Today’s rapidly evolving social media hold enormous promise for social change and nonprofit organizations to share resources, respond instantly to breaking news and policy developments, and connect and motivate constituents, stakeholders and potential donors.
The tools below emerged from a series of Social Change Leadership Network learning sessions on how nonprofits can use the latest social networking applications to advance their organizational mission. These sessions were facilitated by Ted Perlmutter, director of Knowledge Management at the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University and co-author of Networking the Networks: How Pro-Immigrant Advocacy Groups Use the Internet, and Tom Glaisyer, Communications PhD candidate at Columbia University and project manager specializing in the use of social media in domestic and international politics.
Today's evolving society of networks requires navigating beyond the traditional, hierarchical system of organization. Geography and institutional identity are becoming increasingly permeable as people build communities around collaboration and alternative methods of communication.
How can organizations decide who their priority contacts are and simultaneously keep their work at the top of the Web audience's radar? The shift requires a different culture - one in which organizations are constantly thinking about day-to-day steps they can take to expand their online presence while making their social platforms interactive.
Videos
The Machine is Using Us
An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube
Web sites
Tech Soup offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support.
DigiActive is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping grassroots activists around the world use the Web and mobile phones to increase their impact.
Understanding new social media requires understanding and using the tools that are building blocks of online communication. Implicit in this is the assumption that as you use the tools, you will appreciate the possibilities of conversational media and collaboration that are transforming organizations.
Instant Messaging
Example: Skype
Functions it can play within an organization:
How-To Guides:
How to Use Skype: A Video Tutorial
50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Wiki
Examples: www.PBwiki.com, www.Wetpaint.com, http://www.mediawiki.com
Functions it can play within an organization:
How-To Guides:
Wiki explanation from CommonCraft
Wikis explained on HowStuffWorks.com
Blog
Example: Wordpress
Function it can play within an organization:
Distribution of an organization's message and brand to the broader community
How-To Guides:
How Do I Find Readers and Get Traffic for My Blog
RSS Aggregator
Example: Netvibes
Functions it can play within an organization:
Integrating and sharing information both within and outside the organization
How-To Guides:
NetVibes Adds Drag And Follow Search Widgets For Twitter, Facebook And MySpace
Sink or Swim: Managing RSS Feeds with Better Groups
Tagging
Example: Delicious
Functions it can play within an organization:
How-To Guides:
A Beginners Guide To Delicious
RSS, Tags & Social Bookmarking: Building Blocks for Nonprofit Collaboration
Functions it can play within an organization:
How-To Guides:
How to Build Community on Twitter
NpTech Tag Summary: More Chatter About Twitter and Organizational Use
As nonprofits focus on implementing social media strategies, they need to shift from the old paradigm of planning outcomes before launching networking and communication programs to more experimental systems that accept failure and use it to teach people. Organizations can also increasingly draw on a wide variety of social media tools to advance work from development to organizing.
Fundraising
Giving Good Poke: Personal, Socially Networked Fundraising
Plan for Marketing an NGO Website and Driving Donations
Best Practices and Tips for Raising Money Online
Online Community Organizing
Best Practices for Online Organizing
Moving from Online Activity to Real World Action
Building Online Activist Relationships
Online Community/Branding
