Care2's Digital Engagement Blog

Who are you friends with on Facebook? Do you care who sees where you check in on FourSquare? Last week, Farra Trompeter of Big Duck and Danielle Brigida of National Wildlife Federation presented at the Bridge Conference last week about personal and professional branding. In preparation for their presentation, they circulated a survey to over 200 nonprofit professionals, asking how they use various social platforms. The responses lean towards a reality in which our online presence is just as diverse as our offline personalities - people are connecting with a mix of others on difference platforms.

Whether you are part of a nonprofit organization, an action campaign, a local community, or a school, you know that it is through stories you can showcase your work, change people's minds, inspire them to make change, or join you to make a difference. As we all continue exploring the vast horizons of the internet and the social tools it offers, be sure to check out the applications that help you continue telling stories with the power of video, maps and more. Here are four that currently have my vote - please share yours!

Whether it's political or personal, global or local, funded or a grassroots effort, organizations and communities are campaigning for change in many ways, all of the time. Unfortunately, there are times when we lose focus on our ultimate goals for change and instead fixate on the campaign itself or let a concept for engagement overshadow our real calls to action. When we do that, we can compromise the relationship we have with our supporters and donors, and limit our capacity for building momentum towards action and a movement for our cause. But, it doesn't have to be that way!

Over on the NetSquared platform right now we are in the midst of the 2010 FACT Social Justice Challenge. NetSquared supports the community at the intersection of technology and social impact in a few ways, including open innovation competitions. We are very invested in sharing our experiences and learning as we go, including opportunities to put thoughts together formally like the whitepaper on collaboration we published last year. I serve as the Community Development Manager for TechSoup Global's CDI (Community-Driven Innovation) program, which includes managing community and content strategy for NetSquared.org. In this role, and through opportunities to spur innovation and collaboration in local communities, with government groups, and with other nonprofits, I've learned a lot - and am excited to share 5 tips I've found to be valuable in creating successful competitions.

Last year, my friend and colleague Debra Askanase posted her responses to frequently used objections to using social media that she was fielding from clients. It was a great start to conversations about what fears or misconceptions still exist about using social media in nonprofit organizations. Taking that conversation as a lead, I would love to examine objections and corresponding responses around collaboration (within organizations and across organization/sectors/geographies). Collaboration is one of my focus areas to explore this year so I hope this will be the start to an evolving conversation!

I had the great honor of moderating the panel Tools Galore in Online Communications at the Women Who Tech TeleSummit earlier this week. In just 50 minutes Laura Quinn of Idealware, Natalie Foster of the DNC and Rebecca Moore of Google Earth Outreach talked about a ton of great tools to ramp up nonprofits online campaigns ranging from Wiki's to Google Earth and Twittter.