These are some links I wanted to share from August 10th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Introducing the National Talent Bank – The National Talent Bank is an idea proposed by the Council on Social Action. A discussion paper is now available online to stimulate dialogue and engagement (and a call for partners) to build the Talent Bank together. Check out the news to learn more and download/read the discussion paper to join in!
• The Death of the Digital Divide–Or a New One? | Fission Strategy | Fast Company – Based on recent studies about Internet and communication technology use or adoption, the Digital Divide doesn't seem to necessarily be disappearing. How have you made sure to evaluate where or what kinds of tools or platforms your community uses before you choose what to do with your social media strategy?
• Investors & Researchers in Philanthropy | Tactical Philanthropy – A great post from Sean on the TactPhil blog: "I would argue that philanthropic institutions are currently geared towards thinking of themselves as impact researchers instead of performance investors. As I’ve tried to make clear, the goal is the same. Both disciplines are needed. A high performance organization that implements ineffective, poorly researched programs will fail to achieve impact. A poorly performing organization that tries to implement proven programs will fail to deliver them with fidelity and/or fail to grow. But what would happen if funders thought of themselves primarily as performance investors and relied on a mix of internal, external and independent researchers to prove program effectiveness?"
• FutureGov Network – Carrie Bishop's at the Google Local Government event in London today and tweeting and blogging from inside. Here's a post with Google's top tips for making a good website – originally intended for audiences like Amazon.com but you can do some minor word replacement or other alternations to make the nonprofit or government perspective more clear.
• 5 Fun and Fabulous Twitter Tools for Nonprofit Organizations and Activists (Nonprofits 2.0 – Change.org) – Heather Mansfield has a new post on the Change.org blog: "The number of third-party Twitter Apps has exploded over the last year. Twtbase currently lists over 500 of them, and I have highlighted five of my favorites for nonprofit organizations and activists…"

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on August 10th

These are some links I wanted to share from August 5th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Have Fun • Do Good: Community Funded Reporting: Interview with David Cohn of Spot.us – "You cannot run a community if you're not informed. Journalism is really the act of informing communities so that they can make better decisions, that is part of the public service, informing communities so that together we can know where else we need to help."–David Cohn, Founder, Spot.us. Read the full interview with him on Britt's blog!
• Full Circle Associates » How I use social media – Here is a great post from Nancy White discussing how she uses social media. Just like the other link tagged recently with the "day in the life" of Danielle Brigida, I love "case studies" that share how individuals "really" use the platforms and tools and strategies – moving from the theoretical or abstract down to the practical application.
• Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Guest Post by Michael Sola: A Day of the Life of NWF’s Social Media Outreach Coordinator Danielle Brigida – This is a terrific guest post over on Beth Kanter's blog follow a "day in the life" of my friend, and social media for nonprofits rockstar, Danielle Brigida! I love case studies of this kind because it puts all of the abstract ideas and recommendations into a realistic context. What do you think?
• Delicious Reborn as Real Time News Tracker – Are you a Delicious user? Do you ever check out the homepage? Their new updates may ensure that answer is a "yes!". Marshall Kirkpatrick explains: "Yahoo's social bookmarking service Delicious launched a new home page this morning, combining recent tagging activity and cross-referenced links on Twitter to deliver what it calls the hottest news from around the web in real time. While the exact formula behind the front page remains unclear, its contents are clearly changing minute by minute. It's something the site probably should have done awhile ago and if done correctly could make other services, like Digg, look all the more behind the times."
• Free Social Media Marketing Checklist | 299 Steps to Website Heaven – Nikki Pilkington has improved the Social Media Marketing list originally posted by Chris Brogan – this is a terrific example of how to break down what can be an overwhelming daily gauntlet of social media use. Don't feel obligated to use this as an exact checklist (by the numbers) but use it help craft what is most appropriate for your online interactions.

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on August 5th

These are some links I wanted to share from July 29th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Social media inbound marketing for non-profits and small businesses – in Boston and beyond | Resource Superlist For Twitter Folks | John Haydon – John Haydon has put together a great resource list for using Twitter, "Over the past few months, I’ve received hundreds of questions on how to use Twitter. Based on these questions, I’ve assembled a “resource page” for you, which I will updated as needed."
• PR Communications: Measuring Your Level Of Social Media Engagement – John Cass has a new post in which he discusses "the engagement relevancy rating." Definitely worth a read – another reminder why building a strategy for engaging your community is the most important part, BEFORE you dive into the tools.
• SheSpotter – SheSpotter just launched as a blog and I plan on following/joining the conversations. "What’s a Shespotter? It’s someone who gets that women vote, give, volunteer, spread the word and make more buying decisions than men do, which makes them the number #1 target audience if you’re working for change. We started this blog to continue the conversation we began in our book, The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them. We also wanted to encourage others to become Shespotters of when marketing to women is done right—and when it goes wrong. So, if you see something send it our way. Because the smarter we are about connecting with women, the more effective we’ll be as political, cultural and consumer change makers."
• Blog | beautiful world – Beautiful World is a new agency for charities, based in London, and are quite happy to ask questions, share ideas and contribute to the conversation. Here is a new post on their blog where they ask, "Are charities (at least some of them) becoming embarrassed at the idea of asking for money?"
• BBC NEWS | Business | VAT abolished on text donations – Great news for mobile fundraisers: "Donations to UK charities sent via text message will be free of VAT from this week as part of an agreement with the major mobile phone operators."
• Social Entrepreneurship – Change.org: Youth Taking Action: Serving Iraqi refugees – "Ashoka's Youth Venturer Sky Choi is one busy 12-year-old. Apart from starting The List Kids to serve young Iraqi refugees in the U.S. he is also starting his university studies in physics, speaks multiple languages, has a third degree black belt in taekwondo, and says that he hopes to always make a difference in the world!" Yes, that's right: he is TWELVE years old. Read this great interview on the Change.org blog to learn more about him!

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on July 29th

These are some links I wanted to share from July 23rd. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Nonprofit Marketer of the Year Awards – CONGRATS! "Eric Overman (photo, center), Operation Smile, received the Nonprofit Marketer of the Year Award, and Anne Bergquist (photo, left), YMCA of Metro Chicago, and David J. Neff (photo, right), American Cancer Society High Plains, received the Special Marketing Initiatives and Social Media subcategory awards, respectively. The AMA/AMAF Nonprofit Marketer of the Year Awards honor extraordinary leadership and achievement in the field of nonprofit marketing."
• Developers Start to Surf Google Wave, And Love It | Technomix | Fast Company – I cannot wait for Wave to be public (coming later this Fall), so much so that I've even repeatedly signed up to be an early invite in the first post-developer-only round of users. Here's what some developers are saying about Google's Wave.
• 100 Entrepreneurs You Should Follow and Learn From on Twitter – If you are looking for some new folks to add to your Twitter feed and are interested in entrepreneurship, here's a list of 100 movers and shakers in the industry!
• Favorite Leisure Activities – eMarketer – Some interesting figures about the preferred leisure activities of men and women (of different age groups) in the US. Clearly those of us without televisions are anomalies!
• Social Media Brand Engagement Database – ENGAGEMENTdb – Ever wondered which companies were using social media "right" and successfully engaging people online? Well, EngagementDB has pulled together lots of examples, case studies, expert opinions, and rankings so you can really explore new ideas and tactics for online engagement. Check it out!

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on July 23rd

These are some links I wanted to share from July 20th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Social media brings thousands of ppl w/diabetes together at the SAME time | NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoupGlobal.org – Manny Hernandez (@askmanny on Twitter), the creator of TuDiabetes.com has shared a great case study on the NetSquared Community Blog about how they have used social media tools to bring a community together. And not just bringing them together but doing so at the same time!
• New Tool Lets Nonprofits Send Action Alerts Through Facebook  – frogloop Home~Care2’s blog for nonprofits – frogloop – "Grassroots Enterprise recently launched “Actions” on Facebook that allows nonprofit organizations' supporters to take action and send a letter to their members of Congress without ever leaving Facebook —and without installing an app. The Actions tab will not only match supporters to federal and state legislative officials based on their addresses but will also capture names and emails in a database."
• Social networks for a good cause – growth, culture and impact : crisscrossed blog – A great post from Christian! If you are interested in social media for real social impact, it's a must-read. "If I look at the statistics and the incredible growth of social networks, I wonder how and when would these networks be used to join expertise, share ideas, do volunteer work, and mobilize people for social change?"
• Top 8 Social Media Tracking Tools – frogloop Home~Care2’s blog for nonprofits – frogloop – "Social media! I seriously think it’s "the" buzz word of 2009. According to Omniture, over 200 million searches are conducted every single day and 78% of people trust recommendations by peers. But how should nonprofits track their social media? What tools should they use?"
• Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines | Laurel Papworth … – Here is a round up of many different examples of organization's or enterpriese's social media staff policies. I know many people have asked me in the past for examples from organizations; well, here ya go!

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on July 20th

These are some links I wanted to share from July 17th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Ready.gov Launches Social Media Preparedness Initiative – "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Ready Campaign, in partnership with The Advertising Council, is introducing a series of new social media tools today to further engage Americans in taking steps to prepare for emergencies. The initiative is an extension of Resolve to be Ready in 2009, a nationwide effort designed to encourage individuals, families, businesses and communities to take action and prepare for emergencies in 2009. The social media tools will engage Americans in taking the three simple steps communicated in the Ready Campaign: (1) Get an emergency supply kit; (2) Make a family emergency plan; and (3) Be informed about the types of emergencies that can happen in your area and their appropriate responses."
• Twitter Search in Plain English – Common Craft – Our Product is Explanation – You may have seen some of my recent blog posts about Twitter-based chats, like #4Change and #NPCons and you might have also been really lost/confused about the # or how Twitter search was involved in the conversation. Well, as always, Common Craft have created a video to help explain it "in Plain English." Check it out and be sure to share it with others who may be just as confused as you once were! 🙂
• Social change takes more than social media | Rootwork – If you don't read the Rootwork blog already, you should. Here's a great post from Ivan Booth who picked up on a question Joe Solomon posed on the NetSquared blog recently. It's a thought-provoking, and hopefully conversation-starting piece! "…Too many nonprofits have no social change theory at all; indeed they're more interested in self-perpetuation than winning."
• Viral Video for Nonprofits – A Rethinking – Thinking about creating a "viral video" for your organization's project or campaign? Take a look at this terrific post from Michael Hoffman at See3. "Where you should start with online video is to make a commitment to using this new medium to connect people to your work."
• SocialEarth: Video launched – "Welcome to SocialEarth:Video, the video library from SocialEarth. SocialEarth:Video is a rich media channel featuring over a hundred videos which cover an array of issues within the social entrepreneurship field."

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on July 17th

These are some links I wanted to share from July 8th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Lights. Camera. Help. – Film Passes are now on Sale! – "Lights. Camera. Help. is a new nonprofit in Austin, Texas and it’s bringing you the first world wide film festival only for nonprofit and cause-driven organizations. On July 31st and August 1st at 7pm, Lights. Camera. Help. will screen the best of the over 130 documentaries, PSAs, shorts and feature length films submitted to the festival."
• Traveling Geeks – "The Traveling Geeks are an informal group of technology influencers and bloggers rooted chiefly in the San Francisco Bay Area. We're traveling to London and Cambridge in July 2009 as part of Innovation UK. We like to report on innovative technologies through blogs, video, podcasts and social networks."
• Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older. – "Analytics company iStrategyLabs has examined the demographics stats from Facebook (Facebook)’s Social Ads platform, and they’ve reached some very interesting conclusions. Facebook’s userbase, as a whole, is getting much older very fast."
• Top 8 Social Media Tracking Tools – frogloop Home~Care2’s blog for nonprofits – frogloop – Allyson Kapin has a great post that lists 8 tools for tracking your social media impact. I love posts like this because I always find at least one new tool to play with and test!
• Nonprofits Employ Tougher Measures as Downturn Deepens: Bridgespan Survey Shows 41 Percent Turning to Layoffs, 33 Percent Reserve Draw-Downs, but Also Hope – MarketWatch – According to Bridgespan partner William Foster, "This survey highlights just how tough times really are. Ninety-two percent of nonprofits responding to the May 2009 survey indicated they were experiencing the effects of the downturn, up from 75 percent in November. Forty-nine percent reported that their financial situation had worsened, and the percentage of nonprofits reporting funding cuts has increased from 52 percent to 69 percent. Further, the percentage reporting cuts of more than 20 percent has increased from 13 percent to 24 percent."

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on July 8th

These are some links I wanted to share from June 29th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• New SMS Services in Uganda from Grameen, Google & MTN | WhiteAfrican – Interested in new technologies, esepcially mobile tech and the health sector? Check out this great wrap up of the new applications and services launched by Grameen Foundation’s AppLab, developed in Uganda, using Google SMS Search and in partnership with MTN Uganda as the mobile operator. Thanks, White African!
• YouTube – All I Need is 2 Minutes: Tips for Wired Magazine – Are you looking for ways to diversify your next event? Want to be sure there are women represented on the panels of the next technology-related conference or event? Check out these great tips!
• Women’s eNews – Report: Women’s Philanthropy Outpaces the Pack – "Charitable giving by funds focused on girls and women rose faster between 2004 and 2006 than overall foundation support, finds a study released this week by the Foundation Center and the Women's Funding Network."
• Digital Britain report – "The Digital Britain Final Report is one of the central policy commitments in the Government’s Building Britain’s Future plan and draft legislative programme." This version of the report allows readers to comment and converse about issues in the report that matter most to you; and is only one of various ways created for people to connect and talk about the Digital Britain work. Learn more at http://digitalbritainforum.org.uk
• Competition or Collaboration? — Social Edge – Peter Deitz has a great piece on the Social Edge blog and has started a rich conversations in the topics. "This morning I googled the phrase “collaboration is a good thing,” and found 2,650 results. Then I googled “competition is a good thing,” and came up with 80,700 results." Join in!

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on June 29th

These are some links I wanted to share from June 23rd. Find me on Delicious for more!

• Aardvark – Take a look at this tool that leverages the extended networks we all have to get answers to questions that you may not know who to ask, but your network does! It's an interesting idea and I'd love to talk to people or organizations that have used it – have you?
• Exploring Social Media for Social Good #FindingTheGood – Have you been following Mashable's Summer of Social Good? This week they are rounding up and highlighting examples of social media use by WWF, The Humane Society, Livestrong and Oxfam America – plus, you can add your organization to the list!
• Reflections on America’s Giving Challenge – Did you follow or participate in the America's Giving Challenge from the Case Foundation? Check out the evaluation report from Beth Kanter and Allison Fine. "The research presented in this report reflects the attitudes and experiences of Giving Challenge participants, from cause champions to individual donors to nonprofit leaders. We think it helps paint a picture of what worked particularly well and what could be improved in future challenges — both here at the Case Foundation and at other organizations experimenting with similar online competitions."
• Is Twitter a Social Network? – What do you think? What do you consider to be the differences between a social networking platform and a communications platform or something else? Interested to hear your responses!
• Why Non-Profits Are So Good at Social Media – Conversation Starter … – Alex Samuel, the CEO of Social Signal, has a great post on the Harvard Business Review discussing why nonprofits are early adopters/good with social media. The key lessons she includes are:
  1. Engage your audience by speaking to their core concerns.
  2. Put your audience in the driver's seat.
  3. Offer a mix of tangible and social benefits.
  4. Embrace emergent value propositions.
  5. Innovate within the bounds of your core mission

… Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on June 23rd