“For Payne, who oversees Twitter’s API development, your ticket to the web promised land is Scala, the next-generation language developed by Martin Odersky at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Sometime in 2007, Twitter came to the realization that its Ruby-based message queuing system couldn’t keep up with all that Web2.0rhea. “It grew with us for a number of months, and then, at a certain point, it just hit a wall,” Payne said. “And that wall was not so much it code but in limitations in Ruby virtual machine. There’s a lot of things that Ruby is great at, but long running processes? Particularly memory intensive ones? Not so much.”

By mid-2008, one of these Ruby message queues completely crashed and developers needed two and a half hours to shove the dropped Tweets back through the system. When your game is micro-blogging, that’s a lifetime. Then, in his spare time, one developer ported the code to Scala. According to Payne, the Scala queue could process the same message backlog in 20 seconds.”

If you’re a Ruby lover, you’d be asking the same question in your head – why would you want to use Scala (especially for Twitter-like applications)?:

“Bill Venners: I’m curious, and the Ruby folks will want it spelled out: Can you elaborate on what you felt the Ruby language lacked in the area of reliable, high performance code?

Steve Jenson:One of the things that I’ve found throughout my career is the need to have long-lived processes. And Ruby, like many scripting languages, has trouble being an environment for long lived processes. But the JVM is very good at that, because it’s been optimized for that over the last ten years. So Scala provides a basis for writing long-lived servers, and that’s primarily what we use it for at Twitter right now. Another thing we really like about Scala is static typing that’s not painful. Sometimes it would be really nice in Ruby to say things like, here’s an optional type annotation. This is the type we really expect to see here. And we find that really useful in Scala, to be able to specify the type information.

Robey Pointer: Also, Ruby doesn’t really have good thread support yet. It’s getting better, but when we were writing these servers, green threads were the only thing available. Green threads don’t use the actual operating system’s kernel threads. They sort of emulate threads by periodically stopping what they are doing and checking whether another “thread” wants to run. So Ruby is emulating threads within a single core or a processor. We wanted to run on multi-core servers that don’t have an infinite amount of memory. And if you don’t have good threading support, you really need multiple processes. And because Ruby’s garbage collector is not quite as good as Java’s, each process uses up a lot of memory. We can’t really run very many Ruby daemon processes on a single machine without consuming large amounts of memory. Whereas with running things on the JVM we can run many threads in the same heap, and let that one process take all the machine’s memory for its playground.”

Curious now? If you want to learn more about Scala try this site and of course play around with Lift, the web framework for Scala. Here’s a great .pdf file by Debasish Gosh and Steve Vinoski on Scala and Lift

Oh yes, there will still be those who will defend Ruby for Twitter:

“I would be curious to hear what arguments, if any, Twitter had against JRuby, or other message queues. The public arguments I’ve seen, and the decision making process I’m inferring from it, seem like an incredibly inept one. This belies something I’ve heard about those who deal with the Twitter people: their scaling problems come not so much from Ruby but from bad design decisions.

Overall, I think they’re missing the point of Ruby. Ruby shines as an automation and “glue code” language, providing you with a swiss army knife that lets you easily integrate many software components writen in whatever language you want into a single, cohesive application. Message queues are commoditized in the software world, and clients exist for virtually all of them in the Ruby world. AMQP, XMPP, Stomp, you name it and chances are Ruby speaks it. The EngineYard folks are doing wonderful things with Ruby and XMPP/AMQP in their Vertebra and Nanite projects. The Twitter folks are… off reinventing message queues in Ruby, then blaming Ruby when their implementation turns out to be slow.”

Posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo

Cocooning– a trend that surfaced in the 90′s, gained significant momentum with the introduction of the web.

When Web 2.0 and social media hit, this trend was totally reversed as social networks connected us to a massive web of colleagues, business relations, classmates, relatives, and friends both old and new. As the platforms evolved into life streams, we became aware of every trivial event –sometimes in real-time–  that occur in the lives within our network.

The most dramatic result of this is the hyper-interaction we found ourselves in. The previously shallow and platonic exchanges we had with acquaintances had been transformed into active and sustained relationships. Even with those we had not seen in many years, the personality of the conversations are as if you’d only last spoken to them yesterday. Even the awareness of wide geographic distance is lost.

Here’s a sample exchange brought about by a Facebook status update I did.

Jomike is a friend I now only see once a year at the La Salle Green Hills homecoming.

Jonathan was a college classmate from De La Salle University I had last seen in 1989.

Neither personally knows each other but are both my connections.

Me (Manila): “I just became aware of the 1/3 pound burger being sold by Jollibee.”

Jomike (Cebu): “I still prefer the classic hamburger taste of Tropical Hut.”

Jonathan (Sydney): “You’ll be surprised to know that the Jollibee recipe is derived from the Tropical Hut one.”

Jomike (Cebu): “I still prefer Tropical Hut, it leaves that classic after-taste when you burp!”

Me (Manila): “Now I’m hungry.”

Apparently, the notion of isolation was totally wrong. We’re more social than ever!

The ProudCLoud team have many exciting things brewing in the CLOUDWORKS, our innovation group that develops and incubates Web 2.0 and social computing technologies and ideas before releasing them into the wild.

Here’s an early look at LiveClick, real-time clickable video streaming that takes interactive video on the web to a new level. You can click on the pre-defined hotspots in the running video even without pausing it. Click here to view our alpha demo.

Currently, videos are tagged and processed in-house. When we release LiveClick as a beta, user-defined tagging will allow users to upload their own videos and define clickable hotspots and the data links. Also, tags can be applied to label people and objects within the running video similar to Facebook’s photo tagging.

]]> http://blog.proudcloud.net/2009/05/cloudworks-sneak-peek-liveclick-interactive-streaming/feed/ 0 http://blog.proudcloud.net/2009/04/legends-in-our-own-minds-part-5/ http://blog.proudcloud.net/2009/04/legends-in-our-own-minds-part-5/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:21:50 +0000 Karl Quirino http://blog.proudcloud.net/?p=236 MODELS OF TECH-SAVVY NONPROFITS USING SOCIAL MEDIA

If you lead a social service organisation that isn’t doing as well as others, have you ever wondered why people don’t readily pick your noprofit organisation as their preferred charity or cause to support?

Well, the plain truth is that people don’t decide who to give to on the basis of facts, ratios and donation buttons. They decide who to give to based on the causes they care about or the charity brands that they have heard of and trust.

If you think your nonprofit organisation deserves more public attention with an eye on acquiring some following, influence, social capital and reputation, then it’s time you started studying how others, who are ahead of you on the curve, are doing it right these days. Have a look at the websites of a few organisations whose links are listed below and get a feel of what social media is doing for them and what it can possibly do for you.

OXFAM

A UK-founded charity, OXFAM’s website is a good example of how a nonprofit organisation has planned well its foray into to thw world of Web 2.0. This site contains some very good examples of broad areas of social media that other nonprofit organisations will find useful adopting when considering their jump into Web 2.0 -– engage, communicate, resonate, participate and reaching out.

ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD

OLPC was founded by Nicholas Negroponte with a core of Media Lab veterans, but quickly expanded to include a wide range of exceptionally talented and dedicated people from academia, industry, the arts, business, and the open-source community. Each individual involved brings a unique skill set, and a deep personal passion, to the project. The link provided above opens to a page which encourages site visitors to participate in the project and get involved by displaying a number of options.

ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION

The Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable operation based in New York USA has 82% of its operating revenues come from private support and the rest from internal funding. It is one of those large nonprofit organisations that do not depend on any form of government financial support. Its website is extremely simple, uncluttered, straightforward and Web resource-efficient. It is a good model to emulate. The foundation has learned to employ just a few social media features on its homepage with maximum effect. They’ve chosen what works best for them.

THE AFGHAN SCHOOL PROJECT

Some charities look to bring tech to poverty-stricken children around the world. This one is special for many reasons. It’s a small school based in Kandahar, which teaches mostly female students tech and business skills so they can get jobs and improve their country. After clicking the link above, notice how AFSJ prominently displays a number of features such as their RSS feeds, news updates, comments by site visitors and supporters, their Facebook page and a host of other applications that help get them noticed in search engines.

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

A nonprofit who promotes family values and who operates out of Colorado Springs USA, FOTF relies even more on private support funding (91%) and internally generated funds (9%) to support its annual operations. Here’s another site on the Web devoted to social service which has its communications strategy spot on towards social media. It engages, communicates, resonates, participates and reaches out. Can you guess which social media features I’m talking about here that makes FOTF successful?

Like the Robin Hood Foundation, it’s no wonder that FOTH has been voted by Forbes magazine as one of the Top 200 Charity Organisations in the United States.

SUMMARY

The world’s smartest nonprofit organisations are using social media and turning to the Web in an effort to increase awareness of their missions and to help connect with their constituencies. While these organisations are known for their nonprofit status and their fundraising campaigns, they demonstrate an acute awareness of the importance of Web 2.0 strategies in meeting their objectives.

They are highly engaged with their audiences in a variety of ways using Web 2.0 technologies. Social media is an important part of the marketing communications strategy of highly successful nonprofit organisations. They are beginning to outpace businesses and even academic institutions in their familiarity, use, and monitoring activities.

The five examples I have provided on this page are but a few of some of the top socially-oriented organisations who have discovered a new and exciting way to win the hearts (and maybe the dollars) of potential donors along with the support of their advocates, volunteers and friends.

Charities, schools and other nonprofit organisations operating in New Zealand shouldn’t be labeled as techno-peasants because they’re not. It’s just that we have this quirky laid-back attribute of waiting a year or so before catching up on what’s good with the rest of the world. Maybe it’s partly because of the fresh clean air we breathe, the lush greenery and the stunningly beautiful countryside we enjoy here. If it is, then maybe that’s the excuse we can use when being accused of being legends in our own minds.

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.

RELATED LINKS USED IN THIS SERIES:

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/why-converations-and-stories-matter/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/open-attitudes-and-why-it-pays-to-listen/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/information-is-your-treasure-trove/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/theres-good-advice-from-people-out-there/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/important-points-to-consider/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/models-of-tech-savvy-nonprofits-using-social-media/

IMPORTANT POINTS TO CONSIDER

As I’ve mentioned in Part 3 of this series, today’s web-based technologies can enable nonprofit organisations to get much closer to audiences than TV, radio or print – particularly to those who may be able to contribute directly to your organisation’s needs, well-being and sustainability.

The audiences you seek and attract will likely tell you exactly what they’re thinking because the principles of effective communications are built into the DNA of Web 2.0 as a real, two-way conversation channel.

But there are also other important points to consider before your organisation decides to act, prepare and get itself engaged in this new sphere.

1. Budget Basics. Know Thyself. Everyone Has Limits. Do your needs assessment first, be mindful of the costs, start moderately, and do things in phases or stages. Being crystal clear about what you want for the longer term determines what you should reasonably spend at the first stage build-up phase. Employing this approach enables you to launch and execute your plans for growing your network in a rationale way that is sustainable over time.

2. Get Your Staffing Mix In Order. Weigh in different staffing solutions in your plan to get you going. Your newly-minted website as communication service doesn’t operate anymore as simply as the old static one you’ve had. It’s not going to be a paste-your-lost-and-found-poster-on-the-community-board affair. This may involve a skilled employee, a volunteer or a communications consultant or a mix thereof. Your new Web 2.0 presence will require people with some skills and experience to nurture it.

3. It Is More Important Than You Can Imagine. Make sure that what your new website contains is effective in terms of its clarity, content and functionality. Can people easily sign up as members of its online forum? Are the action prompts clear and direct? If it has some interactivity built in, who’s on the other end of the stick? Have you linked your website to other public or issue sites related to your cause or campaign and like-minded online forums and social networking websites?

4. Manage Your Data Sets And Cultivate Your Friends and Friends Of Friends. You need to pay attention to your ‘treasure trove’ largely because it will contain valuable information stored on user-generated content pages, membership profile lists, email addresses and any other segmentation deemed appropriate, whether it’s based on giving levels, issue areas, forum recommendations or other matters of importance to your organisation.

Any technology system incorporated as a functionality should be able to address some of your nonprofit organisation’s needs. Therefore, cultivate friends and those who forward your message to the most friends. In the Web 2.0 world the friend of your friend can also become an important ally and a valuable resource.

5. Go For Quality. Resist The Tyranny Of Numbers. You might think that it would be great to have five thousand members registered in your database. But to what end? Seek quality over quantity, and incorporate systems that can scale effectively depending on need.

It’s OK to think small at first if that means some measure of success for you. If you are a local community-based organisation that succeeds by sharing messages to only 500 of your most loyal supporters that could translate to significant action that will get noticed on the Web. Why? Because those 500 supporters have 4 or 5 other friends who trust their judgement and are likely to be invited to also support your organisation’s cause in one way or another. This is what I call – the Power of the Nth.

6. Keep Your Doors Open To Many Options. Your organisation can choose to adapt an approach that channels people towards one act, such as signing on to an action alert listserve, or instead diversify the action options by making it easy for anyone to choose what level of involvement they may want to commit themselves to. The clearer you are with what options are available, the greater response rate you will see across the board. Leaving your door open to many options helps you better understand your stakeholders.

7. Mind How You Say Things. It’s What Builds Credibility And Reputation. It matters how you say what you want to say and if you don’t know how to say it invest the services of a professional writer if you need to. Make sure your website’s style and voice is consistent with your organisation’s brand identity. More importantly, make sure that what is said is clear, personal, and direct. In this medium, your message is the foundation for establishing relationships and credibility.

8. Timing Is Crucial. Get It Right And Your Off On A Good Start. After your organisation has built up a decent enough following, launch an online campaign or two. Be opportunistic but think about when to deliver what messages to whom, and what events or moments present the best opportunities to do so. It’s important to also pay attention to what’s in the news. What your organisation is working on can be tied to current events.

9. Letting The Left Hand Know What The Right Hand Is Doing. One of the biggest blocks to effective online advocacy building is the “divide” that exist in offices where staff possesses widely divergent knowledge. If communications strategy doesn’t tie in with advocacy strategy nothing you launch will make sense to your public. You will appear to be dysfunctional.

Nonprofit organisations must become more integrated particularly in how they communicate, fundraise, and mobilise friends, supporters, constituents and communities. Requests for proposals, grant applications and fundraising appeals are more powerful and successful when they ride the coat tails of successful advocacy campaigns in-step with a well-crafted communications strategy.

10. Mind Your Website’s Performance And Metrics. Pay attention to the metrics generated when users visit your website. Tracking and metrics are powerful tools to ensure that you adapt and refine your practices. Using tools like these can really change the way your organisation operates at every level.

Click here to read Part 5 – Models Of Tech Savvy Nonprofits Using Social Media

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.

RELATED LINKS USED IN THIS SERIES:

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/why-converations-and-stories-matter/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/open-attitudes-and-why-it-pays-to-listen/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/information-is-your-treasure-trove/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/theres-good-advice-from-people-out-there/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/important-points-to-consider/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/models-of-tech-savvy-nonprofits-using-social-media/

GETTING IT RIGHT DOESN’T HAPPEN INSTANTLY

To recap what has been said previously in Parts 1 and 2, communications before the advent of Web 2.0 was all about costly and time-consuming production models. Today, we’re helping charities, schools and other types of nonprofit organisations to use and adapt to new web technologies that make communication faster, more two-way and more extensible. To take advantage of the benefits of the new paradigm they will need to align organisational structures that exploit these new mechanisms and tactics. This in itself should be good news – after all, it’s easier to manage a discussion than it is to navigate an Airbus jumbo jet.

With this operating principle in mind, entities that operate within the social service sector of our society can start enjoying big fringe benefits such as heightened visibility and improved performance in search engines. For example, Google loves deep resources of well-structured content that function better and whereby back catalogue content is given new life by being made more accessible and presentable to users.

COMMUNICATIONS IS A PROCESS

When my company and I get involved to structure a new website or transform an existing one into a communications hub, it is less of an ‘ivory tower’ exercise. This is because, rather than second guessing it, the planning and design parameters employed responds to and builds upon user demand. In other words, the discipline of communications becomes all about the process of communicating. To support this, underlying technologies and tactics employed become lighter, easier to use and more adaptive.

But getting it right doesn’t always happen instantly. It’s not about pushing a button and leaving the room. A lot of what goes on afterwards has to do with how the organisation uses and leverages what is already an inherently powerful tool set. They need to be drivers-behind-the-wheel to get things moving to arrive at the destinations they’ve set ahead of them.

In employing their websites more intelligently with a return on investment objective, the savviest thing nonprofit organisations can do is connect audiences around their interest areas, help them find things with close enough commonalities, and provide relevant content and information along the way. Only then will they begin to ‘ resonate’ with people. That’s the tipping point which transforms a nonprofit from being a relative nobody to a significant somebody in the world of Web 2.0.

Click here to read Part 4 – Important Points To Consider

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.

RELATED LINKS USED IN THIS SERIES:

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/why-converations-and-stories-matter/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/open-attitudes-and-why-it-pays-to-listen/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/information-is-your-treasure-trove/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/theres-good-advice-from-people-out-there/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/important-points-to-consider/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/models-of-tech-savvy-nonprofits-using-social-media/

“Brands are typically built on awareness, a created desire to be a part of a larger group, and emotional decisions. The Web works with one-to-many and many-to-many, dialogue-enabling activities and rational, considered decisions.” – Bob Stone and Ron Jacobs, authors.

WEBSITES AS THE NEW COMMUNICATION SERVICE

In the exciting new world of ‘Web 2.0,’ communications can best be described as a process not a destination. The act of communicating on the web now favours the seeding of new opinions or ideas which may not necessarily be yours alone.

What the web is teaching us all today is that it’s OK to throw stuff out there, and see what sticks. I often advice my clients that it’s good practise to set up a variety of different communications channels to suit different purposes, to test them, tweak them and retain the ones that work best.

The good news for nonprofit organisations operating in New Zealand is that the models developed by my company for these organisations contain a structure that aren’t built as a single, monolithic ‘communications’ framework. Rather, social media applications are grafted fairly quickly. Should they prove successful these grafts become more integrated with other site content over time.

Citing just a few examples, we make it possible to set up blog for individuals who head nonprofit organisations, launch dedicated online forum or allow users to publish their comments with star rating systems. So, be it blogs, podcasts, wikis, open APIs, virals, website builds, mashups or even a simple email newsletter, the principles we employ to achieve effective communications for nonprofit organisations are built into ‘Web 2.0’ as a real two-way conversation.

And, where the organisation finds conversations happening, they just join in. Why? You may get to learn some valuable insights directly –- the kind of things that for-profit businesses would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire.

The relatively lower cost of Web 2.0 initiatives means that the traditional but expensive way of promoting (i.e., TV, radio and print) doesn’t have to apply to nonprofit organisations anymore. None of the things that Web 2.0 provides breaks the bank.

INFORMATION IS YOUR TREASURE TROVE

As well as monitoring what the Web thinks of you, underlying processes and systems need also to be ‘rewired’ in order to accommodate and re-use public voices. This means rethinking your website as a content-managed database capable of re-presenting content in different ways. Once you’ve captured a piece of content, you can re-purpose it for effect to suit your needs. Therein lays the value of building up a ‘treasure trove’ of information.

The bottom line here is, to become fairly successful on Web 2.0, nonprofit organisations need not over-engineer the production of their content. Rather, they should excel at accepting content from all quarters and publish the resulting data in a creative, engaging way.

In the very near future, the Web will be a central part of every brand and promotional effort whether it involves for-profit businesses or not-for-profit entities. Alongside skill sets and disciplines that are employed to run an organisation will sit a new person – the ‘Web Relations Officer’ or WRO. This person’s role will be to integrate the Web into every aspect of the organisation’s communications strategy, not just as an isolated activity but as a fundamental part of how the organisation operates.

The WRO will be expected to be up on all the latest trends and possibilities on the Web; have a good understanding of web technologies; work closely with consultants and the organisation’s IT team; enjoy a discretionary budget; and, have a seat at the decision-making table for all brand-related discussions. The WRO will be that person focused to deal with the public directly though conversations on the Web. And as the organisation’s brand, reputation and influence expand, he or she will also report on a dotted line to the organisation’s chief executive. But before that time comes along, consider having Convergent Digital Solutions get you started on that road.

Click here to read Part 3 – There’s Good Advice From People Out There

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.

RELATED LINKS USED IN THIS SERIES:

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/why-converations-and-stories-matter/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/open-attitudes-and-why-it-pays-to-listen/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/information-is-your-treasure-trove/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/theres-good-advice-from-people-out-there/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/important-points-to-consider/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/models-of-tech-savvy-nonprofits-using-social-media/

“The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.” – W H AUDEN, Poet

THE TWO-WAY NATURE OF THE WEB TODAY

In my blog entry titled Why Conversations And Stories Matter I mention that authenticity, honesty, and personal voice underlie much of what is successful on the Web today.

Brand identities can only be developed on what other people and organisations think and say about yours -– not what you are saying about yourself. It is the stories that others tell about you that have a much higher value and hold a greater influence over your destiny and long-term sustainability as a nonprofit organisation in service for others. We can never afford to be “legends in our own minds”.

Some of the biggest and most successful websites you might have come across browsing the Internet are typical examples. Imagine life without Google or Wikipedia; TradeMe or eBay without user ratings, or even Amazon.com without user reviews. There are also a multitude of networking forums, email discussion groups, and loose gatherings in the blogosphere discussing every aspect of life under the sun –- possibly including yours.

These brand identities wouldn’t be what they are today without having been built upon the two-way nature of Web 2.0. And if you’ll notice, most of them have ceded a measure of editorial control around their service in exchange for the value that user-generated content brings.

Let’s be honest with ourselves. People who visit websites today expect change, reaction, reflection of comments and feedback. These are expressions of voice seeking response. The fundamental difference is that these acts of endorsement can be built into your website at source. If you want to engage with your audience, give them the opportunity to provide comment and publish the results.

Dynamic is obviously better than static. All it takes is some appropriate technology, an ‘open’ attitude, and an eye on your website’s publishing processes. The impact on your nonprofit organisation can be profound because user-generated content can:

• Provide fresh, continuing insights and feedback regarding how your organisation resonates with your audience.

• Address and even probably solve some questions about your organisation via support forums.

• Challenge your editorial thinking. These gives you a clearer pulse of what others think about what you say or what you do.

• Extend the value of news, stories or results published about your organisation’s service, calls to action or appeals via comment forms.

Bottom-line? User-generated content does add tremendous value to your nonprofit organisation persona over the Web -– with relatively low overheads. What’s more, referrals or recommendations from like-minded individuals inspire confidence at the audience level. That enhances and extends your organisation’s influence, social capital and reputation – things money can’t buy but ones that contribute significantly to your return on investment.

But to do all this stuff effectively, you need to rethink the way you communicate. You need to upgrade and vary your communications channels. Using this new approach, your website no longer exists as a static brochure-type ‘publication.’ It comes alive and becomes a new service that produces some remarkable dividends. And with that, it’ll be all well worth your while.

Click here to read Part 2 – Information Is Your Treasure Trove

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link. 

RELATED LINKS USED IN THIS SERIES:

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/why-converations-and-stories-matter/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/open-attitudes-and-why-it-pays-to-listen/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/information-is-your-treasure-trove/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/theres-good-advice-from-people-out-there/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/important-points-to-consider/

http://karlquirino.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/models-of-tech-savvy-nonprofits-using-social-media/

The folks at BLUELOCK have put together a very simple video that explains the concepts using Lego blocks.

FIVE DEGREES OF SEPARATION

Networking is an essential skill. It is the key to building a strong base of constituents, supporters and volunteers. And in these economic times, your network becomes an even more vital resource.

The business of sustaining nonprofit operations is about relationships and building on that business is about building and maintaining good relationships. For nonprofit organisations, relationships are all there is that stand in the way of failure or success. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.

These axioms are particularly relevant for New Zealanders. That’s because we have a ‘do-it-yourself’ sort of culture. Sometimes, this preference makes it difficult for ask help from others. It pays not to forget that other people may like to help you achieve your goals, especially if you are able to make it hassle-free and an enjoyable experience for them.

One shouldn’t think that networking as looking for sales opportunities either. Used car salesmen do that. But if you think of it as building relationships, networking becomes a superfluous task. Most people like connecting with others but if you’re too focused on pursuing a sales pitch it could lead to some unfavourable results

When conversing with people face-to-face or over the Internet follow up with anything you say you will do promptly. This leaves an impression that you are reliable and credible. Being honest and authentic are also attributes that are absolutely crucial for networking. These are the enduring qualities that clearly help achieve superior performance in good times. They are of even greater significance and importance in the current, much tougher economic environment. People in your network will discern this and you will sooner gain their trust and respect. Treasure your good reputation and protect it because it will open doors to opportunities that you otherwise would not have had operating in isolation.

New Zealand is about three to five degrees of separation and if you have developed a network of people you’re bound to have contact with pretty much everyone in the country and those with much influence. That’s how it works.

Obviously, the Internet is the best tool around for networking. That’s great because you don’t always have to be out most of the time pounding the pavement and knocking on doors, attending events and conferences or cocktail parties. At the end of the day you can go online and network while still in the office or even when you get home.

THE VALUE OF NETWORKING ON THE WEB

Social Media on the Web is all about networking. Those who build capabilities to engage it end up harnessing what people may be able to offer by way of help, support and information. The society you live in is comprised of people involved in civil society – businesses, the community sector, government funding agencies, corporate sponsors, institutional and individual donors, advocates, supporters, volunteers and other charity organisations. By building a proper network on the Web, you are in fact enhancing the internal efficiency of the organisation you lead or work in. With increased visibility, delivery of services, launching a new programme, attracting skilled employees and strengthening capacity to raise funds from the public at large become less of a challenge.

Social networking websites such as Bebo, Facebook and Twitter (to name just a few in no particular order) can be a nonprofit’s winning ticket to accessing the millions of users who are now all interconnected. However, it makes sense to look before you leap into this vast ocean that offers a good number of opportunities for your organisation.

As I mentioned in my blog entry WHY CONVERSATION AND STORIES MATTER word of mouth on the Web is the fastest and most influential promotion there is today. When a message resonates with someone and they pass it on to a group of friends within minutes it can reach thousands of people. If your organisation can create an online message that is both compelling enough to spread, but also firmly supports your charity brand’s values and objectives, you’ll have a winner on your hands.

Here now is a suggested approach to getting your feet wet in the social networking sphere of Web 2.0.

1. PICK THE RIGHT SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE. It pays dividends to start small, with one to two social networks, rather than trying to take the entire virtual world by storm all at once.

2. FIND AN ‘EXPERT’ WHO CAN GUIDE AND HELP YOUR ORGANISATION. Get that person’s expertise involved so you won’t be starting from ‘scratch’.

3. EXTEND YOUR REACH. Select a social network and then use a ‘scattershot’ approach. That is, don’t just set up a profile. Create a group and attract more supporters that way.

4. PREPARE TO LOSE SOME CONTROL. There is no way you can vet every word of every person who wants to be your friend or join your group on a social networking website. On some sites, you can set up an approval process for ‘comments’ that people post but if you go this route, make sure the approval process is reasonable and fast.

5. KNOW WHO IS ALREADY PRETENDING TO BE YOU. Don’t be surprised or offended when you find out that there may be some social networking website groups for your organisation that you did not set up. Such unofficial profiles are probably created by enthusiastic supporters without your knowledge. If you find such a profile, reach out to that person. He or she may be a committed supporter who might be willing to promote your content.

6. MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION. Make your organisation’s profile look good. Control what it will look like on other people’s friend lists — pick a great picture and title. That will get noticed soon enough.

7. POST YOUR EDGIEST, MOST VIRAL CONTENT. Social networks are at their best when people passing YOUR content around and they will only pass it around if it is creative. Look around, see what others are doing and come up with a jazzy profile name. Use video and interesting or colourful graphics. If it does not make you think ‘Cool!’ then it is probably not viral. You will need to go back to the drawing board and might do better with a campaign or a specific gimmick rather than just a generic page plugging your nonprofit.

8. FIND OUT WHICH OF YOUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS ARE ALREADY ON SOCIAL NETWORKS. Survey members and friends of your organisation and find out who has social networking website account profiles or belong to other social networks. You’ll be surprised that many of them do. Send them an e-mail inviting them to become your friend or to join your group.

9. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK FRIENDS ON A REGULAR BASIS. Update your social network pages with new content. Better still, link your organisation’s official website to your pages and create more interest and participation. After you do this, take advantage of the special features that may be available on other users’ profiles to get the word out on important issues and drive people to your pages and your organisation’s website. Don’t be static, think dynamic.

10. DEVOTE STAFF TIME TO MAKING YOUR ORGANISATION’S SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFORT A SUCCESS. Assign a staff person to accept friend requests, post comments on other people’s social networking site pages, and invite others to become friends. Achieve critical mass. That is what social networking is all about. If you don’t have a staff person to do this for you, consider outsourcing the tasks to someone who can do it for you on a contract basis.

11. CULTIVATE YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK ‘FRIENDS’. Eventually your nonprofit organisation will want to start turning your ‘friends’ into advocates, volunteers, sponsors and donors. Make sure your social networking pages always feature lots of opportunities to get involved. But be specific when you do ask your friends to do something for your organisation and always let people know what happened at an event or with a campaign even if they did not participate. They might get involved the next time.

12. THINK OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON THE WEB AS A VALUABLE INVESTMENT THAT APPRECIATES OVER TIME. The mostly younger people IN THE 18- to 35-age group you will deal with are the supporters, volunteers, sponsors and donors of tomorrow. Don’t forget too that the 35- to 65-age group represent a growing percentage of people who are active in social media networks in addition to a growing list of employees and executives of businesses and government agencies who could also end up supporting your organisation.

Don’t waste time! Get into the game now and learn how to use social media to your organisation’s advantage. Don’t allow yourself to get left behind for good.

Other related blogs: 

Can Nonprofits Survive The Recession? – Part 1

(Light At The End Of The Tunnel) 

Can Nonprofits Survive The Recession? – Part 2

(The Trigger That Creates Potency) 

Unlocking A Gordian Knot

(A Tremendous Opportunity For Nonprofits) 

Prometheus Unbound

(Building Communities On The Web) 

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.