Archive for the ‘Non-Profit Technology Lessons’ Category

The Onion, the online sattirical site recently reported that ”Internet Archaelogists find ruins of “Friendster” Civilization.

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of ‘Friendster’ Civilization

A great comedy? yes, or is it a great tragedy?  Many of us are now devoting a good deal of time to social networks.  Social networks that have evolved from Friendster.  Can you imagine if you had invested the same amount of time in Friendster that you’ve invested in Facebook?   yikes.

Are we in danger?

Let’s look at the most recent stats for social network sites (according to Social Network Watch)
Comscore ~ 10/09 /Unique Visitors (000)
1. Facebook (97,372)
2. MySpace (64,066)
3. LinkedIn (20,024)
4. Twitter (19,242)
5. Digg.com (14,488)
6. Classmates (13,882)

Facebook is clearly the fastest growing network site, but will it persevere where others failed. 

Here are few things it has going for it that lead me to believe it will: 

1) real users
2) more than 50% active EVERY day
3) less annoying flashes per page than Myspace
4) no autobot messages from Fake people
5) sound advertising system that seems to produce results without overly annoying

For months now, I’ve been having this debate.  We started our facebook fan page and our myspace page on the same day earlier this year.  In the first month, we grew at about the same rate.  We were roughly 100 fans on each site.  But then facebook pulled ahead and pulled ahead strong.  We were up to 500 fans by the end of June and now we have over 1100 fans. 

Meanwhile, back in myspace, we have less than 200 friends.  But why?  Here are some reasons and a link to an interesting NPR story.

1) Facebook has been growing immensely over the last six months.  In September facebook had an estimated 95.5 million U.S. visitors, according to marketing research company comScore. MySpace had around 65.7 million people.

2) Facebook allows our fans to suggest us to their friends.  There’s no similar mechanism in myspace.  This has proven a big henderence to our growth.  We spent a lot of time that first month searching for people we knew and sending them friend requests.

3) Facebook advertising means you can reach out to people you don’t know and try to get them to fan you.  We grew from 600 fans to 1000 fans in about six weeks.

4) Another possiblity, gathered from the NPR story:

“Young people — and for the most part adults as well — don’t really interact online with strangers.  They talk to people they already know. “

Read the whole story here.   And let me know what you think, myspace vs facebook or BOTH!!

If you’re like me, you’ve known about youtube for a long time now, but you’ve probably never posted there.  Maybe you don’t film things or maybe you’re not ready to share anything just yet.

But there’s a lot to be gained from taking those steps into establishing your own Youtube channel.  Youtube is THE place for online video.  In January 2009, 147 million U.S. internet users watched an average of 101 videos per person.

Videos role in communicating can not be underestimated.  In today’s web world, attention span is measured in seconds.  Video is an excellent way to deliver content.

At Planned Parenthood, we’ve used youtube in a couple different ways and are still searching for the perfect strategy.  Here’s what we’ve tried so far:

Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook is the fastest growing social media site.  And not only is it growing fast, but it is growing in the demographic that is probably most important to you - 35 and older. 

Facebook will allow you to communicate with your supporters in another way.  This will not replace letters, emails, calls, parties and whatever else you’re already using, but it will be a great enhancement to those.

How is it different?

Facebook has a news feed which allows its users to keep up with the very latest updates from all of their friends and organizations which they are a fan.  When one of your supporters becomes a fan of your organization, all of their friends will receive an update. The average person on facebook has 120 friends.  Those friends in turn may decide they want to know more about your org and/or decide that they are fans as well. 

This is the power of social media- establishing and broadening your network of supporters.

How should you get started?

If you’re not on facebook for yourself as an individual start there.  It is free and it isn’t that complicated.  Go on and try it.  [I’ll wait here]  Give yourself a few days or weeks to get the hang of it.  Search and find some organizations you support.  What does their page look like?  Do they have discussions? events? pictures? videos?

Ok, you’ve looked around, now it is time to establish your fan page.

What you’ll need:

1. your logo or other visual representation
2. mission statement
3. company overview
4. at least one status update
5. a picture or video from a recent event would be great
6. an upcoming event, also great

Grow your list:

1. Start by inviting your friends to become fans.
2. Put the word out on your website, to your email list, in your newsletter, on your email signature
3. After you’ve built up a respectable amount of fans, ask your fans to suggest your organization to their friends.  It is super easy and really works well to increase your network.

As you build this online relationship, you will update your supporters about events coming up, volunteer opportunities, interesting things in the news.

Come friend me on facebook and become a fan of Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina

Mitchell on facebook

As we continue to add bling to our blog, we’ve added new ways to subscribe to our content.

Choice 2.0 now syndicates all of its content, so you can grab our posts straight from your favorite RSS reader (like google reader or Newsgator), or even from your email account! Just click on the Feed icon to get started!

It’s a phenomenon.  I knew it when I saw this on the Daily Show. 

Daily Show Segment

Just three weeks before that, Paige Johnson, our VP of Public Affairs, and I had sat down to discuss how to involve activists more in our work.  We talked about how our updates were too far apart and how our email open rate was declining.  Having just a week or so earlier set up my own twitter account, I thought maybe this could work.

Twitter defines itself as micro-blogging, but also markets itself with the tagline, “ What are you doing?”   Real Life- what happens between blogs, not big enough for email.

Twitter provides your followers with real time updates.  These updates are limited to 140 characters, so you’ve got to be concise and there are guides available with shorthand and tweetiquette- twitter etiquette.

Paige agreed or at least agreed to give it a shot.

We started our PPCNC twitter on Feb 18, 2009.  [About a month before the real media explosion around twittering.]  At the time there was only one Planned Parenthood twittering.  The used the nested P’s- our common logo- and seemed to concentrate their updates on volunteer opportunities.  We had a slightly different strategy in mind. 

Since we wanted to involve activists more, we thought the main strategy for us, would be updates from the General Assembly. Giving our activists the insiders’ view and allowing them to lobby with us.  Our lobbyists, Paige and Alison, provide the updates everyday the General Assembly meets. 

We also know from our years of grassroots organizing that you’re gonna have a few star activists, people who will do everything they can for you and that for the rest, you’ve got to make it easy and entertaining.  You’ve got to bring them in on the issue and let them see the whole battle, so that when we need them to, they will have taken ownership and
they’ll take action.

Today, there are 11 Planned Parenthoods on twitter, most are using the nested P’s and most keep their tweets highly unpersonal.   Maybe they know something I don’t?   So I asked one of our advisory committee members- she’s a social network expert, she has a widely read blog and she use to e-organize for PP.

She thinks we’re doing a nice job mixing in the personal.  She likes that we use a personal photo.  She agreed with me that we want this to be person to person.  I guess we’ll continue to seek feedback.

We’ve almost hit 60 followers!!  Of course, a couple followers are actually anti-choice folks snooping around. 

I think we have a great tool here and are using it in a way that provides real value.  I think we need to market it more.

www.twitter.com/PPCNC