Beth's Blog: Nonprofits and Social Media

Your Nonprofit Should Not Adopt Social Media If ....

The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University has been doing biannual survey of nonprofit technology benchmarks for its regional nonprofits (Southwestern Pennsylvania) for the past ten years.

I remember how excited we were when the first data was published ten years. The survey incorporates and expands nonprofit technology assessment/benchmarks used by practitioners in the field.  It looks at infrastructure, software, hardward, connectivity, communications, policy, and adoption.   The analysis is not just numbers alone, but based on the real life experience of the Bayer Center's staff that delivers training and consulting with nonprofits.  Colleague Jeffrey Forster has been the visionary behind the survey since its started.

The results can be found in a PDF on the blog.

A few highlights related to social media:
 
-23% use social networking sites, but 68% of those use them "rarely"
-20% use blogs, but 64% of those use them "rarely"
-11% use RSS feeds
-11% use podcasting

Bear in mind that is the reality of social media adoption with most nonprofits.   The early adopters tend to come from large national organizations, those with larger budgets/capacity in regions,  small agile/activist nonprofits, and probably more concentrated in metro areas where there is an active social media/tech community - San Francisco, Austin, Boston, etc. 

As Jeff reminded me, many nonprofits have not addressed some basic infrastructure issues - like networking their machines or retiring 6 year old computers.   And while a handful of organizations in their area have started toeing their way into social media, it doesn't make sense for everyone particularly if basic technology infrastructure isn't in place.

I agree.   But I'm still having problems with a yes/no or either/or way to it.   I think they should at least have a basic understanding of what this is and why they are saying no.

I do make a point to cover at the beginning of any workshop - don't jump into social media before you've answered these questions:

• Are there pressing organizational issues to address?
• Are there effective or efficient ways to reach same outcomes?
• Does your current/potential audience use social media?
• Are you being seduced by Shiny Object Syndrome?

Perhaps it is better to have a concrete list ...  don't do social media if ... or the ten tell-tale signs your organization shouldn't jump into social media:

1.  Your computers are falling apart because they are six years old,
2.  Your database is a mess
3.  Your haven't updated your web site since 2001 because your volunteer left and you don't know the password
4.  Your executive director and key leadership just walked out the door

What reasons would you add to this list?

Prioritizing Your Web Marketing Budget - What Slice of the Pie Should Social Media Get?

Geoff Livingston live blogged the Network Solutions Solutions Stars Video Conference -- by a team of Internet marketing and social media rock stars.  The advice is geared for small businesses, not nonprofits, but a lot of it relevant and translatable.   The topics addressed include:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

One of the messages that came through from this group of experts is that social media can give you a lot of return for your investment.  That investment is staff time as many of the tools are free.  Then again, time is one of the most valuable resources a nonprofit has ...   And, as Geoff points out social media does take time and it can take away from core operations - if you let it.   Geoff offers some time management techniques for social media strategists or what I'd like to call "Social Productivity" (I'm developing a workshop on that one ...)

So, if you incorporate social media - and allocate the time - and no matter how efficient you are - something will have to give.  Where does social media time/money fit within the overall web marketing budget?  What are the right proportions?

It just so happened that after reading Geoff's posts .. via my social network I stumbled upon colleague  Stephen Blyth musing about allocating money on a nonprofit web's strategy. Quoting some notes from a workshop presented at Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit Bootcamp by Colin Delaney of ePolitics and Laura Quinn.  (Resource list and Powerpoint Here)

Here's a screen capture of one of the slides that illustrates the structure they used:

They divided the pie into equal thirds as follows:

• Website (as a home base)
• Email Communication (to talk to your friends)
• Online Outreach (to reach new friends) (They included social media/networking, search engine optimization, etc)

They recommend that you allocate time and budget equally 1/3 between each.

This sounds good, but I wish that the sections were as clear cut as the illustration.  Are those categories mutually really exclusive?  I kept wanting to blend them ...

Especially after viewing this slide show and especially this slide ..

Welcome to the Social World

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialproducts internet)

What do I know, maybe I'm drinking too much Koolaid, so here goes ..

Homebase: Home base is your website and it could also be your blog or both. Not everyone needs a web site and a blog - that age old question - to blog or not to blog?  Some organizations consolidate.   A blog is a form of social media and I wouldn't necessarily classify as "outreach."  I might also add some of the costs of content creation for videos/podcasts/photos that live on your site (or blog) and on other social networking sites.   And, of course, the cost ensuring that you have set up RSS feeds or what Chris Brogan classifies as "passports."

Outbound Communication:  I'd put together all the one-way or "talking to you" tactics here. This is mostly email marketing -- crafting and putting out solid email communications - your email newsletter and CRM.   Perhaps search engine optimization and search engine advertising costs.   Email will probably not become extinct - so it is important to continue to track its effectiveness.

Online Outreach and Relationship Building:  This would include time spent on setting up social networking profiles, uploading content on places like flickr or Youtube, etc.    It would also include the time spent listening, participating, and joining the conversation.   To prioritize your time, you might concentrate your activity on 1-3 sites, but there are some good reasons to at least set up a presence on many sites.

I've probably muddied the waters here.   How are you thinking about the integration of social media into your overall Internet marketing budget?  How are you making decisions about how you allocate your time and money on social media and in the context of your internet marketing budget?   If you incorporate social media, what are you letting go of or cutting back on?  Why?

Aloha Social Media! My Schedule Over the Next Week ...

Photo by DrumsWhistles

Next week is going to be a busy, busy week of work and travel and a little bit of a fun. 

On Sunday, I'll be in Washington, DC for the Share Our Strength Conference of Leaders. I'll be going out on the Day of Service which will take place at two locations, the Capital Area Food Bank and Friendship Public Charter School.  I'll be part of a social media capture team where we will use social media tools to document the work of 200 volunteers at both locations.   I'm excited about doing this work along side folks like that the crack web and social media team at Share Our Strength and Ed Nicholson at Tyson.

The next day, I'll be leading a workshop on social media strategies and tools and we hope to share some of the documentation work as an example of how the tools work.  The Day of Service event and session are sponsored by Tyson Foods.

On Tuesday, I will have the honor of presenting at the E-Metrics Conference with Jonathon Coleman, Nature Conservancy and Laura Lee Dooley. World Resources Institute - two of the savvy and smart nonprofit social media practitioners who are also metrics geeks.   What a combination!

Our session is on the social media metrics track and one of a few that are geared for nonprofit folks.  I'll be taking about how to use ROI thinking to build a community for your blog. The session description:

Followers, Friends, and Fans: Expanding Your Online Community
If you aren't on facebook, twitter, friendfeed, technorati, and delicious, should you be? And once you jump into social media, how do you track and measure success? Tips, tools and stories from the trenches from three people who focus on online engagement and have more links, friends and followers than some small countries have citizens.

I am also going to learn a lot by attending the sessions.  I'm looking forward to hearing social media measurement gurus -  KD Paine who session is earlier that day.

Next, I leave for Honolulu, Hawaii where I will be doing a session at the Social Media Club's workshop in conjunction with the wonderful PodCamp Hawaii.   The workshop leaders include:

• Roxanne Darling, co-owner of Bare Feet Studios, host of award-winning Beach Walks with Rox and Hawaii’s new media expert
• Chris Heuer, the founder of Social Media Club and a digital marketing veteran with 14 years of experience online.
• Kristie Wells, a community evangelist, customer advocate and President of Social Media Club

Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, isn't going to be able to make it over to PodCamp Hawaii or Social Media Club Workshop Hawaii, but Chris Heuer had the pleasure of interviewing her. In this interview, he focused on items more relevant to businesses in Hawaii -- especially small businesses.   I think a lot of what she says in the video is very applicable to nonprofits.  Enjoy the video.

This is also going to be a nice little vacation for me and I'm bringing the family along too.

How Much Time Does It Take To Do Social Media?

Time Chart - See Flickr Discussion on Version 1
Wanna Remix it?  Download it here

I'm getting ready to a workshop later this week,   I did a simple pre-workshop assessment, asking folks about their level of experience/comfort and their burning questions.   I usually do this in a room with a quick poll, but I wanted to push myself to create the content based on their questions.

Here's a question I get all the time:

How much time and resources does it take to implement social media?

In my presentations, I use a slide from Nina Simon's blog post called "How Much Time Does It Take To Do Web2.0 In A Museum?"   I've been thinking about remixing that slide so it matches the framework I set up for WeAreMedia tactical modules.

So, how can you quantify - as close as possible - the amount of time it takes to put social media in practice with good results?  It's so hard and you could cop out with "It depends ..."   It does take more time in the beginning if you're just acquiring the skill with a particular tool.  As soon as you have the workflow in memory and have routine, it will take less time than when you first started.  But, there's the whole issue of being efficient - and if you have super human getting things dones with social media skills, then it will take you less time.   

Also, it isn't matter of less or more time - it is also how you manage your online time.  Are you staying on task and getting the workflow done for each specific strategy?  It has nothing to do with the tools, have you avoided getting distracted from your to do list or work flow or too much multi-tasking-- social media can be ADD producing.

Also, the categories have  overlap in terms of tools.   For example, you can use Twitter as both a listening tool and for participation.  (And for spreading buzz for that matter).  Also, I wanted to lay this out in a sequential manner -- obviously you're not going to stop listening once you begin sharing your story.

So, here's a stab with lots of caveats.

Let me define the categories for you.

Listening:
Knowing what is being said online about your organization and the field you work in. You can listen with google alerts, technorati, twitter, and RSS readers. Key skill is pattern analysis. Link listening and analysis to decisions or actions. About 5 hours a week once you learn how to use the tools and make listening a daily habit.  (5 hours per week)

Participate:
Is joining the conversation with your audience. By making a human connection with people online, you can influence their perception of your brand and help them find meaningful, relevant ways to support your mission. Tools to help you participate are Twitter and Co-Comment.  You can also participate vicariously through bloggers by encouraging them to write about your organization.  (10 hours per week - also includes listening tasks as they go hand-in-hand)

Generate Buzz:
Your raising your organizations profile and spreading awareness of your organization's programs or campaigns. What happens is that you share your message with enthusiastic supporters and they in turn may choose to pass it to others with a similar a interest in your organization or campaign. But first, you have to build trust, credibility and -- most importantly -- a relationship with those who might interact with your posted content.  Buzz tools include FriendFeed, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Digg - and of course you add many others to this category that are found in other categories.  I'd also include your individual social networking profile which can be a great way to spread buzz (or spread yourself too thin.)  (10-15 hours per week - also includes some listening tasks)

Share Your Story:
You share the impact of your organization's programs through blogging, podcasting, sharing photos on Flickr, or YouTube or other video sharing site.  Once you have content created through these methods, it can be easily shared using the buzz tools above through social networks.   But even better is getting your constituents to share their stories about your organization with others (which takes more time because it is more in the community building area) (15-20 per week depending on the type of content, number of different ways you're creating it, and skill)

Community Building and Social Networking:
You build relationships online, nurture a community, engage people and inspire them to take an action, or raise money using social networks and apps. If you want to build an online community for knowledge or skill sharing, using social network tools like Ning or LinkedIN will help you get there. If you're looking to engage and inspire new supporters, setting up an organizational presence on one of the larger social networks like Facebook or MySpace is the best step. Finally, consider how you can mix in fundraising.  Note, this step goes beyond just setting up your individual profile or creating a fan page or profile -- to get results in this category - it requires heavy lifting.  I wouldn't advise an organization to start here ...  (20 plus hours a week)

And of course, Einstein's theory of social media relativity.  It takes a few months before you see results.  People don't understand that -- you have to give it time. We're not talking about the immediate gratification of email blasts.

What's your best time estimate for investing in social media?  How much time do you spend on these tools and tactics?   Does equal with results?   

Dog Days of August: Slow Blogging, Dog Safety, and Other Reflections

Flickr Photo by Beth

 

We're in the middle of the dog days of summer when people go on vacations and it's hot outside. Life slows down.  It is always a sad time of year for me.  Five years ago today, I had to put down my black lab Sadie, at age 15, who was ailing due to cancer.   That's my favorite photo of her. (And, no the car was not on the road, we were parked and the window was open)

The American Red Cross is using the Dog Days of Summer to educate dog owners about pet safety during these days of summer.  There's information about heat safety, pet first aid, and disaster planning.  They are also running a contest:

The  Red Cross is also encouraging dog owners to cool off during these dog days by diving  into the American Red  Cross Pet Photo Pool.  Get your  camera ready and sniff out  these instructions to enter our Dog Days of Summer photo  contest.  Two pet owners will receive a  free copy of the Dog First Aid guide and DVD.

In his post, "Become August," Geoff Livingston talks about using this period to prepare for a busy fall marketing season: "Slow is a mindset, and while there may be vacations, there are also opportunities."    A slightly different take on the concept of slow.

At Blogher Unconference, Leslie Madsen Brooks (who works with university faculty to help them make their instruction more thoughtful and who is also a dog lover) put up a session called "Slow Blogging."   I was bumble beeing between that session and one on social change, but the idea was inspired by Nancy White's Slow Community. (For more on Slow Community, start here, then go here)

Slow blogging, like slow community, is inspired by the slow food movement. What we were really talking about is the need to take the opportunity to reflect and think more deeply which may require a slower writing. It isn't necessarily running with the flow or letting the flow of information run you.

I found this blog from 2006 called Slow Blogging Manifesto

Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy. It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament. 

Personally, I straddle between the two - the constant moving forward through the fire hydrant of information and slowing down - being in the moment with one idea or concept or pattern I've observed.  It takes pulling back, consolidating, and discipline not to bounce.   In order to do that, I have to load up Mozart or other thinking music, and get into the flow.   Sometimes I can dive in deeply, and other times I'm not quite that successful.

I don't think there necessarily has to be a Chinese Wall between the two - moving forward (action) and reflection in blogging.   Is there a way to straddle the two in terms of your blogging - a "reflection in action."   It may be a little of what Tony Karrer is talking about -- social productivity.

How do you straddle between the constant flow of information at a fast pace and making time to digest and reflect on it?

 

Q: What can location-based networks learn from dogs? Answer below

Photo by Abbynormal

Stewart Mader left the answer in the comments, but I had to share the visual and write up from Jayne, who writes the Web Outside blog: Exploring Mobile Technology in Places and Space.   Her blog is about:

This blog focuses not only on the networks and applications themselves, but on the social and cultural ramifications of this growing “outernet.” Since The Web Outside– technically and conceptually– is still in its infancy, much exploration will also center around the current web and mobile solutions that are helping to shape it.

Jayne listened to the podcast and write this post (and found the above photo in flickr).

The “new” concept of checking in at a location and declaring one’s presence? Don’t be surprised if your golden retriever is rolling his eyes at your novice ways… He and his buddies have been pissing gleefully ahead of the social networking curve for centuries…

Eating Your Own (Social Media) DogFood

 

You've heard the phrase - eating your own dog food?   It means practicing what you preach.

Anyway, Chris Brogan has just launched Project DogFood.  It’s a project where you’re invited to come talk about which social media elements a business should consider adopting. 

And you know I would just love anything that has to do with dogs, social media, and adoption.

NpTech Summary: Social Networking Strategies and Nonprofits: Getting Beyond Shiny Object Syndrome and Getting More Precise Practices

Photo by PixelFarmer - Zen Mutt (a rescue dog) - Title "Precision"

The NpTech Tag Summary went on hiatus to give some space to rethink, reinvent -- again.   Conversations are getting more distributed and it is getting increasingly difficult to use tagging to discover, aggregate, and summarize them.  I'm moving beyond monitoring the NpTech tagged items and meta feeds to incorporate nuggets from micro media sources, nptech bloggers, friend feeds, and networks.

The summaries will be briefer, focused on a social media theme or a social media question related to practice.  I hope to go deeper on one theme rather than cover many resources superficially.   

We are in the very early stages of how nonprofits and social activists can leverage social networking applications for good causes and just learning what works and what doesn't.   I think there are a couple of things that need to be happen before we get to best practices and knowing precisely what works.

Nonprofits need to look at objectives and resources, target their audiences, and think about multi-channel efforts before  jumping on the Let's Use Facebook bandwagon.  (I think this applies to all social media - see the Cute Dog Theory for more)  Activists need to better understand the psychology of Facebook apps and perhaps revise their campaign strategies.   Facebook application developers who want to help change the world and work with nonprofits and activists need to better understand how Facebook culture and behavior meshes with activism and fundraising behaviors and workflow.

I raised a question about that last point in the FriendFeed NpTech Room. I may be way off.  But as more and more FB apps developers approach nonprofits and nonprofits hone best practices -- I think more dialog and understanding will lead to more effective tools (and multi-channel strategies).

Photo by AllSpice1 (Can you tell how it has been photoshopped?)

In a post titled "Why Social Network Marketing Misses Out:  Playing Solitaire at a Party" suggests a fourth reason -- not leveraging the networked effect.

Have you noticed that the card game solitaire doesn’t make for a good party game? It’s the same thing when it comes to social networks. Social networks are about self expression, communication, and networking and sharing with others –it’s more akin to social card games like poker, gin, or even mah jong. The core elements of these games encourage sharing, trading, communicating with other players of the party.

So, as you start to shop around for ideas to meet your objectives for your social marketing activities, remember that repurprosing the traditional microsites is missing out on the social behaviors that are native to social networks."

Geoff Livingston makes a good point about why some efforts using Facebook have not raised huge dollar amounts.  He warns us about getting seduced by Shiney Object Syndrome, a common problem where one does not have a target the audience precisely or use a multi-channel strategy - and just sets up a Facebook Cause or Fan Page.  Sort of a 2008 version of build it and they will come syndrome we saw in the 1990's ...

As Geoff points out:

What’s the secret sauce? Not buying into social media/Facebook hype ....  Precision targeting with intelligent integrated outreach across diverse media yields results.

I totally agree with the point about multi-channel campaigns - it has been my experience too with Facebook and other social media tools (as documented in these case studies).

He also describes some issues with the interaction design of Causes:

In addition, the Social Cause app does not let non-profits a) access the contact information of members b) update members on the cause or c) even send them a receipt for donations, and of course, market again. Instead a third party handles all touches. This is a disaster for cause marketers who simply can’t follow up or integrate with other initiatives.

These insights are not new for nonprofits.  Allan Benamer, of the Nonprofit Tech Blog points out that "It’s been suggested Causes has numerous problems in its business logic that seems to stem from a lack of understanding of the giving process. For one thing, it’s very difficult for nonprofits who are actually interested in engaging Causes users to engage that group. Causes doesn’t have a specific backend interface for would-be nonprofit administrators to deal with a Causes members list."   

Dan Schultz makes a similar observation in his recent publication "Guide To Facebook Activism" published by Digiactive, a five-month-old site devoted to digital activism.   He says, "Facebook may be free, but it has not been designed to suit your needs as an activist organizer.   This means you will find that the site's functionality does not always match what you need.  You will have to stretch what's there in order to be effective."

Let's also not forget that we have lots to learn about the next generation of donors and how we integrate strategies to reach them using social media.

What do you think gets in the way to "best practices"?  Is it only shiny object syndrome?  Could it be the interaction design and lack of precision of the tool?  Could be not having a multi-channel strategy?  Is missing out on how to leverage the networked effect?  What do you think?

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.  Through TechSoup's Netsquared project, blogger Beth Kanter, was commissioned to write a weekly summary.

And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider subscribing for free.

Obama Family Dog Campaign: From Rescue Dog to First Dog

Photo Source: Obama Family Dog Campaign

All the dogs in my life have been adopted from animal shelters or dog rescue organizations.   Choosing to adopt a puppy or dog from a rescue group or shelter, you're not only saving a life, you're decreasing the demand for puppies from factory-farm like puppy mills.

The Best Friends Network, an interactive and global online community of  people and organizations who care about animals, has just launched a petition to urge Senator Obama's family to consider adopting a shelter or rescue group pet.

If Sen. Barack Obama becomes president, he'll instantly be faced with decisions that will affect millions of Americans. Obama will also soon be making a decision that could affect millions of American dogs. It has been reported that once the election is over, the Obamas will be looking for a  new four-legged family member (much to his daughters' delight).

 

The American Kennel Club (AKC) has suggested five types of purebred dogs that would fit the Obamas' lifestyle. While we don't disagree that it's important to choose a dog that matches well with the family, mixed breeds should certainly be considered along with pure breeds. Also, whether purebred or mutt, we believe the Obamas should make a winning choice and     adopt a family dog, not buy one.

Best Friends gives 11 reasons for the Obama family (and every family) to  adopt a dog:

 

1. An  adopted pet is a life saved
2. Rescued  pets love you just as much (if not more!)       
3. Mutts  are one-of a kind       
4. Purebreds  need rescuing too
5. You  can find any size, age, color temperament at a shelter or rescue group
6. Rescuing  a pet is the socially responsible choice
7. Rescued  pets are already spayed or neutered (what a bargain)
8. Adopting  decreases demand for dogs from puppy mills
9. Why  not?
10. You can be proud of your rescued dog
11. That warm fuzzy feeling

The petition has gotten over 19,000 signatures in 24 hours.  With animal activists blogging, on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, let's see if the first dog in November will be a shelter or rescue dog.

It’s time to identify the appropriate person (s) within your nonprofit to participate on the Social Web!

Photo by Simple Dolphin

Let's say your organization has started to master the art of social listening - you're monitoring what people are saying about your organization or issue and you are using a variety of tools and strategies. And before you've gotten obsessed with what tool to use, you've figured out how to make your listening truly actionable. But, sooner or later you'll need to strike up a conversation or respond to some comments.  So, now what?

One thing to remember:  As Sean Maloney of Intel says, "It's not what you say about you, it's what they say about you."  (This quote really stood out in a brilliant piece by Brian Solis called the "Art of Conversation."

There's lots of excellent advice on the art of conversation and commenting on blogs.  Take these for example:

• How to Comment Like King or Queen by Coolcat Teacher Blog
• Strategic Blog Commenting A Screencast by Amy Gahran
• Strategic Blog Commenting: Blog Post by Amy Gahran
• Commenting by Alan Levine
• Power of Comments by Chris Brogan
• The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media by Brian Solis

But how does it work within an organizational context?  People want to have conversations with representatives from your organization who are experts in the issue or program area and who are excited about their work.  But they have to feel empowered to speak.   And that's what I'm curious about.

Certainly, training for these staff members or volunteers on social media participation so they are comfortable.   But there is also speaking on behalf ... what are the talking points?  What conversations are most important to join?

In larger organizations, there is the benefit of splitting the workload, but will senior management feel comfortable having those interns down the hall represent the organization on Facebook or on commenting on blogs?

I'm curious to know if how those you are who are putting listening and participating into practice in a nonprofit organization - how you do this within your organization?  Do decide what to respond to?  Who is authorized to speak on behalf of the organization or is it a team effort? 

June 20th Is National Take Your Dog To Work Day

Flickr Photo by Beth

You all know that I'm a dog lover, right?  That's Sadie who passed away 5 years ago this month.   She has her own dogbook profile on Facebook!  Anyway, if I still had a dog it would be at my feet tomorrow in my office.  Here's the scoop:

First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in their workplace for this one special day to promote pet adoptions.

On June 20, 2008, businesses, animal shelters and pet-care professionals from around the world will work together to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere.  Thousands of businesses will open their doors to employees' pets on this day in celebration of the great companions dogs make. Pet Sitters International invites your business to Join us! as we celebrate a decade of working dogs!

If you aren't able to bring your pup to your place of employment, considering volunteering at your local animal shelter or even taking in a rescued pet of your own.

And, if you are a nonprofit techie with a cute dog, please do the NpTech Dog Group on Flickr.

David Neff and Skip Offer Three Words of Advice About Social Media Adoption in Nonprofits

An Interview With Dr. Lynda Kelly, Australian Museum

Dr. Lynda Kelley

I'm here in Sydney, Australia and just finished an informal workshop  and discussion with Powerhouse Museum staff and other museums. (Will post reflections shortly)   I met Dr. Lynda Kelly, a blogger and the Head of Audience Research for the Australia Museum.  She also just set up a social networking site on Ning where museum professionals are discussing the future of museums in a Web 2.0 world.  The site is called Museum 3.0. 

Many nonprofits are grappling with questions about where to find reliable information about the merits of different tools for a given objective.  The key is understanding your audience and their online social activities.  The short answer: ask them, do research. During the meeting, she shared some insights from a recently published research study she conducted on the social activities and technographics of people in Australia.   

1.  Tell me about your research?

We took Forrester's technographics research model and adapted it for Australia, surveying over 2,000 people from Australia.   We asked simple questions about their online activities.  Other questions were about museum attendance.  We compared the findings between non-museum and museum goers.   Some key findings:  People who visit museums and galleries are engaging in social media and more so than people who don't.  The two things they do more than other activities are to post reviews and rate their experiences.  They are mostly looking for word of mouth recommendations.  (A paper based on the research findings can be found here)


Our research also focused on young adults and their web behavior.   We recruited people based on the Forrester online social activity categories and interviewed them about their online participation. 

I've done many studies on Web 2.0 activities of visitors, particularly with school students. We are trying to understand what young people are doing online and the implications for exhibit design and marketing.  We invited these young people into the museum back of house and asked them for input on how we should represent the museum on the social web.   The young people said they wanted a physical experience of interacting with the objects - no screens in the museum.  They told us, "We can all the computers and screens at home - we want something we can't get at home - the objects and interacting with people in the physical space."

We brought in a small group of young people and interviewed them about their experience.  The telling quote was: "We'll go home and google the answers.   We want to be here and look at the museum with our friends."  I'm sharing the research notes on the Museum 3.0 site.

2.   Can you tell me more about your Museum 3.0 site?

Facebook is interesting to have discussion with peers, but difficult.  Many of my peers don't want to "come out on Facebook."  (That is let people from work know who their friends are) When someone showed me Ning, I thought it was great to try for a community of practice because it is about the network and a good way to introduce people who are new to social media and give it go.  It's much better than sending me an email and having 6 people responding.  I've been inviting people at the beginning, but now more and more people are joining.


3.  What advice would you offer to other museums and nonprofits who want introduce web2.0 strategies into their programs or marketing?

They have to jump in and start experimenting.   There was a great quote.  Museums are great at touring exhibitions, but we're not good at touring the web.   Go to the people where they are and give it a go.    

You've got to have a champion in the organization who can help you get on with it.  Have a supportive director is important.   We've got to stop saying "no" and say "yes, if."   We're moving from No to Yes, If.   

We're trying to make that change in the organization now - we're using a private ning site to follow up with a strategic plan.     We've had Facebook Fridays - get people in the museum to sign up and we help them.   You have to reserve space to let people ask questions like "What is RSS?"

An Interview David J. Neff about American Cancer Society's Sharing Hope Project

Skip, David's dog

I'm doing a series of blog about lessons learned from nonprofits in adopting social media projects as the Cute Dog Theory.  (If you want to do an interview and have a dog, feel free to add your dog to the NpTech Dog Group) David J. Neff is the Director of Web, Film and Interactive Strategy for the American Cancer Society.  He has been with the American Cancer Society for seven years since he graduated from college.   He agreed to do an interview with his organization's socal media project, SharingHope.tv.

1.   Tell me about the project - give me your elevator speech re: project. 

SharingHope.TV is the place for people to share their stories around cancer. Whether you
are a survivor, pre-vivors, a caregiver or just someone with a story to tell SharingHope.TV
is the place to share that story in Video, Audio, Artwork or Photos.

2.  What were the objectives?

We wanted to give people a good enviroment to share their stories of hope in anyway they wanted. From video to audio to photos.  YouTube has like 7 hours of video uploaded every 3 minutes. A firehose of information. We want to be the gardenhose of information. YouTube has tons of trolls and comment spam. We want a friendly enviroment where people can share and learn. I believe our community does just that.

3. How did the project unfold?

We said if we are going to do this let's make it happen. In the American Cancer Society we have a group called the Futuring and Innovations Center. Think of them as Venture Capatlists for non-profits. They liked the idea and funded it within two weeks of me submitting the idea. The within 6 monhts we have a fully functional "Beta" Web Site up adn running. We are doing Beta for 6 months then Gamma then BAM we take the labels off and start advertising.

4.  Define how you overcame challenges.

Our biggest challenge was explaining to decision-makers why didn't use an existing platform like YouTube or Flickr or Facebook.  We felt that there was not one single platform that caters to the millions of people who care about cancer and want to share their stories. Now hopefully they have that platform. Our main challenge right now? How do we tell people about it? How do I get people to test it and break it and make suggestions.  I'm reaching out to bloggers.

5.   Let's talk about numbers.  How much did it cost?  What were the results?  How are you measuring them? .

Well the costs are I have to do this all for under $25,000. That's the grant money I have. Right now with hosting and staff time it's costing me about 2,000 a month. The programming was around $4,000. The days of million dollar web sites are dead. Open source and local talent. It's all about that.

We are learning to not give a crap about page view and hits. What I want at the end of the day is number of registered users and number of conversations. What are people commenting on? What discussions are they
having?

6.  What advice would you give to other nonprofits?

Video is the future! Imagine a world where your customer tells you what they want ......and you actually listen. It's what we are doing right now. 

Here's a few inspiring videos on SharingHope.TV that David would like us to see:

http://www.sharinghope.tv/video/1706386
http://www.sharinghope.tv/video/1857977

Meet Priscilla Brice-Weller: NpTech Blogger from Australia

Meet Priscilla Brice-Weller who is the Online Campaign Coordinator for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) which is using social media in many creative ways.  Her personal blog, Solidariti,  covers technology and nonprofit activism.  I've been reading her blog for sometime now and always learn something new.  One of my favorite blog posts that she wrote talks about the ladder of engagement and Myspace.

We had an opportunity to meet face-to-face today and take a nice stroll in the Brisbane city park, a botanical garden.  We talked about nonprofits, social media, the differences and similarities between Australia and US.   

I did an interview on QIK asking her for her advice about nonprofits and adoption of social media tools.

• Be patient - you may not see results for 6 months to a 12 month
• If the environment is not, better to do some small projects under the radar.  It's better to apologize than ask permission.
• Communicating the benefits in clear and simple terms helps decision-makers understand.

Although Priscilla has a cat, she is dog lover.  She has a cat because her landlord doesn't allow pets and a cat was easier to hide!

PBS ShowCase Presentation: Social Media Adoption Challenges

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As you read this, I'm on my way to Palm Springs to do a presentation at the PBS Showcase Conference. I'm doing a presentation on a panel called "Let's Get Social."  It is a version of the Cute Dog Theory - what organizations need to think about to be successful. I put it on SlideShare a few days ago and it already has 1400 views - so I thought I'd share it here.  I put together a wiki for this presentation which includes a set of conversations questions.  These are conversations that you want to have behind the firewall. 

What the heck is the Cute Dog Theory? It is a remix of the "Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism" which was the title of a talk given by Ethan Zuckerman at O'Reilly's E-Tech Conference in March, 2008 (notes from Ryan Singel of Wired Blog). In this talk, Ethan points out that the Web was invented so physicists could share research papers, but Web2.0 was invented because people want to share cute pictures of their cats. These same tools become very powerful in the hands of activists. Ethan's presentation takes a look at creative uses of well-known Web 2.0 tools from outside the United States that help digital activists evade Internet censorship and promote human rights issues to a wider audience.

These social media tools - like blogs, photo and video sharing, Twitter, and of course, social networking sites like Facebook - have made it easier for people share photos of their cute cats because of two twin revolutions going on - the ease of creating content and the ease of sharing it with local and global audiences.

This got me thinking about the adoption challenges faced by nonprofits in embracing these new tools. Many nonprofits are just beginning to use them as part of the Internet advocacy and organizing strategies. They are learning what works and what doesn't for nonprofit organizations here in the US. And, no there isn't yet a predictable template or formula. It takes trial and error to figure that for each organization as issues, causes, and audiences differ. However, based on observing nonprofits that have been effective - there are definitely some patterns of success for social media adoption.

The funny thing is that as I started to look closer, I discovered that many of these nonprofit Internet strategists are Dog lovers! Take for example Jonathon Colman who is the Internet Strategist for the Nature Conservancy or Wendy Harmon from the Red Cross both are dog lovers!   The  photo sharing group on flickr called, "NpTech Dogs" now has 57 photos of some the cutest NpTech dogs ever (and a few cat photos too!)

 

That cute puppy belongs to Nigel Allen, a nonprofit techie in Sydney.  It's the latest addition to NpTech Dogs.

I'm looking for the best of the best blog posts or articles about social media adoption challenges and successes.  What have you read recently that was particularly useful?  Please leave a pointer in the comments.  And, of course, if you have a cute dog that you'd like to send to the NpTech Dog Group - please do

More Cute Dog Theory Evidence: Meet Teddy, Brooklyn Museum Staffer Shelley Bernstein's Dog

Photo by Aur2899

Last week I taught a social media workshop for artists and arts nonprofits and did some research on different arts organizations using social media effectively.  The Brooklyn Museum kept coming up as a stellar example, particularly its Click Exhibition (Nina Simon wrote an analysis of the project here)

Shelley Bernstein, staff members at the Museum responsible for social media projects, left a comment on my blog.  We got into a quick email conversation and it gave me an opportunity to test the Cute Dog Theory a bit further.  Hmm .. did Shelley have a dog.  Turns out she has not one, but two pit bulls.  That's Teddy above.

I also asked her advice about getting a social media strategy started in a museum.  She responded:

I would say start simply, check often and don't stress too much.  The community will guide you if you listen.  Remember it's not marketing - it's community.

IMA Staffer Facebook Profile

While hunting through Facebook for examples, I connected with the Rob Stein from Indianapolis Art Museum - another arts organization using social media effectively.   He has dogbook on his profile featuring his yellow lab, Tana.

Finally, Beth Finke, a staffer at Easter Seals, writes the Safe and Sound Blog (Congrats on your award!) (Hat Tip Jordan V at Convio)

Meet Donna Callejon, Chief Operating Officer of Global Giving

Donna Callejon with kids in village in Guatemala - the houses, latrines, etc are being built partly with Global Giving  support.

This week, as BlogHer, launched a special campaign with GlobalGiving to raise money for lifesaving programs for women around the world, here is an interview with Donna Callejon who is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Giving.


1.   Tell me about you - how did you end up working in global philanthropy?  Do you have a foundation background?

I am a corporate refugee.  During my 17 + years in the financial services world I was always engaged in "philanthropy" as a volunteer in many "do gooder" opportunities.  Before GlobalGiving I spent a few years helping to build the Washington Area Women's Foundation - and that's when I started becoming a "student' of philanthropy.   I met Dennis Whittle, Global Giving's co-founder, at a social entrepreneurship conference in Geneva. When we both got back to DC we got together , and he and Mari needed some help with some business development support.  So I started working 3 days a week with them in 2003.

2.   What is your job at Global Giving?  Why do you think Global Giving is unique and does fabulous work?


My job now at GlobalGiving is to make sure that everything we are doing, and everyone who is working on donor-facing activities (business development, marketing, tech) is organized in some sort of recognizable formation.  GlobalGiving is very much a social enterprise - we run it like a company with monthly goals and metrics - all with the goal of attracting as many donors to support great projects around the world.  Dennis and Mari are truly spectacular visionaries - and positioned us as the first and most successful player in this project-specific, global philanthropy space.  The true uniqueness, though, is the network of amazing vetted project leaders and project organizations we have been able to build, and can access for large and small donors alike. 

3.    I recently noticed that you had a project from New Orleans, can you tell me about it?  Do you typically fund American projects?

I think we have about 40 projects on the site right now that are based in the US, and that represents about 8-9% of all the projects.  The US projects are an interesting mix - several in the gulf coast as a result of Hurricane Katrina.  We find that donors who are familiar with us, and corporate donors, increasingly want to support a specific project, not just send their money into what can feel like the black hole of the Red Cross or other big NGOs.  So school or library-specific projects were and continue to be attractive to donors.  In addition, we have a partnership with Pandora.com, the only radio service, and for them we've added a few US based music projects.  And then finally one of our project sponsoring organizations is the Tech Museum Awards in San Jose, so there are several US based Tech Laureates who have posted projects.

4.   Can you highlight a few of the amazing projects on Global Giving that support women? 


We have found, since the beginning, that projects focused on women and girls do very well on GlobalGiving.  The international giving community understands better than the US philanthropic community that investing in girls education is one of the single biggest drivers of community health and sustainability.  And women are the backbone of most low-income communities, around the world and in the US.  Two of my favorite projects, both of which hit on several key issues at once:

Rescuing Young Girls from Bonded Labor in Nepal - this project buys a family in Nepal a pig to generate income so that they don't have to sell their daughter into servitude to pay for family expenses.  It also requires, and pays for, the girls to go to school.

Build Skills and Income by Training Guatemalan Women - This is an economic development project, a self esteem project and a human rights project all in one. for $35 an indigenous woman in Guatemala will get quality training on weaving, allowing her to then participate in the global markets for crafts.

We are really excited about our new partnership with BlogHers Act.  Both the writers and readers of blogs on BlogHer are an engaged, active community, and it's terrific to see them coming together to raise funds for projects that will help ensure that babies and mothers have the best possible chance of being physically and emotionally healthy.  They selected a great group of projects to support, and within the first 72 hours of the campaign have raised over $1,000.  I hope as we get closer to Mother's Day people will make contribution in honor of the women in their lives and send them free, eco-friendly e-cards via GlobalGiving.

5.   Global Giving recently partnered with the Case Foundation for the America's Giving Challenge and you've done other competitions before -- any lessons learned you want to share with people who might want to champion a cause in future contests? 

The America's Giving Challenge was by far the largest of these contests we've run or helped run - generating almost $400,000 to projects on GlobalGiving.  Some have rewarded projects for attracting the largest amount of money, and some for the largest number of donors.  We think that a combination of the two is best - fundraises need to hit a threshold number of both to make the contest meaningful.  One thing that holds through across all the contests is that it's often one person - either on the staff or board, or just an evangelist for the organization - who really drives the successful fundraisers - as you have done now twice for the Sharing Foundation.  It's always someone with a strong vested interest in the success of the organization, and it always comes down to the wire.  So, to win you have to really commit yourself, inspire your networks to spread the word, and stay focused until the end.

6.   I've been working on something called the "cute dog theory" of social media and nonprofit adoption.  I couldn't help but notice that you're a dog lover - I saw your dogbook on Facebook.  Can you tell me about your dogs?

We have three dogs in the house right now.  Dillon is the oldest - he's a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and loves to play ball.  Hailey is a yellow lab, and we have a song we made up about her that starts with "Hail-Bop" (like the comet).  It goes on to describe her, um, proclivity to lie around and be bossy.  She is the alpha for sure.  And then there is Dixon, who is a 2.5 yr old Westie.  He weighs 1/3 what the other two do, but he thinks he's a big dog.  He's a true terrier - patrols our backyard for wayward birds, squirrels, and anything else that dares to climb the fence! 

Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits and Social Change, also writes Beth's Blog.

Women Who Tech Conference: Social Media Hot or Not? My Slides

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Later today, I am speaking on a panel at the WomenWhoTech Conference

Web 2.0: Hot Or Not? 5:15 PM EST Twitter! Facebook! Ning!

Panelists share their opinions on the latest trends in Web 2.0 and how organizations can effectively use them to build community as well as as how to measure the real ROI’s.

Panelists: Heather Holdridge, Care2.com, Connie Reece, Social Media Club and Frozen Pea Fund, Beth Kanter Moderator: Allyson Kapin, Women Who Tech and Rad Campaign

Some participants blogged about the webinar
Christine Martell
Jill Foster
Connection Cafe

Are You A Nonprofit Techie, Working on a Social Media Strategy, and Love Dogs (or cats)? Need Your Help!

I'm working on a keynote for a nonprofits conference at the end of the month in Minnesota.  I'm going to explain on the Cute Dog Theory but I need some photographic evidence.  I need photos of nonprofit techies who do work in social media strategy and love dogs - need a photo of you with your dog.  That's Jonathon Coleman from the Nature Conservancy above, I know there must be others.

I also don't want to offend the cat lovers.   So, if you are cat lover, let me know that.

Here's what you need to do:

1.)  Leave a comment here -- include your name, organization, and web/blog url.  Also include a pointer to you with a photo of your dog (or cat).  Please also include your pet's name.  Also, if you're on Flickr, consider joining the NpTech Dog Group.

Thanks so much!

Photos coming in: Just a place to aggregate

Garrett - Dogs in Tracks

Via Twitter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bee/845511286/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bee/844648511/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamgn/sets/72157604082112933
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eugevon/196826335/

Some More

My name's Adam.  I work with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, and my wonderful dog's name is Maggie!  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2339922115_0b5ff2240f_o.jpg

Hi Beth-

I work at The Humane Society of the United States and help with our president and CEO's blog (http://www.waynepacelle.org). I joined your Flickr group and added two pictures of me and my dog Zoey:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13651127@N00/318532280/in/set-72157594413492609/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13651127@N00/330052989/in/set-72157594433108395/

Thanks!
Meghan

Here's one more -- with The HSUS's Carie Lewis and her family's dog Sade, and me and Zoey: http://www.flickr.com/photos/humanesociety/1432762737/

These two dogs aren't only cute, they're also talented! They served as canine journalists for the day and reported on the Humane Society Walk for the Animals: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/dogs_view_walk_for_the_animals.html.

Carie Lewis:
Beth, you know I couldn't be left out!

I've got one of me with my cat Louie
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=602548&l=f9611&id=690301276

and some of me with my dog Sade
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=336544&l=2296b&id=690301276
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=323789&l=2401b&id=690301276

Woof!

I'm Michael Waugaman and I manage a the Volunteer Centre Slough. We are currently building a plan for a way forward for the ailing online space at www.volunteerslough.org.uk

and within facebook.

Pooch's name is Zachar (Zach for short) - there's plenty on flickr where these came from so help yourself if they're of any use (it's my wife's acct & she's given the ok).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindee/133686995/in/set-72057594064780772/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindee/155603091/in/set-72057594064780772/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindee/507780106/in/set-72057594064780772/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindee/394503425/in/set-72057594064780772/

The Cute Dog Theory: Slides From Funders Network Briefing

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Last night when I was putting this talk togther, I got a last minute bolt of inspiration from Ethan Zuckerman's talk at E-Tech called the cute cat theory.  It's call the cute dog theory.   Notes and links on the wiki.