November 25, 2008
How About A Microblog With Your Microbrew?
By Susan Sobel Finkelpearl
To all nonprofit communicators, organizers and marketers making your way in today’s turbo-charged new media landscape: I feel for you. One day the buzz is, “Start a blog,” the next day word on the street is, “Get on Facebook and MySpace” to stay afloat. Some of you may have heard stories of nonprofits joining the virtual world, Second Life, to garner new members and funds. That might have you simply scratching your head.
Nonprofits venture into social media for the promise of more supporters, open conversations, and donations. Many groups have been very successful, at least with the first two points. But the reality is that “2.0” strategies like blogging and social networking demand a significant investment of human resources for them to work. A blog needs a writer (or writers). A social network requires staffers to post content, friend people and accept friends, among other things.
This ramping up, learning, and adjusting can feel like an exhaustive game of catch up when technology seems to have a shelf life shorter than a teenage pop star. Is your head spinning? At times, mine does and I’m an “online strategist.” So, let’s collectively take a deep breath.
Now that you are relaxed, here’s yet another social media phenomenon that’s gaining momentum. But this technology is even easier to get up and running, and to maintain than it’s online “ancestors,” blogging or social networking.
Enter microblogging.
What is microblogging?
Microblogging, as the name implies, means posting concise snippets of text, images, videos, or other content online that are then delivered to subscribers (sometimes called “friends” and “followers”) via text messages, desktop widgets, and Web sites that either feature or enable microblogging.
The easiest way to get a picture of microblogging is by looking at Facebook. Each day when millions of Americans type quick sentences about what they are doing, called “status updates,” they are, in fact, microblogging.
Today, the largest and most well known of all microblogging networks is Twitter (www.twitter.com). Through this free online platform, users write short posts known as “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer that “followers” read. Twitter users choose people and groups to follow and in turn, other groups and people follow their posts. In doing so, Twitter facilitates both one-to-many and many-to-many communications.
While Twitter is currently the most popular microblogging platform, a plethora of other services exist, some of which mirror Twitter. Other platforms, called “tumblelogs,” allow users to share more than the text and links that Twitter allows folks to send to each other. Still other services like FriendFeed (http://friendfeed.com/about/) and SocialThing (http://socialthing.com/), which was recently bought by AOL and is now in private beta, aggregate microblog posts or the sharing activities of your friends across the Web in one tidy spot online. To get a feel for the variety out there, check out the links above and below:
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Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/). Tumblr lets users share more than text and links; in this case photos, music and videos. Tumblr also allows for more design customization and use of your domain name.
Why Microblog?
Microblogging is influenced by and blurs the lines of traditional blogging, text messaging, RSS, and social networking. This combination of traits makes microblogging an effective way of spreading news and an approach that’s worthy of a nonprofit’s consideration. Specifically:
Microblogging is far less labor intensive than blogging. While microblogging itself is not designed for in-depth content, posts can be used as an alert system for new and /or interesting content that you want your members to take note of.
If you have in-depth content to share, a microblog alone won’t cut it. But if you have regular news, tips or updates to share, and if these can be communicated in a couple hundred characters or less, a microblog will serve you well. (Note: While Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, each site has it’s own character limit rules.)
Microblogging spreads news fast. Really fast. Sites like Twitter are designed to help messages travel at lightning speed to a large number of people. In fact, many, if not most, Twitter users never visit the Twitter Web site. They send and receive tweets via text messages, desktop applications (like “twhilr” http://www.twhirl.org/ and “Twidget” http://gettwidget.com/), or their Web browsers. The tweets themselves of course take seconds to write, read and pass on.
Microblogging offers the potential for low commitment “evangelizing.” Regularly contacting your members and supporters with interesting updates and information will establish an active relationship with these individuals. This in turn increases the chances of them “re-tweeting” what you disseminate, allowing messages to quickly reach others who may not be familiar with your organization.
Microblogging is free (sort of). Posting and following via Twitter is free unless, of course, you do so via text messaging. In this case, you and your members will be charged according to your mobile plan’s fees for sending and receiving SMS. If you ask members to sign up for alerts via their cell phone, be clear on how many messages you plan to send before they opt in.
You can streamline social communications. Set up your Twitter feed to update your organization’s Facebook profile or a news feed on your Web site and bingo, you are talking to people in multiple online locales through one posting action.
Getting Started: Research, Evaluate, Refine (repeat)
When adding any new 2.0 technology-- microblogging or otherwise-- to your communications arsenal, begin by keeping several strategic points in mind:
The overall goals of your organization. In what way will microblogging support your organization’s goals? For example, if a goal is to connect donors with actual on-the-ground work, a microblog relaying day-to-day project achievements could be compelling, especially if the posts came from on-the-ground staff.
The information your members/constituents desire most. Are your members hungry for regular news updates? Will they be satisfied with short snippets of content? If so, microblogging is a the right tool. Even if your members desire in-depth reporting, a microblog (along with other tools like e-newsletters, RSS, and offline mailings) can alert members of new information.
Your members use of new media technology. Today, it’s likely that segment of your membership that engages with social media is rapidly growing. Getting a jumpstart on microblogging and other 2.0 approaches to your communications now will mean you are better prepared tomorrow for new generations of donors and members.
Priorities. What is the condition of your organization’s entire online presence? How are the look, feel, and usability of your Web site and email communications? Are you easily “findable” online? While one great advantage of microblogging is the ease with which you can get going, this may not be where you need to start right now. For example, if you intend to drive people to resources on your Web site via your microblog, make sure your resources section is easy to navigate.
If your answers lead you to conclude that the time is right to start microblogging, set up a plan that takes the following issues into account.
Who will post? Will one person from your organization post? Will many? What will you/they post on and how often? (Note: If many people are posting from your organization, you should indicate to your users who is doing the posting. We do this with initials before each post like this: [ssf].)
Quality control. Like blogging, microblogging is meant to foster honest, and transparent conversations that are not top-down, but horizontal in nature. As such, a “corporate” microblog, where messages are dictated or nothing more than a public relations engine is surely a recipe for microblog disaster. At the same time, organizations should go into microblogging with their eyes wide open. Once a post is submitted, there’s no taking it back. So consideration should be given as to who will make the best contributors to your feed.
Post on what matters. For what news are your members hungry? What can you tell them before another person or organization can? A microblog with little valuable information or one that drones on and on about nothing (“Great staff meeting today! Donuts in the kitchen, yum!) will yield little interest.
Approach microblogging as one part of a whole. Good communications and fundraising strategies never rest on one tactic. Microblogging is one way of reaching out to your members. In other words, don’t ditch what’s working for you. If people are reading your e-newsletter, keep it. If your blog, while labor intensive, is clearly a success, keep up the good work!
Keep an eye on results. Once you begin microblogging, keep a careful eye on the results. Who is following you? Talk to your members about the microblog. Do they like it? What other information do they desire from it?
More to Come…
So now you know about microblogging and how it can help you quickly spread news among your members. (And hopefully your head isn’t spinning.) This is actually only one way nonprofits are using microblogging. There is a flourish of activity among organizations and individuals who are experimenting with microblogging to organize large groups of people and track on the ground efforts across large geographical areas.
Next month, in “Microblogging, Part II,” I’ll review some of the more impressive ways nonprofits, politicians, and individuals are innovating through microblogging.
Until then, you can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/freerangestudio.
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Susan Sobel Finkelpearl is online strategy director at Free Range Studios in Washington, D.C. Her email is susan@freerangestudios.com (in case you still don’t Twittter).
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This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times.
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