Social Media for NGOsThe African Commons Project

andSangonet

Basic Course Overview

• Introduction to Blogging: Daniela and Matt• Introduction to Microblogging: Kerryn• TEA• Introduction to Social Networking Sites: Kerryn• LUNCH• Introduction to Wikis: Daniela• Introduction to Multimedia Sites: Daniela

Blogging

Blogging in Plain EnglishLee LeFever, Commoncraft.com

So what’s the big deal?

Read / Write

• Sir Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990.

•The proposal was based on how to transfer information over the internet, using a point-and-click system.

Read / Write

Tim Berners Lee’s Web

READ ONLY

READ-WRITEhttp://www.africancommons.org/wp-admin

READ-WRITE

Blog versus ‘Website’How to integrate for non-profits?

Blog versus ‘Website’A site WITH A BLOG

Blog versus ‘Website’A site WITH A BLOG

Blog versus ‘Website’Blog AS A WEBSITE

Why Blog?

Blogging facilitates conversations and creates relationships:

• Gives a personal, ‘insiders’ view to the happenings within the organisation

• Allows you to garner support and recruit volunteers.

• Information exchange between constituents, other non-profits, information specialists etc.

• Helps with accountability to donors

Best Practices for NGOs

• Read blogs!

• “Before your organisation starts to blog, set up a newsreader”

• Have someone who likes blogging do the blogging

• Sustainability

• Quality above quantity

• Respond to comments

• Don’t just tell – show

• RSS feeds

Blogging Platforms

• Wordpress.com

• Blogger.com

• Live Journal

• Type pad

• Serendipity

It is SO easy!

• Wordpress site creation demo

Blogging Exercise30 minutes

Log on to the NGO Pulse website

Write 2 paragraphs on one of the following topics: • About your organisation: vision, mission and projects;OR• A recent event/project that your organisation has hosted/launched.

Remember to include links!

Microblogging

What is micro blogging?

Twitter in Plain English by Lee lefever

• Microblogging is a hybrid, or mix, of two technologies:– mobile phone short message service (sms), and– IRC; which was the very first instant messaging system sent via a

phone line before the world wide web was developed.

• Microblogging developed from a creative sub culture that grew in IRC chat where people could give a short status next to their name when ‘logged in’

• Microblogging is based on this principle of providing an immediate status update: what am I doing now?

• Twitter is the name of the microblogging platform. There are similar platforms, but Twitter is the most popular.

The birth of microblogging

Example of IRC chat and the first types of status updates: what am I doing now?

• Twitter was launched in 2007 and is one of the most powerful tools in the SNS (social media sites) arsenal

• “The new scaffolding that gave power to new short messages.”

• Twitter is now the third largest social media platform with 4.5 million users at November 2008

• The main uses are:– Daily chatter: daily routine, what am I doing? – Conversations: commenting or replying to posts using the

@ sign– Sharing information/URLs: 13% of all posts contain urls.

Using a url shortening service like Tinyurl– Reporting news: latest news or comment about current

events

The Twitter tale

Twitter Tree by Pandemia, Source: Flickr, cc-BY

• There are two main options when using Twitter: To follow and be followed• Following:

– You will get their updates in your personal timeline on your homepage. – Eg: If you follow Dani you'll get her updates on your homepage when you

log in. – In turn you can see who gets your updates on your followers page, and

make changes to who you follow on your following page.• Followers:

– receive other peoples' Twitter updates. – When you post an update to your Twitter account, your followers will get it

on their home page – Mutual followers can send each other private messages, and you can

even choose to get notified by email when someone new follows you or sends you a private message

– Your follower/following stats are listed on your profile page.

How does Twitter work?

(1) User name/ (2) Stats / (3) Direct messages/ (4) Any posts that respond to something I’ve written/ (5) My followers’ updates on my homepage/ (6) Click everyone to see everyone’s recent posts/ (7) My most recent update/ (8) Search (find people)/ (9) Advanced search

(1)

(2)

(3)(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(8) Search (find people) (8)

(9) Advanced search

(9)

What are they?

• Tagging helps organise and share our info online• By attaching one or more keywords to an object, like a Flickr photo, we group it

together with others that have the same tags• Hashtags on Twitter serve a similar purpose

Objectives • to bring order to Twitter users’ updates (tweets)• To make it easier to follow a topic of interest

How to• Create a hashtag by adding the hash symbol # to the front of an appropriate

keyword as you write your tweet• A well-known example is #nptech for tweets about the non-profit environment• Hashtag tweets are also available as individual RSS feeds• Find and subscribe to RSS feed hashtags at http://www.hashtags.org

Hashtags in Twitter

Hashtags: http://www.hashtags.org

Information sourceIs a hub that has large number of followers. Might post regularly or infrequently, but due to the

value, followers remain large

3 types of users

Twitter Tree by Pandemia, Source: Flickr, cc-BY

FriendsMost relationships fall into this broad category

Information seekerThis person might post rarely but follows other users

regularly

• Meaningful business tool for building a community of constituents, clients or supporters, through

– its ability to talk directly to a group of people (no intermediary)

– send people to a specific location (url) (call to action)

– provide people with information (info source)

– gain insight into what constituents are thinking and talking about (info seeker)

– gain insight into what other orgs are doing, discussing (seek market intelligence)

The rise of Twitter as a business app

How can non-profits use Twitter: case study• Reason for using Twitter:

– listening post and place for conversation

• Strategy: – employees tweet & develop like-minded followers. Different campaigns on

different channels – Twitter not in isolation: Put articles on other SNSs and point to them

through Twitter;– push people to their media hub page

• Benefits:– Can join in conversation with constituents– Can gain insight into how constituents feel toward the org– Can even mend relationships and have made new contacts– Helped spread important messages– Increased their online activism

National Wildlife Federation,

United States

20 mins practical• Create your profile on twitter at twitter.com

– Basic: You will need to access an email address for profile confirmation– Advanced: Customise your homepage background

• Search – Basic search: Find 3 people that you either know or would like to follow, and

follow them – Advanced search: Find organisations that are active in the non-profit, ICT

environment and follow them– Advanced search: Find the hashtag bb4za and find out who posted and what

this event was about

• Post:– Basic post: Post your first tweet to your profile– Advanced post: Send a direct message to kerrynmckay or someone you are

following– Advanced post: Post about this workshop using #smngo and then search for

this hashtag to see who has contributed

Social networking sites

Towards a definition:

Social networking sites allow users to articulate and make visible their social networks … (they are about) … communicating with people already part of your social network

- danah m. boyd, Social Networks Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship

“

”

Facebook in context

Timeline of development2004

Harvard-onlyTo find friends, hook ups on campusNeed harvard email address to access

2005 Other universities and some corporate networksNeed varsity or corporate email to access

2006EveryoneAny email address to access

Why does Facebook work? …175 million users can’t be wrong!• Barriers to entry are low

– It’s free– Easy to do– It’s a relatively safe space based on friendship and referral

• Based on community– Built around groups– Made up of networks– Successfully mirrors fabric and structure of real-life communities

• Immediate gratification– Updates are real time– Connect in real time with chat application

• Customisable– Add different applications to their profile– Customise your homepage

Non profits and Facebook

• Enables non profits to easily access huge numbers of constituents and potential constituents at very little or no cost.

• Platform for amplifying and broadcasting your message via personal relationships to a massive audience.

• Your facebook strategy – should not be so much about the organisation as about the cause. – Develop and discuss a deliberate strategy– Remember: strategy requires maintenance!– Eg: Facebook allows your org to be hub of info; or clearing house

for important/ relevant info

Keys to success• Create personal relationships with other facebook

members interested in similar causes or issues.

• Encourage constituents to post comments, submit photos and videos

• Participate Participate Participate!– Frequent updates– Encourage your org’s employees to have online

conversations around your org’s work

• Monitor and keep in touch

Remember: Relationship first - organisation promotion second!

Tools for your org - groups and pages

Groups are best for special interests, causes, a place to build up a tribe of people interested in your subject

Groups can be set up by anyone, about anything - not necessarily formal representation

Example: there are 133 Save Zimbabwe groups

People who join your group are called members

Groups can

• show news & info,

• create & invite people to events,

• set up discussion threads and

• add multimedia

Members can

• contribute to the wall with comments, multimedia (photos/ video)

• add, & contribute to discussion threads

• RSVP to events via their inbox

About groups

Group example

Create events; send

invitations to members

through event system;

RSVP functionality

Contact members directly;

message appears

in their facebook inboxbuild database of

constituents; email max

5,000 bulk mail

Members can add a comment

to the wall, can add photos

and video

Members can contribute or

initiate discussion & debate

Group pros and cons

The pros• Facebook users are familiar with groups• you can send messages to group members• are marginally easier to set up and manage than pages

The cons• are only visible to Facebook members• no extra applications added to them• You generally have to visit a group regularly and use the messaging feature to keep discussions flowing.

Pages are best when you want to specifically represent your business ; pages get indexed by Google to allow global access in search.

Pages cannot be created to represent a real public figure, artist, band or org, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity.

Pages have more functionality than Groups and can add media-rich content; focus on the stream of content posted by page administrators

You can promote your pages with your own Facebook ads

Pages have

• customisable tabs: enhanced wall for updates/ photos/ video/ events/ reviews/ discussions

• measuring engagement and interaction tools

Fans can

• interact on wall, in discussion groups

• dependent on customisation they can write reviews, upload photos and video

About pages

Page exampleCustomisable tabs.

A network of page admins;

they can add your page

to their page’s favourites

As with groups, subject to

ads that might not fit with

your org brand image

Pages pros and cons

The pros•visible on the wider internet to non-Facebook members (although only Facebook members can interact with them)• can add applications from a wide range of off-the-shelf apps• provides visitor statistics to let you know how many visitors you pages are getting• user RSVPs added to their calendar & friends will see event in newsfeed

The cons• ‘Updates’ sent to those who decide to be a ‘fan’ of your page are lower key than messages to group ‘members’ - appear on side of homepage when log in; not inbox• Facebook users are less familiar with pages than they are with groups• Visitors still need to be a member of Facebook if they want to join in discussions on your page message board.• More difficult to set up than groups; might need tech assistance to add other apps

Privacy & IP issues on Facebook• On Facebook you can adjust your privacy settings; ensure these

meet your level of comfort

• If encouraging your org’s employees to post, remember that their updates are visible by everyone in the network. Request discretion.

• Be aware of the Facebook terms of use & privacy policy and understand what impact this could have for your organisation

• The controversy - Facebook terms of use clause change … and change back again!:– Stated that the perpetual licence that they had granted themselves

to the content of users’ profiles would no longer expire when those users shut down their accounts.

– Translation: We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever

35 mins practical10 mins - group work

• Find one or two pages of non profits and look at, eg: Greenpeace International, – What do you think they’re trying to achieve with their page: goals/ objectives– customisation: how well do you think they’ve used this

20 mins - writing exercise in your groups– Choose a non profit - one from your group - and write a 5-step implementation

plan for using Pages, taking into consideration the org’s objectives and broad strategic goals

5 mins - report back– Report back the ideas used in your implementation plan

Please note that the 5-step implementation plan will need to be written on the wiki during the Intro to Wikis section, so please ensure that your contribution is of value

Wikis

Wikis in Plain English

Lee LeFever, Commoncraft.com

History function

Discussion feature

Wikis gather communities

Practical implementations in the work place1. Collaborative Documents

2. Conference programmes, documentation and planning

3. Project Management

TACP uses Socialtext to coordinate the organisations’ work – meeting notes, to do lists, shared information. (Private wiki)

Where to find a wiki

• Free and EASY, but with advertising• Wikispaces • PB Wiki

• Free but you’ll need a developer• MediaWiki: database-driven, for large wikis

• EASY but not FREE• Wikispaces (no advertising and customisable)• PB Wiki• Socialtext

Wiki Best Practises

• This about it first: Launch a wiki with a clear purpose• Adoption strategy: Set up a staff meeting and demonstrate how the wiki will be used and how easy it is to contribute. • Pre-populate: At least on the front page. This encourages others to participate. • Appoint a wiki gardener and/or a wiki champion• Make the wiki a part of daily work habits

Wiki Best Practises

• Wikipatterns.com: A great wiki resource!

• People patters/anti-patterns

• Adoption patterns/anti-patterns

Wiki Exercise30 minutes

Log on to the Social Media for NGOs Wiki(http://socialmedia.ngopulse.org/)Find your name in the participants list. Create a new page for your nameAdd your Facebook implementation strategy from the previous exercise to your page. Insert the following somewhere in your text: Bold, italic, bullets, headline, an external link. Save the page. Once you are done, add a link on your page to the page of the person sitting to your right.

Multimedia sites

Photo sharing sites in Plain English

By Lee LeFever, Commoncraft.com

Flickr• Essentially an SNS - one of the world’s best online photo management

and sharing apps– Help people make their content available to people who matter to them -

this includes alternative licensing options to allow re-use, download & remix

– Enable new ways of organising video and photo

• Free account to upload photographs and use the site to store, share and explore photos (up to 100 MB per month)

• Members can – Upload and download photos– join and create groups – participate in discussions – connect to people and can help widen your org’s online connections through

photo-sharing

Search on FlickrTags• An online ‘filing’ system to categorise photos and video• a keyword or category label. • Tags help you find photos and videos which have something in

common. • On Flickr - up to 75 tags to each photo or video• Geo-tagging using the map on Flickr• Creative Commons on Flickr

Promote your tag to your community

Flickr and non profits

Tell your story through Flickr

• “A picture is worth a thousand words”

• post pictures about your cause and spread your story

• connect with your supporters and start a Flickr group. – Groups can be private or public – organized around an event, subject, theme

• Encourage everyone to comment and give their feedback on the photos.

• Don't worry if you are a small nonprofit and don't have a lot of pictures to post. Even a few will help demonstrate to supporters your work towards your mission.

• Camera Rwanda is a great example of storytelling using Flickr

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/camera_rwanda/sets/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camera_rwanda/sets/

Flickr and non profitsPromote your event

• Upload event photos

• encourage your attendees to do the same.

• Provides a wider audience than if you just posted them on your web site.

Launch a campaign

• A great example of a fundraising campaign on Flickr is The Children at Risk Foundation

• They can be easily done on a low budget; increase your visibility, provide an interactive community for supporters and engage new audiences.

Engage your volunteers

• Encouraging volunteers to share photos, ideas and stories allows your org to take advantage of the creativity of as many people as possible

Video to support your causeEducation

• A great way to find resources on issues related to your work. • Example: Common Craft videos shown here today – all sourced from Youtube. • Videos are a great way to effectively explain complex issues in a succinct and entertaining way. You can share explanations about your cause and why it is important. • Which is also linked to…

Video to support your causeMarketing and Fundraising

• Video memesWhat is a meme?Any idea or scrap of content that spreads voluntarily from person to person across the Web.• Example: The Girl Effect

• Documentation of your work and events• Resource• Donors and stakeholders accountability • Archival purposes• Example: The iCommons Summit in Sapporo ‘08

Video site showcaseWhere do I share?

• Youtube channelsHuge international audiences, limit of 20 minute uploads, 10 million uploads a day. • Zoopy

Local option, local audiences, local speeds (faster). Audio, video and photos. Mobile site. • Dotsub

Plugging in to a community of translators

Creative Commons in the digital economySome Rights Reserved alongside All Rights Reserved

• Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright and the public domain. From all rights reserved to no rights reserved.

• The licences help you keep your copyright while allowing certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.

• Creative Commons icenses work alongside copyright

• Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright, so you can modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. We’ve collaborated with intellectual property

experts all around the world to ensure that our licenses work globally.

Video and photoUpload/download, resize and embed

DEMO ON WORDPRESS SITE

1.SEARCH

2.PUBLISHa) EMBED (video)Copy the embed codeChoose HTML viewPaste the embed codeResizeb) DOWNLOAD/UPLOAD (photo)Click download and save to desktop. Go to story and click on upload photoFollow instructions

3.SAVE

Practical – Multimedia site20 minutes

1. SearchUse one of the featured video sites or flickr.com to find a video and/or picture to compliment or add to the story you wrote at the beginning of the day.

2. Add your media to your story on the NGOpulse site

3. Publish your final story.