We have been using Tumblr for a few years and in the hopes of inspiring you and your colleagues to consider creation of a Tumblr presence for your nonprofit by sharing some insights we’ve gained on using this very popular social network. Tumblr got going in 2007, and really took off a couple of years later […]
#INTERVIEW: Rob Wu of Causevox Tells Us About Developments In Online Fundraising (Part I)
http://youtu.be/2VXwEDsMNuU
Rob Wu is co-founder of Causevox, an online social-media and donor-acquisition platform, and he and his team have been working hard over the last number of months moving the online system to 2.0. We had the pleasure of talking with Rob a year or so ago, when Causevox first went live. The focus then was […]
#EDUCATION: Why Computer Literacy Is Crucial
Why Computer Literacy is Key to Winning the 21st Century Let’s not make ourselves obsolete … “Upending our notions of what it means to interface with computers could help democratize the biggest engine of wealth since the Industrial Revolution.” A 2014 Mother Jones‘ article from explores the challenges faced by communities nationwide, as funds for computational […]
#TECH: Mac? Windows? Need Both On Your iPad? Use Both! (Part III)
Is it a Mac? Is it a PC? It’s Virtualization! In 2014 on Tech Fridays, we looked at virtualization software that allows you to run multiple operating systems on one desktop or laptop. In a repost of the second article in this series, we covered the concept and the software packages of Parallels and VMWare. […]
#HOWTO: Establish A Tumblr Account & Why You Should Do So (VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PUXnDZUcQY[/embed]
A while back we talked about the blogging platform Tumblr, and the series got a great deal of response from you our audience, and we really appreciate your interest and feedback! We want to step up that earlier discussion with a series of video how-tos that will show you a Tumblr account, what can be […]
#HOWTO: Setup A (Free) Scoop.it Magazine For Your Community
We introduced Scoop.it and Pinterest recently because we think these information-sharing sites offer a great platform for nonprofits and charities to share their own news as well as related images or stories in their sectors. As promised we have returned to round out this mini-series with a guide to help you setup a Scoop.it e-magazine site. […]
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Let Flickr Tell Your Nonprofit’s Story As It Happens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R_MWGFvDEE[/youtube]
A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. And with digital social media, images are becoming both more common and more powerful as platforms such as Facebook and Google+ emphasize the photo and graphic qualities of their social-media networks. A kind of ‘visual economy’ is developing, within which social networks are competing and users […]
#ADVOCACY: Google Does Harm To Privacy & Suffers An Hour’s Income For Infractions
What you think about Google’s (and Facebook’s. And Twitter’s…) efforts to collect personal information of its users probably says quite a bit about what you think about human nature: If you don’t mind a database of your online activities being used by social networks and search engines, then you are likely comfortable with the fact […]
#FUNDRAISING: Does Your Nonprofit Need Help Keeping Up With Its Growing Donor Base?
Just this past week Idealware published its 2013 Field Guide to Software for nonprofits and charities. The staff at Idealware demarcate a number of areas that nonprofits and software developers have been collaborating, such as social-networking management, and gives reviews and how-tos on some of the solutions in the market. The book can be had […]
#DEVELOPMENT: How Much Cash Is Required To Land A Donation?
How often do nonprofits reach out to donors potential and actual online, yet have no real sense of how successful the outreach was? Did the time and money spent developing a program or launching a campaign prove to be worth the support? Dan Norris, founder of the online-analytics service Informly offers a tool to help […]
#FUNDRAISING: Causevox Improves Online Outreach & Fundraising To 2.0
We have often sung the praises of the online charity-site platform Causevox. And we do so again as the good folks at Causevox have released a significant series of upgrades and integrations in version 2.0. It moved out of beta last week, allowing any charity or nonprofit to take advantage of the expanding toolbox. This […]
#SOCIALNETWORK: Are You Prepped For Rollout Of Facebook Graph Search?
Facebook’s Graph Search was announced a couple of weeks ago and it is being rolled out through the Facebook0sphere through February. Though many wondered if Facebook were challenging Google, the fact is Facebook is trying to rejigger how you can access information within Facebook, not how you wend your way through the tubes of the internet. […]
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Questions & Answers Can Be Shared On Quora
The Latin term ‘quorum’ (pl.pronoun: ‘of whom’) has almost no connection to what the term means in Anglo-American law, namely: “the minimum number of members of an assembly that must be present to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.” Without digging too deeply into the Oxford English Dictionary, the term evolved from Norman circuit […]
#HOWTO: Setup A Pheed Account & Why It Could Prove Valuable For Nonprofits
Alright, I admit that when I first heard about one of the newest social networks out there, Pheed, I was underwhelmed. Are we not overwhelmed with social networks as it is? But both professional engagement and personal curiosity got the better of me, and I signed up. The interface looks rather like Tumblr, whose praises […]
#DEVELOPMENT: Do You Have Big Plans For Your Big Data? Not So Fast…
The latest buzz concept is ‘Big Data.’ Like most buzz concepts/ words, its definition leaves much up to the mouth of the speaker. Big Data, whatever the specifics, refers to the large amount of information that can be collected from online activity and exchange of information (on social networks, for example). The ability to aggregate […]
#SOCIALMEDIA: How Can We Efficiently Use Our Time On Social Networks?
A definition of irony: using social media to encourage you to find ways to trim your time on social media. But the real goal is efficiency, and it comes with great financial and emotional rewards. According to a survey done by the enterprise platform Harmon.ie last summer, “45% of employees work only 15 minutes or […]
#SOCIALNETWORKS: 4th-Annual Social Media Week Will Educate & Inspire Worldwide
The first Social Media Week went live in 2008, as Twitter was just hitting the mainstream and Lehman Brothers announced it was going bankrupt and would take down the economy with it. For better and worse, much has change. And Social Media Week continues to expand. It started to stress connectivity across continents last year, […]
#SOCIALMEDIA: Politicians & NonProfits Need Agility With Online Outreach
As the Democratic ‘nominee’ Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech last night in Charlotte, NC, a record number of tweets on politics were sent out − some 52,756 tweets-per-minute (tpm) being posted as he wound up. By contrast, Mitt Romney inspired 14,289 tpm, which was about half as many as reactions to Michelle Obama’s presentation two […]
#COMMUNICATIONS: NFC Means More Than Paying By Mobile Phone
Near Field Communication has been around for a few years now, though the most popular mobile device, the iPhone, does not (yet?) carry the necessary transmitters to take advantage of it. The technology requires its own dedicated chip to send and receive data. Thus far, Google’s Android phones have been taking the lead in the […]
#HOWTO: Establish Your Tumblr Account Preferences To Stay Organized
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l88GvCZ6Org[/youtube]
We have already presented videos on how to sign on to Tumblr and how to tweak the settings of your new blog − including how to ensure your activity on Tumblr is reflected in your Twitter account and on your Facebook page (though recent developments have limited the interaction between Twitter and Tumblr, alas). We want to […]
#PROAGING: Technology Can Encourage Socialization & Longevity
Perhaps the greatest gift of life is the ability to share many its aspects with others. We have communication skills and empathies that can enliven mundane tasks and reinforce the greater joys and tragedies of the human experience. As social beings, we seek out these shared experiences from our earliest infancy to our later golden […]
#TECH: Sometimes A Security Breach Is Just A Phonecall Away
First of all, and oft repeated, use secure and unique passwords for all your accounts, be they banking, social networking, email, or to log on to your computer. Far too many people still use such insanely simple passwords like ‘password’ or ‘qwerty’. And if you think using your anniversary date or your cat’s name with […]
#COMMUNICATIONS: Pinterest Goes Public Though Gender Gap Remains
The big but unheralded news in social networks this past week was the fact that Pinterest went public − not an IPO, but the hitherto ‘by invitation only’ site is now available to anyone who wants to establish an account. Facebook started that way lo those six or seven years ago. How has Pinterest fared? […]
#HOWTO: Set Up Your Tumblr Blog’s Settings & Connect To Twitter/Facebook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1cAxKeSArM[/youtube]
We continue our video series on setting up your nonprofit’s Tumblr blog account with a look at the two Dashboards within your account. We also explore the blog’s settings and what distinguishes them from your account’s preferences. Tumblr is a free platform and one that can give you an up-and-running blog in about 10 minutes − […]
#PROAGING: Olympics & Social Media Suggest Shrinking Digital Divide
NBC might have gotten some bad press for giving away results before showing them tape-delayed in the lucrative hours of prime time. These Olympics have both been the ‘first Social Olympics’ and the first to struggle to understand what such instantaneous communication can mean to corporate and sporting interests. And, as it turns out, most […]
#SOCIALMEDIA: How Young Is Too Old To Have Communications Expertise?
Why don’t you all fade away, and don’t try to dig what we all say I’m not trying to cause a big sensation, I’m just talkin’ ’bout my generation The Who, “My Generation,” My Generation (1965) Well, I’ve already dated myself. But I’m going to press on with this post anyway. Catherine Sloan, a recent […]
#SOCIALMEDIA: IOC Struggles To Corral First “Social Olympics” In London
The Opening Ceremonies went off without a hitch. Security concerns have been allayed thus far. The weather hasn’t been too bad. For Americans, we’ve had a few sub-par performances in the pool and on the gymnastics apparatuses, but so far, so good. Unless the issue is how this so-called “First Social Games” is going. The […]
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Let’s Check In With Foursquare For Nonprofits
We have talked about Foursquare, the social network and geo-tagging software that offers opportunities to share your experiences at businesses and organizations of all types. The platform is a comparative newcomer, having been launched by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in 2009. But as of this April its membership has swelled to over 50 million. […]
#TECH: Mac? Windows? Need Both Operating Systems? Use Both! (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8YljIrWRiI[/youtube]
In the primitive era of personal computing (any time before about 2004), one had to commit entirely to one of three platforms or operating systems: Mac, Windows, or Linux. Sharing documents created on one platform with a colleague on another platform was tricky at best. What could be shared was electronic information (emails or websites) […]
#PROAGING: Majority Of Senior Citizens Online & Many More Using E-Readers
The fine folks at the Pew Internet and American Life Project marked a notable milestone in the history of electronic communications this past spring: “53% of American adults ages 65 and older use the internet or email. Though these adults are still less likely than all other age groups to use the internet, the latest […]
#SOCIALNETWORKS: OneClimate Is A Social Platform Primed For The Environmental Community
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYomibkvQS8[/youtube]
Of course those who are engaged in the pressing issues of environmental degradation and global warming want to reach out to audiences as wide as possible. The heavy hitters of social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…) can serve that purpose. But did you know that other social networks focus on particular issues and offer opportunities to […]
#COMMUNICATIONS: A Storm & A Second Cause Disruptions That Remind Us Of Need For Vigilance (& Backups)
If you live in the Mid-Atlantic region, then you might not be reading this blog on the Monday it was (hopefully!) posted. A freak and unpredicted storm ripped through the region Friday night − an effect of the 100+ heat and no breezes to break up the high-pressure cell parked on the region. Power is now […]