Idealist.org and Reddit launched a joint venture today: IdealistNews.org, a social news site geared towards nonprofits.

You're probably familiar with the concept of social news through sites like StumbleUpon and Digg: users post links to stories, other users rate the posts by voting them up or down. These ratings help determine how the links are displayed, through filters like "Top", "Rising", and "Most Controversial", on IdealistNews.org. (I assume the controvery is determined by an equal number of up and down votes, since the category currently features the notorious Sierra Club instead of, say, PETA's banned Super Bowl ad.)

While I have accounts with StumbleUpon and Reddit, I rarely use them. I know they'd suck up too much time. "Oh, a link to a map of legal drinking ages around the world, eh? That's cool. I wonder how that relates to rates of alcohol abuse?" (And then it took me 5 minutes to find a map of risky drinking patterns. If you're curious, it's on page 95 of an EU report.)

The concept is great, though. IdealistNews.org could very well become a terrific, and time-saving, central aggregator of nonprofit news and commentary -- but that's up to the community it builds. If the only people who join are nonprofit marketers posting links to their own sites, we'll all just be talking amongst ourselves, not getting important stories out to a wider audience.

That's where you come in. Head on over, sign up for an account, and start posting links, rating posts, and making friends. I fully expect the controversary swirling around the Sierra Club to be resolved in short order.

Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation

As social media grows in popularity, one fact cannot be ignored: if used well, it can generate impressive amounts of traffic and increase engagement around your cause or organization. If ignored, however, it can lead to tears of anguish and people punching their computers.

I spend a lot (and I mean a lot) of time trying to figure out how to use social networking, bookmarking and news sites to enhance the National Wildlife Federation's online presence. The work I've been doing with my large non-profit can be translated to even the smallest message.

There are several key techniques for dispersing information effectively. These overall strategies aren't anything new in the marketing world: Social media is just a new way to do old business. The tools may have changed, but the need for knowing your audience, having an end goal, testing theories, and acting on lessons learned remains the same.