Related Links:

• WWT Information
• Session slides
• Session recordings

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• Why You Should Embrace the New Facebook Modern Messaging System – "Just because the newly unveiled Facebook Messages is tackling the world of email doesn't mean it's inherently bad. There's a lot to like about their new communication paradigm—maybe even enough to get you to switch. Here's why."
• Why You Shouldn't Switch Your Email to Facebook – "The new Facebook Messages incorporates email, SMS, and Facebook Chat and Messages into one convenient bucket. It's a smart idea, but you should think twice before you consider ditching your current email address for Facebook email. Here's why."
• Facebook Offers New Messaging Tool – NYTimes.com – "For more than two decades, e-mail has been the killer application of the Internet. But Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, says he believes that e-mail is antiquated. On Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg introduced a new unified messaging system on Facebook that allows people to communicate with one another regardless of whether they are using e-mail, text messages or online chat services."
• Help Fast Company Find the Most Influential Women In Tech 2011 | Fast Company – "Two years ago, Fast Company compiled a list of the Most Influential Women In Tech, in part to recognize the disadvantages that women in technology face–proper recognition being just one of them. We continued in 2010 with a second list, and now we're readying a third. Now it's time to begin putting together the 2011 list of influential women in tech, and this is where we'll need your help–since there are those who still believe there aren't any recognizable women in the tech industry. We're opening a call for nominations, and we're accepting them through all forms of social media, using the hashtag #wit11."
• ‘Giving Pledge,’ Promoted by Buffett and Gates, Stirs a Vigorous Debate – NYTimes.com – "Without a doubt, the biggest event in philanthropy this year was the Giving Pledge, a commitment by 40 of the wealthiest Americans to give away at least half of their fortunes, about $600 billion. … Now, about three months later, the pledge has not yet visibly inspired new major gifts or attracted additional signatures — Mr. Buffett said he expected more soon — but has surely created discussion and debate, about the wealthy, their giving and what it says about our society."

Tools and Apps to Energize Your Base

Want to build a powerful movement online? You need two key ingredients – people and tools to connect and engage with them. From “texting” to location based apps like FourSquare this panel will give you the nuts and bolts of the latest apps and tools organizations can use to effectively moblize and energize people online.

SLIDES

NOTES

My slides covered the tools and apps for the back stage side of energizing your community.  Having tools in place to help you monitor, measure, and evaluate your work in real time will help you be more successful with your campaign, better engage with the community, and make more lasting change in the long run.  Since my slides are mostly screen shots, I’ve shared a bit of context below.

Google Analytics – http://www.google.com/analytics/
Whether you have a blog, website, or even multiple, you can use Google Analytics to really drill down into the data and understand how people are visiting and using your site.  Some things I recommend watching for:

• Don’t only pay attention to what people are doing on your site, but watch where traffic is coming from! Whether you are running a campaign, trying out a new social media platform or anything else, monitoring which places are sending in the most traffic can help you focus attention to the best places.
• Use different links on different sites to see what really gets people clicking through.
• Watch for long-term trends, not just what is popular that week or month. For example, if your home page and contribute pages are the highest visited pages consistently, and then one month there is another page that makes it to the top above those, you know something interesting is going on.
• Tip: You can also get Google Analytics for your Facebook Page!

Facebook Insights
These analytics are part of having a Facebook Page. While they aren’t the most comprehensive of reports, there is no point in ignoring free metrics! Pay attention to the “change” in weekly numbers and measure it against activities or messages you were pushing that week.

URL Shorteners – http://bit.ly
There are various URL shorteners out there, but Bitly is one of the most commonly used (I use it!). There are stats built into the tool for the number of clicks and so on, but if you are measuring site traffic already it shouldn’t be new that regard.  What is actually of interest is:

• Who is doing the clicking? Check out who is actually clicking on the links you share to identify passionate and interested people who you could engage on a deeper level (invite them to help share your message in other ways and so on).
• Create easy to reuse links. This is great for use in your Twitter messages but also in emails or even text messages.  Plus, remember to make them something that even your followers/supporters will remember and can reuse!
• Don’t just look at how many clicks you get, but pay attention to when people are clicking. Your interested followers may actually be checking twitter during their lunch break, or in the evening, and not when you’re at work at posting!

Nutshell Mail – http://nutshellmail.com/
Do you prefer getting your infomration in email? If you do, check out Nutshell Mail for reports on your various social media presences.

Google Alerts – http://www.google.com/alerts
Google Alerts is one of my absolute favorite tools. It’s free, you can set up as many of them as you like, and you can choose to get roundups or individual alerts as well as subscribe via email or RSS. Here are a few ways you can take advantage of Google Alerts:

• Be sure to set up alerts for your organization name, project or program names, and key staff people (any one that may be quoted or referenced in association with your work).
• Subscribe via RSS in a reader to cut down on emails.
• Prefer email but want to be sure multiple people on staff get updates? Subscribe with an email address like comms@ or another address that forwards to or can be accessed by multiple staff members.

Listening Dashboards
I recommend using a tool like Netvibes because it allows you to have a public and/or private dashboard, and is easy to use and customize. Dashboards or RSS Readers rely heavily on RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. If you are new to RSS, here’s a great video to explain it! You can see an example of a dashboard by visiting my public Nonprofit Tech Dashboard. I’ve also set up a step-by-step guide to creating your own dashboard.

Community Mapping
Community Mapping helps you identify not just the various segments of your audience, but also create a clear picture of which tools/platforms are associated with those groups and which messages are best to target where.  To get started, first brainstorm and identify the various groups or segments of your community.  This may be other organizations/partners, donors, volunteers, fundraisers, event attendees, etc.  Then, for each group, create a chart with 4 columns and identify:

1. Their goal: why do they engage with you
2. Your goal: why do you engage with them
3. Tools: which platforms and tools do they commonly use for online engagement (don’t forget to include your website if they are visitors/donors/engaged there)
4. Action: The action or connection that ties it together

There may be just 1 item, or goal, that is listed or there may be 50! Some groups have many different reasons or pieces of communication that they want to share with you and you to them, and some may be very simple and straightforward.

At the end of the mapping exercise, you can write an overall goal, like connecting offline, or fundraising, or maybe advocating on important issues, and the main platforms where it takes place. You now have a deep understanding and chart of the kinds of engagement for all your community groups, but you always have very high level information you can easily share with your director or other key staff that identifies a group with the core goal for engagement and platform/s where it takes place.

QUESTIONS

After three presentations in such a short amount of time there was going to certainly be questions. We tried to address many on the webinar, but I have no doubt there are more out there. Here are a few questions that were asked during the session and answered via chat:

Was mGive included in the mobile report from M+R?
Yes, there are a couple case studies included in the report of organizations using mGive.

What is the cost of adding text messaging?
Prices vary by platform/provider and what you are trying to do. There are even free options but they include advertising and possible other limitations.  The best place to look for information on prices and options and even case studies is MobileActive.

How do you find time for so many tools?
Most tools allow you the option to cross post to other social media platforms – this can help save time so that you can post a message in one place and have it pushed across the web!

What about risk management issues around geo-social tools?
The best practice with geo-social tools is to practice “checking-out” and not “checking-in” which means to tag yourself at a location as you are leaving, and not necessarily when you show up.

How do you set up an unconference?
Here are two great resources to get you started: unconference and open space technology.

How do you find a developer to build an app?
A great place to start is MobileActive!

How do you know an “influencer?”
In my opinion, an influencer isn’t just someone with a lot of followers but is someone that is passionate and dedicated to making an influence. It can be much more helpful to have someone advocating on your behalf that is willing to ultimately show up at your event or bring others into your work than someone who tweets your message once and is otherwise never connected.

—–

Have any other questions or tips you want to add? Would love to hear about your favorite highlights from other WWT sessions as well!

Thanks again to Allyson Kapin and the Women Who Tech team, as well as all those at NTEN who made the webinars happen!

Location: Online – http://womenwhotech.org

Topic: Tools and Apps to Energize your Base

Description:  I’ll be presenting, along with Corvida Raven and Sarah Dijulio, about different tools and strategies to empower and inspire your community to take action.

Related Links: Women Who Tech, Blog post and notes

Want to join in? Sign the pledge, add your post to the list, and get connected: http://findingada.com

My Ada Lovelace Day Story

For as long as I can remember, my mom was the one to step up first to any technology problem or opportunity in our house growing up.  Whether it was changing computers, cameras, cd players, or anything else, she was there with an attitude of, “let’s make this work!” She was the one that took me to the overnight events at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) where I had my first go at building robots.  She never sat me down or said anything overtly; but it was her consistent behavior and example that got me started down this path.

In school, and still to this day, when I think I’ve been stumped by the very tool I’m using I think of her, and think that she wouldn’t accept losing like that!  I know I can figure it out, one way or another!

A huge, heartfelt thanks to you, mom, for always taking the stance that with enough trying and thinking, technology is mine for the mastering!

How to Connect with Women In Technolgy

Want to connect with other women in technology – learn and share, network and build friendships? Here are a couple great ways to join the community:

1. Women Who Tech Telesummit – “brings together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology who use their tech savvy skills to transform the world and inspire change. We provide a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving women an open platform to share their talents, experiences, and insights.”
2. She’s Geeky – “he brainchild of Kaliya Hamlin, She’s Geeky gives women in technology an opportunity to get together and discuss the unique issues they face in their respective fields.  Hosting unConferences across the United States, She’s Geeky aims to inspire women technologists in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, provide a space for women geeks to create enduring communities, and foster collaboration and innovation among peers.”

What do you think?

What is your Ada Lovelace story? How have you connected with other women in technology or science to learn or collaborate or build community?

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• URGENT: Facebook Pages are changing | facebook | social-advice- Advice for charities – More information about changes coming to Facebook – this time it's more changes in the way Fan Pages function. A great read if you have a fan page for your organization as these changes are said to go into effect in early 2010.
• Debating the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference – "Over 1,000 young people from 100 different countries will gather online to debate climate change. This is the largest single ongoing panel of discussions outside of the conference itself and the range of young people involved gives it an unmatched reach. This unique project will allow young people from vastly different countries to get involved in probably the single greatest challenge the world faces. Israelis will get together with Iranians, Americans with Afghanis, Sudanese with Singaporeans and they'll discuss what to do about climate change."
• Click For a Cause | Conduit – Conduit's Gives 2010 project offers $3.6 Million for 100 Nonprofit Organizations! "Since 2005, hundreds of thousands of web publishers have used the free Conduit Platform to increase engagement, grow web traffic, and drive revenue. We are now putting that experience to work with Click for a Cause to help struggling non-profits to engage and energize their communities in order to increase participation and ignite fundraising efforts during this difficult economic time."
• Social Media Today | If the Army Can Put Its Doctrine Up On a Wiki, You've Got No Excuse – "A few weeks ago I had the privilege of watching an astounding event – a room full of Soldiers typing Army doctrine onto a wiki so that Soldiers in the field could make changes as they were discovering new and better tactics in the midst of fighting a war." This is a great case study for anyone looking for support in those hard buy-in conversations…
• George Weiner: Will You Marry Me? What Not-For-Profits get Wrong on the Web – "The "Will you marry me?" (WYMM) syndrome turns every online messaging opportunity into a nail begging to be hit with the donation hammer. I can point to dozens of orgs that create sites that are essentially fundraising brochures with donation buttons and paragraphs about the history of the organization. There are also not-for-profits that take the WYMM mistake beyond web sites and into their social media strategies, advertising opportunities, newsletters and partnerships."
• Women, Social Media and Influence (cont’d) « A. Fine Blog – If you haven't seen the two recent posts from Allison Fine about women and social media, you should join in the conversation! She's posed some very interesting questions and shared some of her ideas – but most importantly there are lots of comments that are just as critical, thought-provoking and interesting! Do join in!

Location: ReadyTalk conferencing

Topic: Tools Galore

Description: From Google Earth to Wiki’s and Twitter this panel will give you the nuts and bolts of the latest tools organizations can utilize to ramp up their next online campaign. Panelists: Natalie Foster, DNC; Rebecca Moore, Google Earth Outreach; Laura Quinn, Idealware. Moderator: Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared

Related Links:

• WomenWhoTech
• Blog post with slides and notes
• Slides

Women Who Tech TeleSummit: April 2009

The second annual Women Who Tech TeleSummit (which will take place in April 2009) is looking for panel suggestions. Have an idea for a fabulous virtual workshop that every woman working in online communications or technology must participate in? Think you or one of your colleagues would be a great panelist or moderator? We want to hear about it. Submit your panel ideas at here.
Panel submissions are due Feb. 7th.

While the 2008 Women Who Tech TeleSummit was a smashing success with over 650 women including Arianna Huffington and Joan Blades defying the stereotype that the tech world belongs to pocket-protector toting guys hooked on sci-fi and video games, 2009 will be even better. Women Who Tech brings together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology who use their tech savvy skills to transform the world and inspire change. We provide a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving women an open platform to share their talents, experiences, and insights.

For more info check out http://www.womenwhotech.com. You can also follow WWT on Twitter and join the Women Who Tech Facebook group.

Sign up on the website, or join the Facebook group to be sure you get details about the event in April.

Ada Lovelace Day: March 24, 2009

I signed the Ada Lovelace Day pledge on Pledgebank, will you?

Who’s Ada Lovelace and what’s this day all about?

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited to take part. All you need to do is sign up to this pledge and then publish your blog post any time on Tuesday 24th March 2009. If you’re going to be away that day, feel free to write your post in advance and set your blogging system to publish it that day.

We will gather as many of the posts together on the day as we can, and we’ll let you know exactly how we’re going to do that nearer the time. For ongoing updates about Ada Lovelace day, please follow us on Twitter, join our mailing list or see our blog.

http://findingada.com/
http://twitter.com/FindingAda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/findingada

Who was Ada?
Ada Lovelace was one of the world’s first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programmes for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.

You can learn about Ada Lovelace Day, how it got started, and sign on to the pledge here.

An off-line extension of the Women Who Tech online network, this picnic hopes to bring together women from many industries that use technology to do their jobs or to help their organizations. You can learn more about the national network of women and join in by visiting the organization’s website: http://womenwhotech.com

DETAILS:

• When: Sunday, June 22, 11 am – 2 pm
• Where: Laurelhurst Park, picnic area A
• Why: Join with the growing community of women in technology
• What to bring: A potluck item to share (beverages will be provided)
• Who to invite: Other women colleagues and friends using technology in their work

We look forward to meeting you in person, igniting friendships, and sharing an afternoon and a meal.  (Check out the event page on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=14414677220 or UpComing – http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/710176/?ps=5 )

If you have any questions about the organization, the event, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact either organizer.

Amy Sample Ward (amyrsward@gmail.com) & Carolina Velis (carolinavelis@gmail.com)