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Category Archives: Networks
March 19, 2012, 2:33 pm
Podcast: Building Better Nonprofit Blogs
When nonprofits develop ideas for using social media, they tend to focus on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. But they often overlook one of the oldest and most effective tools for sharing ideas and building a community online: the blog.
While blogs don’t get the same attention as newer social-networking platforms, Britt Bravo, a communications consultant, says blogs should still be a central piece of an organization’s social-media strategy.
Ms. Bravo says a good blog can produce a steady stream of content that can help nonprofits share information with supporters, garner media attention, and snare a higher ranking in search engines such as Google.
Blogs also provide useful content that can be shared in social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
In the latest episode of The Chronicle podcast Social Good, Ms. Bravo shares advice on how to…
March 15, 2012, 3:23 pm
Why ‘Kony 2012′ Works as an Online Video
Michael Hoffman
The Chronicle asked Michael Hoffman, chief executive of See3 Communications, a consulting company that helps nonprofits use video for advocacy and fundraising campaigns, to share lessons from the success of “Kony 2012,” the video about the African warlord Joseph Kony. His essay follows:
Invisible Children’s controversial “Kony 2012″ video has reached unprecedented heights for a social-cause video.
It has already received more than 100 million views on YouTube and Vimeo. The most amazing thing to many people is that the video is nearly 30 minutes long, which surely breaks the “rule” that online videos need to be short to be effective.
Starting From a Strong Base
It is important to understand that Invisible Children has been working for a decade building a strong…
September 26, 2011, 8:55 am
Most Americans Believe in Starting Movements Online, Study Finds
Almost nine out of ten Americans believe that digital technology is the fastest and easiest way to start a social-change movement, according to a new survey by the online university Walden University and Harris Interactive.
The Social Change Impact Report, compiled from 2,148 responses collected over eight days in March, also found that most Americans think technology makes it easier to follow news about social change (79 percent) and call attention to issues (77 percent).
Of those asked, 85 percent believe they can improve the world with their own actions, and 92 percent have taken an action for change in the past year.
September 22, 2011, 9:15 am
How Nonprofits Can Avoid Politicking Online
As the presidential election season heats up, a Washington advocacy group has outlined how charities can ensure their Web sites don’t violate IRS rules banning organizations from politicking.
Charities should be careful to not endorse political candidates on any part of their Web sites, separate their sites from those of affiliated advocacy organizations, and almost never link to a page with political content, according to a new paper from the Alliance for Justice, a Washington nonprofit.
The 34-page paper, “Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-Related Activities,” includes a question-and-answer section with rules governing social-media interactions.
“No one had ever heard of—or even imagined—things like Facebook or Twitter when the rules were written that govern advocacy and political activity for nonprofit…
July 11, 2011, 11:41 am
Podcast: Escaping the Filter Bubble
Nonprofits face a growing challenge getting their message out as Google, Facebook, and other sites increasingly try to tailor information they show to meet a person’s interests.
Eli Pariser, in his new book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You, explores these challenges, explains that as the Internet is beginning to reward things that are “likable,” an article about the war in Afghanistan might not get a reader’s attention, he notes.
So how does a nonprofit working on issues that might not be popular find a way to rally activists?
In the most recent episode of The Chronicle‘s Social Good podcast series, Mr. Pariser, the co-founder of Moveon.org, discusses what nonprofits need to understand about the way technology tools work and how to get round them.
June 1, 2011, 10:20 am
Nonprofits Advised to Take Precautions After PBS’s Site Attacked
When the hacker group LulzSec broke into the PBS Web site, it left this image there.
Over Memorial Day weekend, a group called LulzSec hacked into PBS’s Web site and posted this image, saying that it was angry about the network’s broadcast of a documentary on WikiLeaks.
LulzSec said it broke into PBS’s servers by taking advantage of a security hole in an older version of the content-management system Movable Type. It then took advantage of out-of-date software on PBS’s servers so it could gain access to the user names and passwords of PBS’s administrators, member stations, journalists, and other staff members by using a map of the site’s servers.
The situation highlights the need for organizations to make sure their content-management systems are up-to-date, said Steven Backman, chief executive …
April 7, 2011, 10:39 am
Power of Social Networks to Produce Change Examined
As technology has allowed people to come together like never before—both for good and for bad— it’s now philanthropy’s role to shape how newly connected groups grow and change the world around them, says a report released Wednesday by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Monitor Institute.
The report,“Connected Citizens: The Power, Peril, and Potential of Networks,” focuses on what grant makers can do to influence the new networks and build informed communities.
The report defines “network” as any group of people who share a relationship, especially groups that work together toward a cause either online or offline.
The report examined 70 networks to determine effective ways for organizations to interact with them and to determine how the public could react over the next three years to the new ways to organize and share information.
“Most of the…
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