Video Fridays #23 Calling All Videos!

YouTube Direct is a a free tool of YouTube that allows you to ask your constituencies to upload videos on your own website. Similar to what many news websites offer, you can ask your webpage viewers to upload their videos. You are able to review the videos before they get posted to your site, so you can catch any spam or any videos that might not meet HIPPA or your professional standards.

The YouTube Direct page indicates one example we can use includes nonprofits can place a call for support videos around a social media campaign. A truly great advocacy tool for you.

This video from YouTube explains YouTube Direct in a little more detail. If you are already using YouTube Direct, tell us how in our comments section.

Embracing Social Media Presentation from the 2009 Arc of the US Convention

I am happy to say the Embracing Social Media presentation was well attended (standing room only!) and we had some great questions and insights from audience members.

The slides and video from the presentation can be found below. If you are a regular reader of this blog you have seen this video before.

Video Fridays – 2009 Arc Convention Edition

The 2009 Arc Convention is happening right now in Pittsburgh. If you’re reading this I hope you are here at the convention.

I wanted to share a special video with you for this installment for Video Fridays. This is a video from Flame, the band that played at the Opening Dinner. If you’d like to see more of their videos, here is a link to their YouTube page and one for their videos and music files from their website.

This is a great example of how a YouTube video can share one of your myriad programs. How are you using videos for your online marketing and advocacy efforts?

Video Fridays #21 Hashtags ###

Hashtags – what are they? They could be one of your best friends on social media sites and you may not know about them. According to the Twitter Fan Wiki, they are defined as: “a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag.

Hashtags were developed as a means to create “groupings” on Twitter, without having to change the basic service. The hash symbol is a convention borrowed primarily from IRC channels, and later from Jaiku’s channels.”

Basically, they make it easier to find posts on one specific topic. Facebook has adopted the support of hashtags, too. You can search for hashtags but using the search functions on your social media sites.

Here’s a great video on what they are and how to use them.

So when you create a hashtag, make sure no one else is using it and pick wisely.

Twitter Lists

Twitter unleashed its lists to the general public last week. You can put people you follow into a list. You can also see who has placed your Twitter feed into a list.

John Haydon, a social media nonprofit expert thinks that Twitter lists will positively impact your nonprofit. Lists will completely change how we use Twitter:

* Users can follow a list without having to follow all the users on that list.
* Third party applications will use lists in fun and interesting ways.
* Sites like Listorious will feature a variety of content based on lists.
* Twitter lists will give users additional ways to create value for their followers.
* Twitter lists will add an additional social proof element to all Twitter users.
* Twitter lists will change how we follow streams.

In addition to creating and seeing lists, you can search for users’ lists by visiting Dave Winer’s Listbrwoser.org. To use this search you only need to know a Twitter name. The only drawback to this search site is if the Twitter user you search doesn’t have any lists, the search returns you to the main search page without indicating there are no lists for that user.

Are you using Twitter lists yet? If so, how?

Video Fridays #20 – Seth Godin

Seth Godin is considered a marketing guru. We discussed him in a previous post. His book about tribes looks at how the internet has ended mass marketing. He contends that it has empowered people to make big changes. Here’s a video of him describing this in more detail. How has the internet empowered you and the people you serve?

Video Fridays #19

For the 19th installment of Video Fridays, I thought I would choose a video that show you how to use URL Shorteners. What is a URL Shortener you say? Wikipedia states “URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web where a provider makes a web page available under a very short URL in addition to the original address. For example, the page http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TinyURL&diff=283621022&oldid=283308287 can be shortened to http://tinyurl.com/mmw6lb.” If you use tools such as Tweetdeck or Seesmic, these are already built into those applications.

And here’s a second video that is newer and explains it well too.

Here is a list of URL Shorteners:

Is.gd – http://is.gd
Trim – http://tr.im
TinyURL – http://tinyurl.com
Bitly – http://bit.ly
Wiurl – http://wiurl.com
Snipr – http://snipr.com/
Cligs – http://cli.gs/
Twirl – http://twirl.at/

If you have a favorite, or one not listed here, please share it in the comments.

Deals with Twitter, Facebook and Search Engines

This week there has been quite a flurry of news for Twitter and Facebook. Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, announced a deal with the two social media tools to include their feeds in search results. That means in the future if you blog or post or tweet about your agency, those blog posts and tweets will appear in Bing’s results.

Also, Google just announced a new social media search feature. This will allow you to search social media profiles from your friends on social media networks connected to your Google profile. Check it out when it launches for public use in a few weeks.

Have you started thinking strategically about the information you post for your agency? What you say in 140 characters are now even more important than ever.

Bing, Facebook and Twitter now together

Video Fridays #18 – Collaboration Style

What is your collaboration style? What tools do you use to help in your agency’s work? What tools do you use in your personal work?

Here’s a chart from a Forrester report that identifies what collaboration tools information workers from companies of 100+ employees use

Chart of Collaboration Tools used by Information Workers

Are you using social media to collaborate with your staff, volunteers, donors, consumers? If so, please let us know.

The Arc of the US Convention – 2009 Edition

The Arc of the US Convention - 2009

Did you know that The Arc’s convention will have a session on Social Media from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM on Friday, November 13?

Embracing Social Media (C)
Presenters: Ms. Stacy Monaghan, Online Advocacy Manager, The Arc of the United States; Mr. Jon Erickson, Ms. Kristin Erickson, Parlerai, Inc., Scituate, MA

This presentation will cover an overview of the top social media sites (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and answer the question “Why bother?” The session will also address how chapters can make these sites work for them, as well as see how The Arc of the United States is making use of social networking to further our mission. An example of how one family is using social networking and technology to support their daughter’s service coordination will also be highlighted.

If you haven’t done so, please sign up at the convention website.

I’ll be there and hope you will be, too!