online communications

Online Communications that Don't Suck

John Kenyon, Jennie Anderson, AIDS.gov, and William Neuheisel, DC Central Kitchen

Imagine producing online communications you're proud to share with the world and that garner praise from funders, donors, and other stakeholders.

Well, I am here to tell you that in general they are actually, um... pitiful. Dreadful. While there are exceptions, most have a lot of room for improvement.

And while social media and Web 2.0 are great, but if you don't have an effective website and email communications, you are largely wasting your effort trying to engage new audiences online.

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Twitter: Not Just Chatter But a Channel for Your Cause

Flickr Photo: AutomaniaIn the technology section of USA Today on Sunday, a lot of new folks learned about Twitter. The micro-blogging social network has grown from 200,000 users to over 2 million users in about a year, and individuals, companies, news outlets, fire departments, and nonprofit organizations have been using the free service to connect, inform, and engage.

If you joined us at the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans, chances are you experienced the usefulness of the tool, too. NTC attendees connected with each other, made social plans, got notes from sessions they couldn't attend, knew when free ice cream was being handed out in the conference lobby and when the coffee was running out during breakfast plenaries.

As the article frames it, Twitter is one of those tools that seems to be trivial and a waste of time -- until you try it for yourself.

There so many social media and network tools out there, it doesn't makes sense for an individual -- never mind an organization -- to invest time and resources into trying them all out. But Twitter might be worth a some time.

Here are a few highlights, low-lights, and applications of Twitter to consider for your own purposes:

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Heard Around the NTEN Water Cooler: Tips for Coordinating Online Communications and Fundraising Strategies

Flickr Photo: _ES NTEN doesn't really have a water cooler, but we like to think the NTEN Discuss group serves a similar purpose for folks working with nonprofits and technology, except that instead of gossip about the boss, we share tips, resources, and anecdotes.

Yesterday there was a great discussion about how to get the Communications department to coordinate with the Fundraising department on online and email campaigns. The discussion was spurred on by a question from Michael Hoffman, from See3:

". . . how [do] other organizations create a balance between the Communications and the Fundraising departments when it comes to online initiatives. How should Communications and Fundraising interact without having turf battles?"

Even if your nonprofit's "departments" are just comprised of single staff persons -- like here at NTEN -- getting these folks on the same page is important and often tough. Here's what the NTEN Discuss group had to say:

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501 Tech Clubs in Action: Video from Austin

Our 501 Tech Club in Austin, nicely organized by Dale Thompson from Austin Free-Net and David Neff from the American Cancer Society, sent in an "i-report" from their last meetup. Check out their speaker, Ben Finklea, giving a great presentation on analyzing and optimizing your Web site for your various audiences:

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