Change Chat Topic: Campaigning

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

The January #4Change Twitter Chat will focus on the use of Twitter and other social media tools in campaigning.

About the Topic

Campaigning can mean many different things and we want to keep the definition of the topic fairly open for this chat, in order to keep insights, resources and conversation in the Q/A format as open to valuable input as possible.  Here are some ways that campaigning can be framed for the purpose of this chat:

  • moving canvassing door to door to online networks
  • political action
  • local community building
  • tying communications, partners, and actions together via social media
  • social change projects or programs locally or globally

The way we examine the use of social media in campaigning can be further framed in some of these ways:

  1. change campaigns (internal vs external), also organization type variations
  2. social media change campaigns (specific nuances)
  3. change campaigns vs political campaigns (similarities vs differences)
  4. educational campaigns (organizational / institutional / internet) riffing off of last month’s topic
  5. building campaign coalitions & recruiting campaign champions

How to Participate

Share your ideas now:

You can share your ideas about the topic as well as any resources, case studies, examples, research etc. by leaving a comment on this blog post.  Or, you can tag your resources or posts using Delicious with the tag “4change” and we’ll pick it up for you.

Join the Twitter chat:

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for #4Change
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding #4Change to your Twitter message
  4. Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.

Rules for #4Change Chat

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @memeshift to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Be cool.

Details

  • Date: January, 14th 2010
  • When: 2 – 4 pm US Pacific Time, 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time, 10pm – 12am London, UK (Late!)
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • Topic: Campaigning: How is social/new media affecting the the way we build and conduct campaigns? and more!

We’ll update this post with specific questions to be asked during the chat and will capture resources and conversations from the chat, too.  Send us your ideas!

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Published on January 3, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

December #4Change Chat: Education

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This Thursday is the December #4Change Chat!

Education and it’s discontents are being changed by new ways of learning – much of it by new ways of creating, sharing and validating information and knowledge online. Tools and methods are being customized, adapted and remixed for various educational contexts. Classrooms are no longer bound by geography. But there are still barriers, still challenges – some of which we may not be able to predict. How can we attend to these?

This chat will cover the changing role(s) of teachers, institutions and learners – and how they are affected and transformed by new/social media.

Details

  • Date: December, 10th 2009
  • When: 2 – 4 pm US Pacific Time, 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time, 10pm – 12am London, UK (Late!)
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • Topic: Education: How is social/new media affecting the future of education?

Check out some of the questions we’ll be discussing and resources about the topic here.

Join the Conversation!
If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).

  • To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for #4Change
  • Jump in to the conversation by adding #4Change to your Twitter message
  • Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.
Published on December 9, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Great reads from around the web on December 2nd

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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 December 2nd). 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).

  • ReputationOnline » Blog Archive » Jonathan Waddingham on ‘Can you turn fans into consumers?’ – Jonathan Waddingham from JustGiving has a great post up today: "The advent of Facebook fan pages has been great news for brands wanting to create communities without having to build their own social network. In many cases, it’s largely pointless trying to create your own community when the people you want to attract are already part of another one… But what do you do with your fans once you’ve got them?"
  • How Facebook turns active users into community managers – without paying a dime (video) | Powered by John Haydon – John Haydon has a great post and video discussing facebook's strategic design that empowers users to be community managers. "You want to develop a stronger, more passionate community. You want your members to invite like-minded folks to join your community and you want the cultists to encourage others to be more active. You them to do both of these things regularly. And you want this all to happen naturally – because it won’t happen if you push."
  • Social Media Analytics: Twitter: Quantitative & Qualitative Metrics | Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik – "Twitter is amongst new media channels that are challenging how we communicate, with whom we communicate and perhaps most fundamentally how we (Marketers) influence people. … So in this post my hope is to share with you what is unique about measuring one such channel, Twitter. The blog post is also sprinkled with my own words of folksy wisdom as to how you should use the channel for maximum impact."
  • Is Your Organization Human Enough for Social Media? — SocialFish – "Social media can be overwhelming. There are so many tools, none of which you’ve used before, so you don’t have an intuitive sense of how they work, let alone if they are really helping you get the work of your organization done. And if you’ve gotten into these tools at all, you’ve probably noticed that they are not implemented in the same way as many other initiatives within your organization. You’re not sure who’s supposed to tweet or blog, and suddenly there are people outside of your staff who are saying things your staff used to say."
  • Three Ways You Can Help Build The Future of NABUUR | NABUUR Blog – "NABUUR exists so people like you can make a real difference for communities worldwide. With your contributions, you have improved the lives of countless others. You have proven it works. Now, your talents and time are needed to take the next step: make NABUUR itself self-supporting and driven by a global community of volunteers. In the last year alone, the numbers of volunteers and villages have doubled. Together, we learned how to connect, share and work together via the internet, without bureaucratic controlling bodies. NABUUR is following this path itself: already, many of you have taken over work that previously required office staff. And a bold next step is ahead! From January on, NABUUR will be volunteer-run: no more office staff. The NABUUR platform will remain online, and limited central support will still be available, but how it will develop will be up to the community to decide."
Published on December 2, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

Interview: Avi Kaplan, Epic Change for TweetsGiving

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Originally posted on the NetSquared blog.

epic change tweetsgiving logoI recently had the opportunity to connect with Avi Kaplan, the Community and Events Director at Epic Change, to discuss the upcoming TweetsGiving campaign and events.  Avi is just back from Tanzania where he and other Epic Change team members were working with the students in the classroom built with last year’s TweetsGiving proceeds.

Find out more in the interview below!

What is Epic Change?
Epic Change is a US nonprofit dedicated to helping social entrepreneurs harness the power of their stories to create change in their communities. We are a very heartful organization and a lot of what we do is thanks to an incredible group of volunteers.

What is TweetsGiving?
TweetsGiving is a global celebration of gratitude and giving on November 24-26. Participants will share what they are grateful for through Twitter and other online media and attend gratitude parties around the world. People donate to a shared cause in honor of that for which they are most grateful. Where do the funds go? Funds raised will go to support the work of Mama Lucy Kampton (@MamaLucy), a ChangeMaker who has transformed her community in Arusha, Tanzania through her school Shepherd’s Junior.

What was last year’s celebration like and how do you think it’ll be different this year?
TweetsGiving last year was overwhelming because we put the program together so quickly and really didn’t know what kind of response we would get. Once the tweets of gratitude started to flow in we new we had identified a very powerful emotional chord with people. The tone of the messages and the level of participation we saw were hopeful and inspiring. The addition of gratitude parties this year is significant. A different kind of reflection is accomplished face-to-face than you can achieve behind a computer screen. I expect the parties to be lively gatherings and for people to form new relationships and to come with open hearts ready to share.

How can people get involved?
You can find an event to attend on our website TweetsGiving.org, volunteer to host a gratitude party (it’s not too late!), and join the Epic Change Community online to receive continued updates on the project.

What are you up to right now in Africa?
We just spent three weeks at Shepherd’s Junior near Arusha, Tanzania setting up a technology lab and wireless internet at the school. Together with our fabulous volunteers Melissa & AJ Leon of theLacProject, we taught the students and teachers about computers and social media. The students of Class Five at the school are now on Twitter and Tumblr and you can follow them all by clicking their pictures in this blog post. The internet has opened up the world for these students and their teachers are increasingly using the web in their curriculum.

For more details from our recent work here, including video, photos and more in-depth coverage of all about the work we’ve been up to in Tanzania on the “I <3 Epic Change” Blog created by theLacProject and in a recent article in the Huffington Post.

I hope you’ll join us for TweetsGiving and I’m really excited for what’s next at Epic Change.

About Avi
After over a year working as a volunteer, Avi is excited to join Epic Change as the Community and Events Director. He is a South Florida native and currently lives in Washington DC. He’s interested in using technology to organize for social change and is a recent Harvard graduate. You can find him on twitter (@MeshugAvi)or by email (Avi@EpicChange.org).

Published on November 3, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Next #4Change Chat Topic: Volunteering

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Originally posted on the #4Change blog by Tash Judd.

Social media and new technology are changing the way we recruit and manage volunteers.  They’re also changing how we define the concept of volunteering.  New forms of participation such as micro-volunteering, and web-generated events such as Twestival, are changing the way people are coming together to raise funds, donate their time and make a difference in their local and global community.

Our next #4change chat, on Thursday 12 November, will look at how the volunteering landscape is changing.  Join us for a global conversation, sharing ideas, best practice, links and resources.

How to join the chat

1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a Twitter account (it’s free).
2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use  http://search.twitter.com/ or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to your Twitter message
4. Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.

Rules for #4Change chat

1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tashjudd or post them below to have them considered.
2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
3. Stay on topic!
4. Be cool.

A few links

How social media’s changing volunteering
Blog: Brave New World for Volunteering
Blog: Sacrifice, optional and about other people (defining volunteering)
Blog: The Extraordinaries: Will micro-volunteering work?
Article: NetSquared and the new wave of online volunteering

Recruiting volunteers online
Volunteer Match
Do-it
All for Good

A few interesting volunteering and participation initiatives
The Extraordinaries
Virtual volunteering
Junction49
Urbantastic
Twestival

Please visit the #4Change blog to contribute other interesting links, case studies and questions you’d like to see raised during the chat.  Looking forward to seeing you all online on the 12th.

Published on November 2, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

Twitter Lists for Nonprofits

Published in community and strategy. 10 Comments Tags: , , .

Lauren Cochrane has a great post today with ideas for lists organizations could create with Twitter’s new List function.  If you haven’t heard about Lists yet, you’re not behind! They have only been rolled out to around half of the users so far.  You can read more about Lists on the Twitter Blog here.

Lauren outlines 7 Lists that organizations may find useful, including:

  1. Your organisation’s chapters and campaigns.
  2. Related international organisations and campaigns.
  3. Organisations that are somewhat related to your organisation.
  4. Celebrities, politicians and others with a high profile.
  5. Media.
  6. Volunteers.
  7. Retweeters and people who have contacted you.

As I added to Lauren’s post in the comments, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for organizations to leverage the List functionality for boosting visibility of their work and finding new supporters.  Think about the way Facebook Fan pages work, the way we see when others add a Fan page and we may join as well, and so on.  This kind of visibility work taps people’s desire to be cause-related in self identity.

Here’s my idea for an organizational visibility campaign using Lists:

Create a list for Supporters. (Make sure it’s a public list, and link to it from your website and elsewhere.) Encourage people who want to be included on that list to publicly @reply to you and say why they support you. Then, add them to the list.

So, they’ve already publicly promoted you to their whole followers list and as a member of the list can feel a bit more connected with the organization (to retweet messages in the future, help promote campaigns or other projects, etc.).

What do you think?

Would love to hear if you have other ideas about using Lists for organizations. Do you already have the Lists function enabled on your account – have you used it yet?

Published on October 30, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 10 Comments

Next #4Change Twitter Chat: Social Media & the Climate Change Movement

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Originally posted by Joe Solomon on the #4Change blog.

Every month, a group called #4Change organizes open & lively conversations about how web-connected communities and our use of social media tools are helping to create change in the world. #4Change Chats are hosted on Twitter – Read “Join the Conversation” below for ways to jump into the discussion.

The next #4change chat is this Thursday – we hope you can join us!

Details:

  • Date: Oct, 8th
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change
  • When: 2 – 4 pm US Pacific Time, 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time, 10pm – 12am London, UK (Late!)
  • Topic: How does the web & social media change the way we address climate change?


(Image from Blog Action Day - their topic this year is also climate change!)

We are at a crucial moment in time for the climate movement (and all of humanity). World leaders are meeting in Copenhagen in December to draft the next major global climate treaty – and organizations, communities, and people from every corner of the planet are stepping up to make sure this treaty gets our planet back on a sustainable path. Copenhagen is a galvanizing force that’s driving a lot of innovations and experiments – which means there’s going to be lots to discuss! Many of the questions we explore will likely also be applicable to other movements.

Starting the Conversations:

Here are some questions to consider:

  • How does online discussion and networking connect with and support offline action?
  • How does the web change the way we organize for climate action? What are the key ways the game gets changed?
  • What role does new media & storytelling play in this space?
  • What are the impact of online petitions and how can they be most effective?
  • How can we help connect & empower the climate movement together using online tools? What technologies are both available & needed?
  • How can the web facilitate culture shifts? As network weavers, how can we faciitate culture shifts?
  • What are the top actions the social media community can take to join and support the climate movement?

And here are some examples to consider:

  • TckTckTck, 350.org, Avaaz, 1Sky, Energy Action Coalition, many others – All wired organizations working to catalyze and inspire people and communities to come together and take action for the climate.
  • Project Survival – Seven new media teams, one for each continent, will report on the most compelling climate stories from around the world.
  • WiserEarth & WiserEarth API – Open database of over 100,000 environmental & social justice organizations anyone can search and webby folk can integrate into their site.

Join the Conversation!

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to your Twitter message
  4. Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.

Rules for #4Change Chat

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @engagejoe to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Be cool.

Join us for the chat this Thursday – looking forward to discussing the role social media can play in creating a safe climate future!

Published on October 7, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Join me for a chat with The Feast

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Join us for a chat!  NetSquared is the guest host of The Feast’s next Twitter chat about the power of social media for social good. We’ll be tweeting questions such as “how can we better leverage social media for less talk and more action?” and we’re looking for remarkable people like you to help answer them!

We may be the host, but we need all of you to join us to make the conversation interesting!

Join NetSquared & The Feast

We want to hear from you to, so leave your questions in the comments section below, or send them via twitter to @alldaybuffet.  Look forward to a Feast on twitter!
How to Join the Conversation:

  1. Follow @alldaybuffet on twitter
  2. Follow the #feastongood hashtag
  3. Join the conversation by using #feastongood in your related tweets on Monday, September 21st from 3 PM – 4 PM EST
  4. View the previous Twitter Chat on Design with William Drenttel of Winterhouse & Twitter Chat on Social Entrepreneurship with Echoing Green

Feast on Twitter Details:

Hosts include Net Squared (@NetSquared) and Amy Sample Ward from NetSquared (@amyrsward), All Day Buffet Team (@alldaybuffet), and ADB co-founders Michael Karnjanaprakorn (@mikekarnj) and Jerri Chou (@jchou).
Feast Conference Details:
The most creative conference on social innovation is right around the corner. A gathering of the world’s greatest innovators from across industries and society to empower, inspire and engage each other in creating world-shaking change, The Feast is sure to get you full on good.

  • Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
  • Time: 9 AM – 5 PM
  • Location: The Times Center, New York City
  • REGISTER TODAY!
Published on September 17, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Managing Twitter, One Account at a Time

Published in resources, strategy and webtools. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

There are so may stats, reports, assumptions and speculations every day about who is using Twitter, let alone how and why.  I recently read a reflection on Twitter called How To Use Twitter When You Follow Several Thousand People.  And it got me thinking, not necessarily about how I filter through the stream and so forth, but how others who are filtering through their streams, find me!

I’m not the only one that is follow lots of interesting, valuable, fun people on Twitter – so are many of you!  So, how do I create ways for people to pick up on my content or shared learning in ways that is visible (and not just sucked into the stream)?  How do I ensure that the stream I’m creating, isn’t overwhelming as well?

With these questions in mind, I decided to start a second Twitter account – and I want to share with you my strategy and implementation steps – so you can see if something similar is right for you, too!

Why Create Two Accounts

My Twitter account is @AmyRSWard and I have, currently, over 3,000 followers.  I’m not one for popularity and don’t view follower counts as a reflection of such.  I think that at one time or another, those 3,000+ people found an interesting link I shared, read a blog post I wrote and wanted to get more, or connected with me in one way or another online, at a conference, or through email.  The way I see it, those 3,000 people are “following” the content or value I can add to their work, not necessarily my coolness.

But, I’m human! Not everything I say is smart, valuable, insightful or useful.  Sometimes I just want to say, “hi” to my mom on Twitter, and that’s okay.  But for people who don’t want to follow everything I say, and really just want real-time access to my shared brain, well, why not them have it!

Purpose of @AmySampleWard

As I explained above, the purpose of the second account, @AmySampleWard, is to provide a pipeline to valuable content.  I intend to use this second account for three main things:

  1. Sharing links to posts as they go up: Whenever a new post goes up on this blog, a tweet with the title and link will go out!
  2. Sharing links to interesting things I read: Whenever I tag something using Delicious that I think is of interest to you all, a tweet with the title and link will go out!
  3. Livetweeting and Twitter-chats: If I go to a conference or an event or am participating in a Twitter-based chat, I always think about the tweet-overload I create for people who follow me as my messages go from # of tweets per day, to # of tweets per hour or minute.  This way I will have a separate account to use for following a conference session or speaker, etc.

Set Up of @AmySampleWard

I have to give tons of credit to Joe Solomon, my friend and colleague and rockstar, for his help getting me set up.  I asked for his advise (he’s the man behind @nptechblogs among other Twitter mutations) as there are TONS of tools out there to choose from when setting up an account.  So, the steps below are generated from Joe’s smarts as well as my applications.

Sharing links from your blog:

I used TwitterFeed to set this up.  It’s really simple.  Just put in the RSS feed of your blog, and then use the Advanced Options to add a preface or suffix to your posts (this is where you could say, as I do, “New post:” or something).  As Joe advised, and I TOTALLY agree, be sure to select the option to show only the Title & Link – as including any more means a really jumbled tweet.

Sharing links you tag onling:

I use Delicious to tag content online instead of saving bookmarks locally to my computer – this way I can access things I’ve saved from any computer and can share content easily.  Using Twitter to share is just one more option!  If you do not already use Delicious, it’s easy to get started – visit the site for more. I used TwitterFeed again to coordinate auto-tweets of items I tag.  I used the RSS feed of a specific tag, because I didn’t necessarily want every single item I bookmark to be tweeted out.  This let’s me choose which items to share.

We’re in Business!

So, the new account is all set up! It’s already tweeting out blog posts, interesting links, and more. Follow it here!

What do you think? I’d love your feedback on my strategy and process – if you would have done things differently or if you have questions about how I’m making it work!

Published on September 15, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments