Can Twitter Save the Fail Whales? Err Save the World ...

Joe Solomon set up a Facebook Group called Save the World With Twitter.  The play on words with the title reminded of something a few years ago when nonprofit techies were looking at technology outcomes.  We asked, "How many whales did you save with that web site?"  It sparked a debate - that the technology, in of itself, doesn't create the change, but may help facilitate it.

So maybe the question should be, how many whales did you save with that Tweet? Or rather, how do we measure the value and effectiveness of Twitter? What do we measure? What does it mean?  Right now we're in the collecting great stories mode ... and of course, we can track web site or blog referrals from Twitter (traffic) and possibly sign ups for an action.   Paul Young's analysis of what worked, what didn't in his fundraising campaign can give you some hints of what to measure. 

 
So, this is a Facebook group for people who use or want to use Twitter for good! It was created  to celebrate the launch of a new Twitter mashup that makes it super easy to share actions with your friends: (it also works with Facebook!): http://www.TwitterFeed.com/socialactions

Joe has done a great job scraping all the links and adding to the group's home page. (I've blogged most of these so if you want more context and analysis see here)  Here's the links from the group and I've added some more for context:

• Demand the Presidential Debate
• The Well That Twitter Built
• Twitter for Fund Raising 
• Fighting Cancer with Twitter
• Twitter Drives Participation at Blood Drive
• Twitter for Health
• San Diego Fires – Rapid News Dissemination
• Hurricane Season Twitter Resources
• Twitter Could Save Lives of Children - Missing children alerts
• Twitter as Tool for Emergencies:
• Twitter Me to Safety:
• Twitter for health and healthcare

I'd also add Dr. Mani's recent Tweet-A-Athon

Further Resources:

• Twitter and Nonprofits:
• Twitter Primer
• List of Nonprofit Twitter-ers:
• DigiActive Case Studies
• Net2ThinkTank: How Can Nonprofits Use Twitter?

This is a great list of links and will be valuable to add to the WeAreMedia Starter Tool Kit.  I'd also like to point two modules in the WeAreMedia that put Twitter in the context of nonprofit organizations - see Join the Conversation (be sure to read how the Chronicle of Philanthropy uses Twitter for crowd sourced research) and Listening Is the First Step for many examples of using Twitter for listening, that first important strategic step.

What's missing from this list?  What else would you like to see from a Twitter Resource page to help your nonprofit use it strategically and effectively?