Social Media Network Just for Your Agency Eyes Only

Would you like to have a Twitter-like service that only your board or staff could view?

Let me introduce you to Present.ly. Present.ly allows individuals to post short, frequent updates that are tracked or “followed” by others. Unlike Twitter, Present.ly provides a secure and private way to share updates among members of a company or organization, without them being visible to the outside world.

I came across this this morning and wondered if anyone has used this for their own agency? If so, please share your feedback in the comments section.

Story on Microblogging

Today, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from a story about using microblogging for news.

This story should remind you how you can quickly share news and information to your constituency using a microblogging tool such as Twitter.

Here is another story from the Chronicle of Philanthropy that describes how charities have used services such as Twitter to connect with their constituents.

Here are microblogging tools that you may find useful to you. These tools can allow you to give short sentences of information, collaborative ideas, or even allow you to share your mood with friends:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Jaiku
• MySay
• Hictu
• MoodMill
• IRateMyday
• Prologue
• Yammer
• SocialCast
• Laconica
• Status
• Trillr
• Ididwork
• OraTweet
• JointContact
• Presently
• Mixin
• HeadMix

This list is not exhaustive. If you have found other microblogging-type tools, please share them in the comments section.

Using Twitter

Here is a great story about people using Twitter to fundraise.

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/11/twitter-as-char.html

Twitter is a microblogging site that allows you to make posts of 140 characters or less.  The attraction with Twitter is that with only 140 characters you have to get to the point really fast.  The site also makes it very easy for people to follow your writing.

Also I highly recommend reading all of Beth Kanter’s blog entries that are of interest to you.  A long-time blogger and social media expert, her blog is specific to nonprofit organizations.