I’ve included my interview below, but you can also read it and join the conversation on the NetSquared blog. The other interviews include Sylwia Presley from Gobal Voices, and Claire Sale from NetSquared. I definitely recommend them both!

Q: What does “online” add to the community organizing?

Successful community organizing across history has always been networked. It may have been a network of organizers in various towns or locations coordinating with each other and then operating locally. Or a team of volunteers that manage communications (from phone trees to canvassing). Or even the networked influence from news coverage and stories from one group or city to the next.

When you bring the Internet, online social tools, mobile technologies, and all the rest into the equation, you do not fundamentally change how communities organize or make change. You do, though, change the scale and the opportunity. Online networking means communities can form that aren’t based in the same physical place. It means community organizers and leaders can communicate with their communities and with other leaders asynchronously. It even means that individuals and groups who thought they “were the only ones” before, are now able to find each other, work together, and do even more.

In the most basic sense, online organizing gives figurative legs to impact and reach.

Q: What makes a community?

To me, a community is a group of people (even if it is organizations, it is still the people within them) who have opted in to participate. It may be a community of geography, cause, or topic. But the opt-in is essential. Simply because I live in a given city, does not mean that I am participating in organized decision making, meeting and collaborating with my neighbors, or even communicating with those around me. Similarly, because I am a certain age, have a certain allergy, favor a specific political party, or even care about a certain social issue, I do not automatically belong to a community with a shared experience. I find that community (today, most likely online) and opt in.

Q: How do you combine working on the ground with online organizing?

We should approach offline action as one of many channels available to us to reach our mission. Many organizations and groups currently consider multi-channel approaches for a message to include email, website, social media, and blogs. We should expand that view and definition of multi-channel to include offline action and mobile messaging/text. If we put out a call to action and want to organize our community to not just respond but share and distribute the call, we need to think both about where we send the message, but also how the action can be completed. For many organizations and groups, the offline actions are most critical and yet most often forgotten.

Q: What are the current trends in the online community organizing? What is changing and why?

The biggest shift with cause-specific organizing is that organizations don’t necessarily need to be involved. This can be great, or it can be scary. With campaigning tools readily available, and the economy of the web centered on content and adoption, if passionate individuals work together to create compelling content, achievable and measurable goals, and clear calls to action, they can make an impact – from fundraising to policy change – without an organization being involved. Note, though, that those same steps to success are true for an organization. Basically, online organizing tools have leveled the playing field between for-profit and nonprofit groups, as well as between organizations and communities.

Q: Any advice you’d like to share with the other online community organizers?

Start small. Don’t be afraid of failing. And invite people to lead with you at every stage.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and feedback!

(Photo credit: Flickr jakubsteiner)

As a community organizer and network weaver myself, I am incredibly excited by the #OccupyWallStreet movement that started in New York just over three months ago now (on September 17th) in response to a failing federal economy and political process that impact local, national, and international markets. In less than a month, over 1,700 other cities started Occupy events – both in solidarity to the thousands protesting around the clock in New York’s financial district, and with a loud voice that these issues are not unique to the US. The “leaderless” organizing of the Occupy Wall Street movement has helped avoid strategic arrests or censorship but has also prompted a powerful use of social technologies.

Online Homebase

Over the past few years, the use of social technologies during disaster response has become a central component to news and information delivery. One key element is the use of an online homebase. We are now seeing this put to great use with #OWS. There are many free online website and content creation tools available. Creating a space where you can collect and aggregate the news, content, and updates of your movement is important for people to better understand, follow, and join you. It doesn’t have to be fancy (remember: less is more) – it just needs to pull all the pieces together for your community.

Brought to you Live

The power of “now” is what makes something go from news, to breaking news. Thankfully for members of #OWS, there are various tools to livestream events, just from your mobile phone. The livestream – whether it’s video, audio, or just text – can be embedded in your online homebase and shared across social networks. The updates and first-hand accounts bring attention to a movement and generate more participation.

Personalize It

The most successful fundraising campaigns, advocacy efforts, and even personal experiences center on one person, one animal, one story, especially when trying to support a huge, faceless issue. #OWS has made the economy and political process a personal issue, inviting people around the US and the world to put their story on paper and share a photo of themselves with the story online. This level of personal connection inspires sharing and participation by those on the ground, and those following remotely.

How To: Use Tech to Organize Today

1. Build your online homebase with a wiki, a website (like WordPress.com or Google Sites), or a blog (like Tumblr or Posterous).

2. Keep people connected to live video (like Livestream or Vimeo), regular audio updates (like CinchCast or Audioboo), or live feeds of text from a Twitter hashtag or an open chat like CoverItLive.

3. Invite everyone to join the movement by sharing pictures, stories, and signs to spread your message (try Flickr or Tumblr).

If your group is ready to organize, DemocracyInAction is ready to help! DemocracyInAction is a nonprofit dedicated to building a strong progressive infrastructure through effective online organizing. They’ve just launched the Occupy Wall Street Empowers Grant!

DIA will award “Salsa” – their organizing platform for nonprofits – to five organizations that demonstrate the ability to effectively organize. The first grant was awarded to Occupy Philly already! The deadline to submit is Tuesday, November 15th.

Grants will waive setup and monthly fees for one year. Groups not selected for an Empowers Grant are eligible for a $500 award towards Salsa.

Get the full details and apply for your grant today!

Location: New Orleans, LA

Topic: Bringing Community Organizing Into Online Campaigns

Description: Integrating volunteers into online campaigns for requires a great community organizer. Traditional community organizing lays the groundwork for online campaigns and effective movements. 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, campaign mapping methods and case studies. Attendees will divide into breakout sessions to design an online campaign. Each group will present its campaign strategy and tactics. Workshop leaders will offer feedback, and the nonprofit will select a winning strategy.

Related Links:

• NCVS
• Points of Light
• Slides and notes

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).

• Gen-Y Wants More Than Cool Brands – A new 16-country study of Millennials focused on brands has a lot to offer for insight to nonprofit organizations looking to connect with the same generation. Including: "More than one-half of US Millennials (51%) say they influence the technologies their parents adopt and 41% say they influence the products they buy."
• A Mobile World – whitepaper – A new whitepaper from SmartOnMobile looks at how the constituents of nonprofit organizations are using<br />
  their mobile phones.
• Growing Virtual Roots – How our online efforts led to amazing offline results – A great case study in community organizing, on and offline, from Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. "From the perspective of a professional planner, an ideal scenario for planning an event would be to live and work in the community in which you are holding the event. However, in the world of nonprofits, where an organization cannot afford to have boots on the ground full time in all of the cities they have supporters, it is up to the event planner to figure out new solutions to the problem of “you can’t be in two places at once”."
• <b>nononprofitspam</b>.<b>wordpress.com</b> – Check out this new blog and campaign from nptechers like Deborah Elizabeth Finn and Peter Campbell targeting an issue many of us in the nonprofit sector may not think exists, or maybe ignore: nonprofit spam. "Our message to nonprofits: Your mission is noble, and your intentions are honorable. But if you subscribed us to your organization's bulk email list without our permission, then you are sending us spam."
• Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival for Nonprofits – "Lights. Camera. Help., the nation’s first film festival for nonprofits and cause advocates, is officially accepting entries for the 2011 festival. Exclusively dedicated to cause-driven films, the festival and it's cash prizes for winning films gives nonprofits a new forum for promoting their causes. Last year, the festival grew in entries, reach, attendance and prize money with submissions increasing from 140 in 2009 to over 235 documentaries, PSAs and short films focusing on cause-driven issues from around the world. Submissions will be open until May 31 and the submission form can be filled out at the Lights. Camera. Help. web site. It is free for all non-profits and causes to submit their film. The festival will be held July 28-July 30 in Austin, Texas."

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).

• Bernholz: Why Juno, Facebook and the rest won't change everything | Voluntary Sector Network | guardian.co.uk – "I recently asked "If this was as interesting as it gets for the web and philanthropy?" We tend to get very excited about new technologies, many of us love the latest gadgets, and we often associate the "web" with "new and different". But the reality is, as Clay Shirky has written, that these tools "don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring". The embedding of knowledge sharing into online social networks such as on Facebook or the recently launched Jumo may be technologically 'iterative', but in terms of how we give, they may actually be a step backward."
• Engagement Ladders: Building Supporter Power – Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media – frogloop – "We, as social change organizations, exist to enable the power of our supporters. That is how change happens. Through getting thousands of people to take mass action. Through getting one person to pressure a decision maker. It is the power of our supporters, collective or individual, that we are trying to enable. That's why social change organizations exist–to leverage supporter power over time. We need to know the best way to use that power. Part of it is strategy–what kinds of actions need to happen? Marches? Politics? Direct service? And part of it is knowing what power our supporters possess so they can help us get those strategies enacted."
• The Zoetica Salon: A Peer Learning Community for Nonprofits and Social Media | Beth’s Blog – "I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be co-hosting The Zoetica Salon on my Facebook Page with my Zoetica colleagues, Geoff Livingston, Kami Huyse, and Julie Pippert (the newest Zoetican) where almost 7,000 nonprofit leaders have been engaging in informal peer learning about nonprofits and social media. Our intent is to provide a space for just-in-time answers and share best practices at no charge."
• Facebook Co-Founder Launches Social Network for Social Good, Jumo [IMAGE] – "Today, users can start connecting with all their favorite social causes in one online sphere, as Facebook Co-founder Chris Hughes has launched his much-buzzed-about social network, Jumo." Have you tried Jumo? What do you think?
• Gates funded ViewChange.org launches to showcase development success | Future:Media:Change – "The Gates Foundation is continuing their promotion of stories of global development success through the launch of ViewChange.org this week. The multimedia platform is managed by Link TV and utilizes a back catalog of development-related videos as well as new content procured for the site. The website highlights progress in reducing hunger, poverty and disease in developing nations and is part of the Gates’ broader, “ Living Proof” campaign."
• Scanning for Good – How Nonprofits Can Use QR Codes | NetWitsThinkTank.com – "I’m sure you’ve noticed QR codes by now – those funny little black and white squares that are appearing on posters, business cards, and event lanyards everywhere. These next-gen bar codes are most often used by marketers who want to link to a website or landing page from a visual appeal. If you’re looking for a fun, interactive, easy-to-implement hook for your nonprofit’s next campaign, you might want to check out QR codes."

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).

• Social Media’s Changing Landscape to Make A Profit – Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media – frogloop – I'm really looking forward to this conversation – what do you think? "Admit it – you don’t like when things that you are quite comfortable with suddenly change. As social networks try and become profitable they are experimenting with new ad models and trying to drive more traffic to increase ad revenue. Twitter’s beta advertising model via "Promoted Tweets" and Facebook’s new Fan Page “Like” button (which is replacing the “Become a Fan” button) is buzzing with critics’ opinions. Are these changes good for nonprofits bottom line too? The jury is out."
• From Social Entrepreneurship to Social Interpreneurship — Social Edge – There's a great post and conversation starter from Peter Deitz up on the Social Edge blog talking from social interpreneurship. "What is social interpreneurship you ask? I’m not entirely sure, in light of its classified nature, but I would hazard a guess that it’s two parts Internet, five parts Interaction, and ten parts Interdependence. Flipping through the Skoll World Forum program and rerunning the highlights in my head, I see evidence of social interpreneurship at every turn." Join the converstaion!
• Chris Brogan Talks Nonprofits and Trust Agents – netwitsthinktank.com – One of the basic best practices I am always talking about with organizations starting out with social media is to be a real person – not an "organization" online. Have real pictures and have real conversations. Here's a great video with Chris Brogan and next steps for being "real" online.
• Advice & Resources for Your Online Organizing Career – Check out this great round up from the presenters at the "Online Organizing – Career Night event that includes lessons, insights, and even job opportunities!
• Grizzard Communications Group – Free social media tools & the ‘experts’ who can’t answer “How?” – Eric has a great list of free social media tools to help you find content, monitor trends and much more! "In the last week, I attended both the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference and the AFP 2010 Conference. One problem that I saw in many social media sessions at both – and a problem that I see far too often at social media conferences, seminars, and How To sessions – is that speakers and panelists rarely provide tangible How To advice to people struggling to get started. They tell you you should do something, “Start up a Facebook Fan Page and start posting content interesting to your fans,” but regardless of how hard they are pushed, they rarely can say how to go about figuring out what content your fans find interesting or maybe even how to gain new fans."
• 10 Take-Aways from SXSW for Nonprofits — Nonprofit Geekery – Happy that I came across Matt Koltermann's wrap up from SXSW. It was a few weeks late but better than never! My favorite take away from this list: 4. Make sure your website behaves like an approachable and likable person. "The annual SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX—which brings together tech geeks, social media peeps, and other online folk—wrapped-up yesterday after five intense and inspirational days. I attended a bunch of sessions focused on how nonprofits, in particular, can take advantage of technology to meet their mission—here’s a short-list of ten things that really stuck."

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).

• Net2 Think Tank: Online Fundraising Lessons Learned | NetSquared – "The Facebook application Causes recently announced it hit the $20 Million mark in donations. The America's Giving Challenge from Case Foundation spurred $2.1 Million in donations for charities this past winter. But, despite these numbers, for most organizations and causes raising money via social media is still a hard thing to do. There are different rules and new opportunities with online fundraising and every platform or application comes with a different community and varying functionality. So, what have you learned from trying your hand at online fundraising? This month's Net2 Think Tank asks you to share a lesson learned from online fundraising."
• Social Enterprise | GreenXchange: Crowdsourcing Social Innovation – Marcia Stepanek discusses the newly launched collaborative effort amongst diverse companies to create an open area for innovators and innovation. "Launched last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, GreenXchange (GX) is a new Web-based knowledge exchange that is being spearheaded by 10 companies and social enterprises, including Nike, Best Buy, and Creative Commons, the San Francisco nonprofit that works to expand the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. Its seven other backers include Yahoo!, IDEO, Mountain Equipment Co-op, salesforce.com, 2degrees, the Outdoor Industry Association, and nGenera, a corporate strategy think tank."
• 10 must-read Facebook resources for non-profits – Ross McCulloch – Ross has a great collection of resources about using Facebook, including Pages vs Groups, adding paypal, examples and case studies. Whether you are already using Facebook for your organization or not, this is a good place to go to learn more about how to use the social networking platform to it's fullest.
• Seth's Blog: Random rules for ideas worth spreading – Seth Godin shares a list of rules for those times you develop an idea worth spreading. My favorite rule: "Seek out apostles, not partners. People who benefit from spreading your idea, not people who need to own it." Have you found any of these to be true in your own idea sharing and development? Which are best/worst?
• 350.org: giving new meaning to “new organizing” | Working Wikily – This is a great case study about community organizing from the 350.org campaign. "A lightbulb went on in my head while I was listening to the PdF webinar last week that laid bare the machinery that made it possible for 350.org to achieve the most widespread day of political action in history back on October 24th. We’re still in the midst of examining the various threats that traditional “membership organizations” are facing and the story of 350’s success is one of the best illustrations I’ve seen yet of the new model. In the words of 350 organizer Phil Aroneanu, “It’s about concerned citizens who are looking for a meaningful way to engage. It doesn’t make sense to ask them to click once and that’s it. That’s not a believable theory of change. Building those [local] leaders is the secret to the way that we organize.”"

My current job title includes the term “Community Builder” and I get asked nearly every day just what that means: how do you build community? where is the community you want to build? how can I be a community builder online? Tips, secrets, ideas?!  I want to take a break from all the hard work building community (does that get a wink?) to share some of what I believe is the core of successful community building (on or offline).

“Community building” is about a lot of things.  Some people define it as organizing, especially around specific events, campaigns, legislation, or fundraising.  Others see it as specifically applying to online community spaces, like a social networking site.  I believe that community exists everywhere, really.  That the Internet is a huge community of people looking to connect with others like them to form smaller, more specific communities.  Those of us in positions to support those connections and collaborations are some of the luckiest people in the global network, acting as the email or Twitter post or blog reference that helps individuals make networked jumps to where they really want to be.

Gardening vs Landscaping

So, what’s the secret to successful community building? You guessed it: be a great gardener and avoid the temptation to landscape.  Here’s what that means:

• A gardener only takes out the weeds; a landscaper takes out everything that isn’t part of the design.  Think about the number of beautiful plants or trees that have sprung up in parks, your yard, or even out in nature that weren’t “intended” to be there but quickly grew to be a valuable part of the ecosystem.
• A gardener isn’t afraid to mix things around; a landscaper plans and plots and plants.  Sometimes you can’t know ahead of time just which plants will respond well or want more sun or shade so you need to be flexible.
• When a storm hits, a gardener can remain open to planting anew and rejuvenating others; a landscaper may just order more of the same.  Sometimes it takes a storm to realize which plants just weren’t going to make it or which were able to stick it out.
• When in doubt, a gardener will try more plants or kinds of plants and see which take root; a landscaper may default to less.  What about the plants you had never used before to know about and how they took root, flowered, and bolted up right before your eyes?

Clearly, this is all very metaphorical here with the back yard options.  It is, though, meant to paint a picture:

The Gardener creates an ecosystem open to change, available to new groups, and full of fresh opportunities to emerge naturally.  The approach is focused on organic collaboration and growth for the entire community.  The gardener is simply there to help, cultivate, and clear the weeds if/when they poke up.

The Landscaper creates an ecosystem that matches a preconceived design or pattern.  The approach is focused on executing a preconceived environment, regardless of how natural or organic it may be for the larger area.  The landscaper is there to ensure that everything stays just as planned.

Your Community

How can you apply these ideas to your community building? The first question I always ask myself when considering a new tool or functionality online, a new project or campaign, or even new partnerships or members is: “Is this something the Community wants or something I want?” It doesn’t matter what I want, really.  It matters what the Community wants.  And how do you know if or what they are interested in? ASK!  Be sure to always provide opportunities for your community members or those who come across your work to share their ideas about what they would like to see, how they’d like to connect with each other and how they would like to work with you.  And when considering anything new, ask for feedback and share your ideas and plans ahead of time.  You may be surprised, but your Community often has even better ideas than you!

What do you think? Do you have other ideas about successful community building? Have a great example or case study you want to share?  Looking forward to more!

You can read the full post and join the conversation on SSIR here.