Originally posted at SSIR - why not leave a comment over there!
We are still working to get nonprofit organizations online and to move websites from ‘electronic brochures’ to a more modern presence, but the main bulk of organizations are there though struggling to get to the next level. They have a website that’s more than a carbon copy of an event handout, they have members who want to subscribe to something and funders who expect them to be resources to the sector. How do they meet those expectations?
Quality content drives traffic, increases value and in turn can increase the number or engagement of members, visitors, potential donors. So, how do they create the quality content, then?
- Hear It: There are a lot of ways to listen to your members and your field. Subscribe to RSS feeds from organizations working in the same field, funders, members’ blogs, etc. Listen for topics of interest, questions that come up and conversations that are ongoing for tips as to what people are looking for more information about. You can use Twitter to listen to your community as well and pinpoint conversations that are important to focus on. Don’t feel bad about asking, either, because your community is probably waiting for an opportunity to tell you what they want/need.
- Write It: Blogs are expected to be updated often but everyone has experienced the strain of either too much work to do or nothing to write about. If you are listening to your community, your list of topics should be more than you have time to cover. If you have too much other work pulling at your time, enlist another team member or two to share the blogging responsibilities. The best thing to do, especially when starting out, is to create a blog schedule so you can work it into your larger work schedule and not push it down the list. But, blogs aren’t the only things that should stay fresh—your website should stay up-to-date and pertinent as well!
- Aggregate It: An easy way of ensuring that your website has new information is to create a page, or parts of pages that are fed by content from an RSS feed. This could be a feed from a Del.icio.us tag that you and your organization uses, or it could be from a news website, a funder’s site, or a sector-specific site. Pulling information in from other places on the web means there is more information available for your website visitors and with less work by you or strain on your time.
- Share It: Be sure that you are allowing people to subscribe to your information, on your website and your blog, with RSS. Just because your website is the (if you’re doing everything right) go-to spot for news, information, and resources in your field, doesn’t mean people want to visit your URL to get that information. More and more people are using RSS and will expect to be able to use it with your website, too. Be sure to include your information in other outlets as well, so people who may not know it’s there can find out: include links and highlights in your e-newsletter, alert people to new content via any social media outlets you use (such as Twitter, Facebook, other blogs, etc.).
Read the rest of the post at Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Opinion Blog here.
I just posted over on the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog on People-Powered Content: It’s Driving the Web and Could Drive Your Community! Head over to the SSIR blog to read the full post and comment!
From every corner of the Web, we can see how Web sites, campaigns, news and even fundraising is shifting from organizations and corporations at the wheel to individuals taking the driver’s seat. Is it good? It most certainly is!
We are seeing it more and more often. Organizations like The Nature Conservancy have created ways for supporters to contribute photos of nature via the Flickr group and the 2008 Photography contest. Engaging long-time supporters who enjoy taking pictures and letting nature photo enthusiasts become supporters through appealing to what they are already interested in.
News organizations have wrapped their arms around the citizen-created content wave as well. Uses of comments on news stories online are abundant. Citizen journalism like community-based news sites and iReport are inspiring more and more citizen journalist participation every day. Even citizen-inspried content like Spot.Us invites individuals to jump in.
The citizen-created content isn’t just for news and photos, though. Ushahidi, a platform that enables citizens to use SMS text messages to report incidents of violence in crisis zones to be mapped online, has just released another deployment of it’s engine—this time for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Twitter Vote Report, allowed voters to send messages via Twitter (either through SMS text messages or a web browser) with information about wait times or even fraud at polling places, to be mapped online. Both platforms let citizens share important information with others in their specific geographic location, as well as with the world, creating a more connected and transparent process.
Even President-Elect Obama is channeling the citizen-driven voice. On his website, Change.gov, citizens of both the US and the world are invited to share ideas, recommendations and priorities about policies and issues. Inviting anyone to participate.
It’s clear that the citizen-powered web is here. But, what about nonprofit organizations working hard to make a difference in the community and world at large—how do they ignite citizens and supporters?
For ways your organization can identify what your community wants to do for you, read on at SSIR!
I have another post up on the Stanford Social Innovation Review opinion blog and I’d love to hear your opinion!
Let’s assume social media is the means to an end. That ‘end’ is going to be different depending on whether you are using it as an organization or an individual, for conversations or for advertising, for profit or for community building, for fun or for policies. So, when social media meet ups, in person or online, and communities form, is it mostly around the means (specific tools, advocating for adoption, etc.) or the end (people using social media in general for the same purpose or cause)?
So, asked again: Do we come together around social media because of affinity towards specific platforms, tools, or programs or because of similarities in usage of those platforms, tools, or programs?
…
Does it then, really matter if social media communities and conversations are focused on either the means or the ends? It isn’t as if we are discussing war, right? The uses, developments, and constant permutations of social media are so diverse and evolving so quickly - is it enough to help each other just keep pace?
You can read on and share your answer on the SSIR blog post here!
The We Are Media Project just hit the 6-week mark! There has been a lot of activity, contributions, collaboration and learning taking place on the project wiki. I just posted to the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog with some reflections at the 6 week mark.
I think this has been a great experiment in eating our own dog food: the people who advocate for the use of social media, having to come together and work via social media. Part of my post includes the three areas that I think are most crucial in achieving success of a project like this.
Some of the the hardest parts of the project so far for the organizer (Beth), from my perspective, include:
- Managing participation of topic-related experts as the list of participants grows over time (and perhaps after the most applicable topic for him or her passes): As more attention is given to the project across the blogosphere and elsewhere, more people who want to contribute sign on to the wiki. It’s great to get more people involved, but it can be difficult for an organizer to be managing so many different areas of interest and expertise once the project modules are underway.
- Maintaining a natural flow or progression of topics within the wiki: Working wikily can sometimes mean that too many side conversations and tangents turn into stranded pages or that pages get started for a topic that seems important but folks lose track of it. Maintaining an orderly flow of information has really kept this project wiki to a manageable and navigable resource.
- Making it easy for very busy people to contribute beneficial information and knowledge efficiently: If you create it, they won’t necessarily come. Or, if they do, they may not hang out long and contribute. People, even if they are the ‘experts’ in the topic, are busy. A very effective approach is to send an email or Twitter message (or any other tool you are using to ping the participants) that asks a specific question and links to the exact area where you want the information entered. Basically, think of ways to make it hard for your participants to NOT contribute!
What do you think? Check out the full post on the SSIR blog and share your thoughts on projects you have participated in that required remote collaboration in a wiki, or other examples of eating your own dog food!
I have a new post up on the Stanford Social Innovation Review opinion blog! I have been thinking a lot about the NTC session I blogged about before, regarding techies moving up into leadership roles in their organizations. Here is an excerpt:
The discussion made me think about user-generated content and the two-way flow of information that comes with adopting new social media components. This is usually one of the biggest sources of fear for organizations just beginning on the road to web 2.0. But isn’t the openness to letting go of control of the message and specific content similar to the opening of leadership opportunities for staff? (And shouldn’t it be that neither creates fear in the organization and its leadership team?)
You can read the rest on the SSIR blog here!
The Stanford Social Innovation Review has a corps of bloggers that post ideas, conversations, and thoughts on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. It is a wonderful place to listen to great thinking, read through the comments, or become part of the conversation. I have been following their bloggers for a while now, and am now part of their ranks! The first post is already up, in which I more clearly express the ideas blogged about the other day of the technology gap and leadership gap could work themselves out together.
You can read the blog here!
Subscribe to Blog RSS
