NpTech Summary: Slow Wifi and Flickr Massage Edition

I'm working remotely on an unreliable and slow wifi connection and Flickr has been getting a massage (down for maintenance) for most of the afternoon.  As a result, I'm publishing a briefer than usual edition of the NpTech Tag Summary because I can only get to fast loading blogs and web sites.  In addition, no visuals either. 

NpTech Conversations

Wild Apricot Blog is hosting next week's Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants on the topic "How are non-profits using Web 2.0 and social networking tools?  It is important to think about the benefits, objectives, and audience before jumping on the social networking bandwagon.  If you can't wait, read Alexandra Samuel's "Best Practices for Social Networking Nonprofits,"  a guest post on Katya Andresen's Nonprofit Marketing Blog.  TechSoup has just published a thoughtful article from Idealware that raises the question, "Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites?"

Accross the pond, our nptech colleagues in the UK are busy planning sessions for LASA's upcoming Circuit Rider Conference for ICT Support and Development Workers.  Laura Whitehead is the session designer for a workshop on Social Media and Nonprofits and she's asking for input from the NpTech community on the session.  Nancy White shares some insights in the comments.

Looks like the NpTech community in Portland, Oregon is thriving. I suspect NTEN's presence in Portland has something to do it!   By the way, the NTC early bird deadline is fast approaching.


Social Media

Seth Godin points to Mark Rovner's insightful post about the current state of fundraising.  The summary: most big charities are based on direct mail
fundraising, and direct mail is dying. What
to do?

Giving Anonymously facilitates person to person philanthropy. It enables people to give to people in need anonymously.

Pixelanthropy takes hold in Second Life! via the AFP Blog summarizes this news story from msnbc about nonprofits in Second Life inspired by Kiva in Second Life's Grand Opening Party at the Nonprofit Commons.

The Point is describes itself as a social platform for people to solve problems they can't solve alone.   You can set up a fundraiser, issue a challenge, or social contract. The intent is to leverage the networked effect or the Tipping Point (the title of a book by Malcolm Gladwell that means the given moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass.) I love the cartoon animations that offers different use scenarios.  This is refreshing to see on an "alpha site."  Jeremy Pepper, who spoke at this month's NetSquared Net Tuesday Meetup, is the director of communications.

I noticed Soup.io in the NpTech Tag stream.  I set up an account and played around.  I didn't have the context until I stumbled upon this post from Nat Ritter (who also spoke at Net Tuesday).   This might help some of the limitations of Twitter, particularly the problem of retrieval.

New (to me) Blogs

ZUP 4 Nonprofits is a new blog by Audrie Zettick Schaller and focuses on "What's up!" in nonprofit management and development and also includes social media.  ZUP, but the way, is used in text and instant messaging to mean "What's Up."

IgniteSocialMedia writes about how to get started using social media.  Several recent posts have looked at productivity issues.  See Social Media Is A Waste of Time, Part 1 and Part 2.  (Hat tip Amy Sample Ward for discovering it!)

The NpTech Tag started as an experimental community tagging project in 2005. A loosely coupled group of nonprofit techies and social change activists decided to use the tag "NpTech" to identify web resources that would create an ongoing stream of information to promote and educate those working in nonprofit technology. Many individuals tag hundreds of resources each week. Through TechSoup's Netsquared project, blogger Beth Kanter, was commissioned to write a weekly summary.

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Comments

[Audrie Schaller]

Thanks so much for point to me, Beth. Just for clarity, I'm not the techie you are in regards to web 2.0 (and I'm never going to give a lecture on the web 2.0 platform), but have high hopes of encouraging better and expanded practices by nonprofits in their use of collaboration, social-networking sites, blogs, online training, etc. I deal in board issues too, and see them as either enabling the organization to use these technologies or being a major roadblock because they need command and control.

My interest in this issue was facilitated by viewing a blog by a nonprofit that hadn't be updated in a year!!! (Organization withheld to protect the guilty).

[Beth Kanter]

Audry: Thanks for writing up your thoughts about collaboration. I'm adding the link to your blog.

http://audrieschaller.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/my-brain-hurtsso-much-potential-in-social-media-for-nonprofit-management/