Posts from 2008

In this presentation from the Democracy in Action Community Conference 2008, I talk about some of the successful approaches for nonprofits in using social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and social media like Flickr and YouTube. I give detailed examples of how the Genocide Intervention Network, where I served as director of communications and Internet strategy coordinator for four years, used social networking to achieve its goals in membership development, advocacy and fundraising.

Some really incredible presentations here at the NetSquared conference, both from featured projects and individual speakers. Seth Horwitz and I are busily collecting information for next Tuesday’s Philly NetSquared event.

The NetSquared Year Three conference has gotten off to a great start: Nonprofit staffers, activists, techies and funders gathering to talk about – and award some money to – using technology for social change.

Some nonprofits, older and more institutionalized, are wary of giving their members “control” of their “message” in social media. Mostly, I think that’s nothing more than a fear of losing power. When you think you know how to change the world, it can be hard for some people to want to involve others. But the message to nonprofits seems pretty clear: Stand in our way, and we’ll just go around you.

This week, the Genocide Intervention Network was honored to be nominated by the NetSquared community as a 2008 Featured Project for our proposal to upgrade and extend the DarfurScores.org website. Thank you to everyone who offered your support!

In return for NetSquared’s generosity, I wanted to post some tips for nonprofits thinking about using Drupal for their sites – when to use it and when not to use it, as well as a few useful tidbits from a recent workshop.