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nptech

nptech

Nonprofit technology (nptech) at its finest. Share and comment on all things involving the technology that drives our causes.
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E-Advocate Network
I caught an activist and volunteer on Twitter weighing in about how NGOs do not follow anyone back. She is not in nonprofit as a profession, but is a big human rights and healthcare supporter. I think its worth discussing. I will retweet:
"Many twitter NGOs follow each other back but not people w/ checkbooks. Why spend $ on adverts & mailings & not follow back potential donors?" - E-Advocate Network
"When I make a choice, will I give money to Catholic Relief Services who is following me or CARE who is not? DUH?" - E-Advocate Network
And when I said I will post it in the nonprofit tech group for discussion: "you so rock!! would love to get feedback!" - E-Advocate Network
I think her point is very valid. I can think of various reasons why some NGOs don't follow people back. Perhaps some are new to Twitter and don't know how to use a third-party client to manage a large list of people they follow, so they may only follow orgs they are interested in. Perhaps some are understaffed and don't have anyone to engage and follow people back (I suppose they could... more... - Laura Norvig
I am hoping lists might change this quite a bit. "Budget" is my thought. Then I realized that is not an excuse to tell an activist who is Tweeting away for their cause for free - but is not followed by the NPOs and NGOs who have paid staff running their Twitter accounts. She is vocal, so I am wondering if others feel the same. I am wondering if followers feel unappreciated too. - E-Advocate Network
(Full Disclosure: I am a tad disgruntled.) The people who determine what content goes out are not the same people who post the content in a lot of situations. Many of the larger, more established orgs say "hey - you young person. do the twitter thing that CNN keeps talking about and make sure people know when we do a press release/blog post/web action/fundraiser. So the intern sends out the tweets. Too many NP's are still doing one way (web 1.0) conversations. And they like it that way. - Suzannah
(still ranting) we cant talk about np tech and not address the silent underlying giant: there are major age gap issues in np's. & they have conflicting nptech ideas. the feminist community does for sure. its the intern who knows about tech, & the exec isnt interested in learning. But the exec is terrified of the intern "speaking for the organization" - even if it is 140 characters or less. they can be super protective of "the message." the whole web2.0-two-way-conversation thing still needs advocating. - Suzannah
Thanks Suzannah. A generation gap makes sense. In this case, the activist just wanted the "thank you" of a follow, it was not even a matter of conversation. Perhaps the generation gap may see this as a pandora's box - temptation to "off-message" or personal conversation? - E-Advocate Network
Exactly what I meant! Look at the daily workflow of the auto post. somewhere there is an exec meeting about an action/fundraiser/press release. The press/media person translates this to a blog post and hands it to the web person to post. the intern gets the concept of auto tweeting, so she sets that up. web person is the one who executes previously mandated "message," she wasnt even at the meeting where the message was crafted. HERE's the real question: why didnt the exec think she belonged there? - Suzannah
That is a good point: If your social media coordinator is also a public "spokes person" via the internet, they should be in that meeting. The last person invited to an exec meeting will be an intern. It is looking like social media coordinators (and the qualified Millenials often taking the positions) need to be fully intergrated. - E-Advocate Network
just a mini note: you are going to find the "on-message" obsession more with the membership orgs (ACLU, NARAL, NOW, SEIU) than the ones where the org doesnt have memberships/affiliates. Each member org can tell you of "that one time" when some one who was a chapter leader or $20 member made a comment about the org in question and it was broadcasted as the entire org's "position" on the... more... - Suzannah
i just saw your post - 'social media coordinator'? tee hee. the instances you are thinking of - the non retweeters - dont have one - that is the problem. they have the people who are in charge of message and the 'web person' they give it to to post. still in the mind frame of the web as a broadcast medium - another form of the newsletters they have been doing for years - not as a two way conversation. - Suzannah
btw: THANKS for letting me rant. :) this is a rockin concept and I love you for discussing it!! - Suzannah
Thank you for the discussion! Its the first time I have seen a dedicated activist complain on Twitter who is not in the nonprofit field- a key voice to me atleast. They are the ones who turn a nonprofit into a movement. That is how social change works. Woke me up! - E-Advocate Network
It's an awesome complaint for them to make! They bring up the issue that was stirring in the last election - people actually DO want to be part of the discussion. they dont just want to consume news and donate to the yea or the nay. basics of marketing. people do more/give more/act more, if the movement belongs to them, if they are invested in the movement. it's also the price of... more... - Suzannah
I have found the more sense of responsibility or effect on the situation an advocate has - the more they do. That is why ideas like the Gates Foundation's new site showing how poverty relief is progressing (good and bad) is so important. Here in Denver, there is a mentorship program where a Coloradoan makes a four year committment to mentor an at-risk highschool student - it is wildly popular. - E-Advocate Network
Ivan Boothe
MySpace Causes shuts down, abandoning 184,674 nonprofits supporters. Is it time to demand some openness? http://rootwork.org/blog...
Its time to for 3rd party apps in the nptech "business" to focus their usability and functionality on creating strong relationships between supporters and nonprofits. Social change happens outside the application - in the real world. Apps should be connectors - the abondonment would not have been relevent if this was already a goal. Causes tech philosophy is inverted, despite good intentions. - E-Advocate Network
It's time to pull the plug on MySpace - Sarah is Novembery
I think that conclusion is based on stereotype Sarah- MySpace leads by 14% in family density. Parents using social media is rare majority and find on social media. LinkedIn had 20% with children in the home. It would be a huge loss to nonprofits that focus on families. - E-Advocate Network
If you think TechCruch's synopsis of MySpace catering to "people of color," it is wrong. It only leads in hispanic women making up to $100,000.000 per year. This demographic migrates to Facebook after 50 years old. - E-Advocate Network
Where it falls behid is graduate degrees, yet it stronly leads in female majority. I think what we are seeing is women choosing motherhood over graduate school. It also had the same percentage of middle class users, yet falls behind by 8% total in the higher upper classes. - E-Advocate Network
sorry, it was an off-the-cuff remark. I know MySpace still has users, I just can't stand the site personally. - Sarah is Novembery
That is your taste, strongly not others. Out of all social sites (especially Twitter) MySpace has the smallest level of passer by users, the largest percentage of dedicated users and "addicts" It is a dedicated, vibrant community for those who use it. - E-Advocate Network
This is a Causes design failure because it is not working on a social change paradign - it is working on an internal, gated app paradigm - E-Advocate Network
Ivan!! Have you been to MySpace Impact or A Place for Impact. There is an entire suite of tools that does what you state MySpace users are now without. Does anyone writing about this have a relationship with, know the demographics of, or use MySpace Impacts tools? - E-Advocate Network
nptech
IFRC
Int'l Red Cross Red Crescent launches free online field security training. Register here: https://ifrc.cyberu.com/client... #hum #aidwork #nptech (via http://friendfeed.com/ifrc...)
Timo Luege
Social media staff guidelines for the Int'l Red Cross Red Crescent: http://sm4good.com/2009...
Michael R. Bernstein
Timo Luege
(New blog post) Should you crowdsource the structure of you organization? http://sm4good.com/2009...
Timo Luege
Fwd: Why “quick wins” are a myth in social media - http://sm4good.com/2009...
nptech
Friday Fav: @peterscampbell is a dedicated and passionate NPTechie with an amazing analytical mind. He's always willing to share #ff #nptech - http://twitter.com/johnmer...
nptech
Nonprofits & advocates: Grab a #Facebook share button for your blogs and media, like a 'Tweet' button: http://budurl.com/7bgh #nptech #ff - http://twitter.com/eadvoca...
Timo Luege
(New blog post): "7 distance learning programmes for aid workers" http://sm4good.com/2009...
nptech
Great folks in #nptech @See3 @annanten @PrivateAye @rootwork @nonprofitorgs @timolue @katbaloo @askdebra @TechBridgeATL #ff - http://twitter.com/TACS_NP...
Timo Luege
Timo Luege
Timo Luege
Fwd: 2nd part is very interesting: "Streams, Walls, and Feeds: Distributing Content Through Social Networks" http://www.useit.com/alertbo... #nptech (via http://friendfeed.com/timolue...)
nptech
Leads 4 #free #nonprofit tech @mashable @socialedge @projectaus @FOSSwiki @kanter @rootwork + http://bit.ly/11sVc1#FF #nptech - http://twitter.com/donmacc...
Christine Dattilo
Great presentation on mapping tools to strengthen and inform communities. Be sure to click on the Somerville link for an example of hand drawn maps that really make community connections. http://bit.ly/o09ci
Sorry, I corrected the link. - Christine Dattilo
Eureka! Thank you so much for this Chrisitne. I am in a usability course and we are covering mapping. One area I have not been able to find is hand drawn perspectives. Thank you. - E-Advocate Network
nptech
Fwd: (New blog post) 8 impressive recommendations on #website governance and strategy http://bit.ly/scDjz #nptech... http://ff.im/9K2C2 - http://twitter.com/third_a...
Timo Luege
nptech
nptech
#FollowFriday the BB Twitterverse: @blackbaud @bbsupport @bbcon @bbpacific @etapestry @etapsupport @bbeconference #ff #nptech - http://twitter.com/chadnor...
nptech
#FF some great social innovators: @Montero @projectaus @beUnreasonable @SchSocEnt #nonprofit #nptech #4change #socent - http://twitter.com/donmacc...
E-Advocate Network
Google announced finalists for its 10^100 project: Outstanding and world changing techie ideas. Because $10 million will go to the winning idea and the organizations able to make it effective, this is a vote not to miss: http://www.project10tothe100.com/vote... (On a scale like this, I am 100% behind Genocide monitoring and tracking )
I voted for "Quality education for African students" because in my opinion education is the silver bullet. A lot of the world's problems (including genocide) stem from poverty and ignorance. Education can fight both. - Timo Luege
Timo Luege
Eric Johnson
Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship: The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow — Social Edge - http://www.socialedge.org/blogs...
The 10-ish social entrepreneurs added to Twitter's suggested follow list were a great start. Social Edge chimes in with their own 10x list. - Eric Johnson from Bookmarklet
nptech
..and super #belatedfollowfriday to @peterscampbell for the tech guidance and always interesting tweets #ff #nonprofit #nptech - http://twitter.com/kgilnac...
IFRC
IFRC
Fwd: Three new photos from Viet Nam Red Cross response to typhoon Ketsana: http://www.flickr.com/photos... #redcross #ketsana #vietnam (via http://friendfeed.com/ifrc...)
Timo Luege
"Six reasons why Seth Godin is wrong about non-profits" - http://sm4good.com/2009...
Seth Godin recently wrote that non-profit organizations fail at social media adoption because of fear of change. Here are six reasons why he is wrong. - Timo Luege from Bookmarklet
Laura Norvig
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