Twitterverse
Twitter Follow-and-Fundraise: 7 Tips to Make it Worth the Bait
Friday, July 10th, 2009 | Twitterverse | 4 Comments
Follow @NameYourNonProfit and you could feed 5 villages, save 1000 Trees and create wind energy. Sounds great right? It seems that online, in the social change arena, this seems to be the new infomercial. I’m all for it–if it brings success. And even further–is it affecting real change? Therefore, let’s break it down.
From my own observations of these initiatives, here’s what I have to offer to your organization if you’re working on a “follow-and-fundraise” plan:
- Wait. Join Twitter first and gain a solid, respectable following according to your organization’s side and market share of the issue at hand. This way, when you make your “call to follow,” it won’t be an empty room you are inviting people to.
- Set realistic and attainable benchmarks. This will motivate potential Twitter followers to support your cause and spread the word to their own networks. 500,000 new followers, when you are only at 300, might seem a bit daunting and dis-enfranchise people early in the game.
- Mirror realistic rewards. Similarly, if you want to gain 500,000 followers to merely plant one tree is a bit disheartening. Yes, planting one tree any time is a good thing. However, that’s a lot of work and a lot of people to recruit for one tree. Make the effort worth it.
- Extend the initiative. So you are working to generate a following and spread the word about a particular event/issue. Don’t stop at that. Extend your overall strategy to incorporate or integrate Twitter into the overall strategy. Or, extend Twitter to off-line events by hosting live-events. Either way, make the message and the action live beyond the technology.
- Keep momentum. Okay, I’m following you today. But who says I’ll keep following you tomorrow? Or even a month from now? Provide fresh, timely and relevant content that will not only speak to me, but draw me into your mission.
- Make it fun. Give me a reason to encourage my friends to follow you as well. In fact, provide me with the words to say. Detail it out–It could be a Twitter meme even. For a made up example, imagine @lovewater wants to recruit followers to build X amount of wells. Here’s an idea: Share the call to action. Tell three people you love them and water, and you want them to join the pool party @lovewater. (I was going to say hot tub–but hey, this isn’t the Bachelorette!)
- Follow-up. If I follow you, give a shout out. Or, keep me updated with how your progress is coming. Have you achieved your goals? What were the results? How can I help or get involved more? Think of the person hitting the “follow” button as the bite. What are you going to do to reel in the fish?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to participate in these campaigns. After all, it’s at low cost to me, the end-consumer. My main point is that I just want these initiatives to be better and the experience to be greater–and overall, I’m wondering why, if it is a low cost, does it seem to not always work?
- What other tips would you suggest, and what are your own observations for these calls to action?
- If your organization has implored this strategy, what were the results, lessons learned or key take aways that we can all learn from?
flickr photo credit: crjr2003
A Look Back: My First Twitter 10
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | Blog Talk, Social Media, Twitterverse | 4 Comments
Friend and colleague Jeffrey Levy, in conversation the other day, said he went back to the beginning….of his days on Twitter that is, to see who he first started following. So, I did the same. It caused me to reflect on my own Twitter activity. Therefore, without further ado, my first Twitter 10: (take-aways listed afterwards)
1. @misslacey123: Lacey is the one who got me on Twitter. We are both Mizzou J-School alums who have re-located to the great DC. She mentioned it one day as her and her colleagues at PBS were starting to explore it. At first, I was a little skeptical. But obviously, Twitter’s functionality grew on me!
2. @bbravo: I’ve been a long-time fan of Britt’s Have Fun * Do Good blog and last fall joined in with her on the Changebloggers movement. So, I wasn’t too surprised to see that I started following Britt on Twitter from the get-go.
3. @NetSquared: NetSquared is a great resource for all socially-inclined organizations as they are “remixing the Web for social change through social tools.”
4. @osocio: This blog was the very first blog that I became a fan of and would read just about every day. Mark and his team do an excellent, excellent job at showcasing social advertising from around the world. Upon discovery of this blog, I talked about it all the time, showed it to my graduate classes, recruited others to check it out. And, this is back when Osocio went by Houtlust!
5. @TechSoup: TechSoup is a leader when it comes to non-profits and Technology. They and its members are a wealth of resources. When I first joined Twitter, I wanted to connect with the non-profit community. Since then, its expanded into the social change community, which also umbrellas the non-profit community.
6. @mikekujawski: I saw very early on that Mike was leading the way for social marketing amongst public sector organizations up in Canada and immediately admired his work and became inspired. This is because I could relate. He is a member of the “new wave” of social marketeers who are willing to go the distance for social good. Mike is one of the first, out of many, that I would continue to identify, encourage and admire.
7. @elliotthoffman–Elliot is an acquaintance from way back in high school. We were both in one of my good friends weddings and we both happen to enjoy technology. Reminded me of take-away #4, to follow-up and reconnect with those you haven’t checked in with lately.
8. @_FakeSteveJobs–Not quite sure what made me start following FakeSteveJobs, maybe I was hoping, along with others, that maybe, just maybe, it really was the RealSteveJobs. Having been outed and no updates since August 2007, I have now “unfollowed” this account.
9. @cnnbrk–One of my best friends I made in grad school was a CNN fanatic. She knew any breaking story before the rest of us and in the midst of class would update us with important information. Then, she showed me her secret: CNN email alerts. Becoming quite the fan-atic myself, I found them on Twitter. Given its friendly banter with @aplusk earlier this year, @cnnbrk is continues to stay relevant.
10. @penguinasana–Megan is the online community manager for TechSoup, so it was a natural decision to follow her given my interest in NetSquared and TechSoup. Admitedly though, I haven’t engaged in as much conversation as I’d like. So, Megan, if you’re listening, I look forward to connecting with you and the TechSoup team more. =)
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This exercise provided me with 4 key take-aways:
1. Remind yourself. Make sure you go through who you are following and who is following you to remind you of your friends, potential friends and fellow people who you might have things in common with. Notice I did not say, “Remind yourself of your audience.” Your followers should not be your audience, but more of an active hive that you leave and return to with information, resources, questions, and more.
2. Double check your stream for active participants. Since some people sign up for Twitter and then never use it or use it just to “push out” information, your list might need a slight refresh.
3. Evaluate your own use of Twitter. When you first started, you might have been more in an “experimental” phase or started for a different reason than why you currently use Twitter. Looking back at your intial follows/followers can provide some good reflective insight for thought.
4. Follow-up with people and connect in conversation. At one point you connected. It could be a former colleague, friend or co-worker. If you haven’t chatted it up in a while, get those DM’s and @ replies to work. You never know what new projects they may be working on, new interests you may have in common or opportunities for collaboration that might develop. Plus, life is too short and time is too precious, especially in the social media space.
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What about you? Who were your first First Twitter 10? Did they surprise you? And better yet–do we happen to have any of the same ten in common?
flickr credit: holeymoon
Twitter Bios: Experts Versus Beer
Sunday, June 7th, 2009 | Social Media, Twitterverse | 2 Comments
What you say in your Twitter bio makes a difference. You get 160 characters to describe yourself, share an outlook on life or to define your work. If you’re curious what others say, you are not alone.
Through some fancy Google search queries, the folks at Twitter Truth were able to discover that the following words were mentioned in Twitter bios:
Now, if you are a job seeker, over 1,000 people were identified as having the word “recruiter” in their bio. Now that might make ya go hmm…and in case you’re wondering who they are, I was hoping you’d ask: 1,000+ Recruiters on Twitter.
Expert Versus Beer
What I found interesting, was that over 4,000 tweeps use the word “expert” in their bio while over 20,000 tweeps use the word beer. So, the question I ask you is, would you rather hang with the expert or with the beer? 
That’s what I thought.
Some Twitter Bio Tips:
1. Be real.
2. Be you.
3. Tell us what you do, or
4. Tell us what you love.
5. Be funny, but not obnoxious.
More Resources:
5 Tips to Optimize Your Twitter Profile
Joel Heffner Offers 6 More Great Tips I’d Agree With
Why Your Twitter Bio is Important
Chad Norman’s Personal (Compelling) Case Study of Optimizing Bios
What others Twitter bio tips might you suggest?
For Twitter Success, Just Add Meaning.
Friday, February 6th, 2009 | Social Media, Twitterverse | 6 Comments
With Dr. Mark Drapeau’s ReadWriteWeb Goverati article yesterday, it seems that the beast is awakening and out of this slumber is arising more Twitter accounts, and thus more friends to meet and conversations to maintain.
As a new Twitter member, one may be wondering a series of questions that I hope this post offers a “quick guide” to successful Twitter use and community, with the key ingredient reiterated at the end.
“What is Twitter?”
Twitter is a micro-blogging social media tool that asks the question, “What are you doing?” Individuals, who have logged in and registered for the free service, answer the question within 140 characters or within multiple updates and then ‘update’ their status. Twitter works by individuals agreeing to ‘follow’ a certain Twitter account. Once following this account, the person then gets the account’s updates. It is a great medium that lends itself to both one-to-one communications, as well as one-to-many communications. In the past six months, Twitter has gone from 600k accounts, to 2.9 million accounts.
“How can I/We use Twitter?”
The list below outlines 13 different functions that both individuals and organizations can use Twitter’s platform to accomplish:
1. Inquiry Response
2. Reputation Management
3. Promotion
4. Event Planning
5. Brand Equity
6. Marketing
7. Fundraising
8. Reminders
9. Emergency and Disaster Response
10. Provide information, news and tips
11. Research
12. Conversation Tracking through Hashtags (i.e. #WAD08, #healthcomm)
13. Social Networking
“Now what?”
- Find YOUR Voice. We all have different perspectives and a variety of experiences, and as I @cdorobek reiterate, we make each other better. Whether your Twitter handle is your real name or a nickname, it doesn’t matter, what matters…is getting started and getting involved.
- Add Value. Twitter’s capabilities are great. But for them to stick and for you to get the most out of it, you must find value not just in the technology, but in the conversations and those you connect with. Thus, respond, connect and engage.
- Create Meaning. This one stretches beyond Twitter, but into social media strategy in general. So, you create a blog, a wiki, a thingy-maggig, people aren’t going to use it unless it adds meaning to their lives.
“How do I connect?”
- For Government folks, check out GovTwit. And, have you signed up for Government 2.0 Camp yet? Are registered on Govloop?
- For Health folks, check out this top 100 health Twitter-ers list. (Also, be sure to check out next week’s DC Social Media Club event about Health 2.0 or there’s DC HealthCamp in late February, the Health 2.0 Conference).
- For others, check out Twitter packs, Twitter Search and the JustTweetIt directory.
“Where can I learn more?”
- Ogilvy’s Twitter Blog Posts Series
- Twit Tip Blog by Problogger, (@problogger)
- Government Micro-Blogging Information
- Twitter Support
- Twitter Wiki
In sum, just add meaning. This may seem easier said than done, so I want to help. What are your other Twitter questions? I can already think of a few (tools, metrics, etc.) Feel free to comment, and I will offer more in the comments. Finally, I too am on Twitter: @socialbttrfly. Feel free to follow, and I look forward to creating meaning together.
The Government’s A-Twitter Take 2: It’s Official
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 | Blogging and the Blogosphere, Social Media, Twitterverse, government 2.0 | 10 Comments
For those that have been following the “Let Our Congress Tweet Campaign,” the news is in. Congress can now Tweet (as well as YouTube, Flickr and other 3rd-party sites) when communicating with constituents.
This campaign was the 1st official policy issue brought forth through Twitter. Individuals supporting the campaign were asked to tweet:
“Congress, change the rules. Talk to us on our social networks. http://letourcongresstweet.org/ Let Our Congress Tweet! #LOCT08.”
The campaign with links to media coverage can be found here. In response, the Sunlight Foundation has created @CAPITOLTWEETS has been created for those who want to receive tweets sent out by members of Congress. This allows interested individuals can get a @CAPITOLTWEETS widget to include on their blog or Web site if desired that updates every 10 minutes with tweets from Congress members.
The rulings official wording is and can be found on Speaker Pelosi’s blog:
In addition to their official (house.gov) Web site, a Member may maintain another Web site(s), channel(s) or otherwise post material on third-party Web sites. (more…)
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Related, in June, I compiled a list of ALL government Twitter accounts available. This post has been very popular, and many more have since been a) suggested and b) created. Thus, here is the update, beginning with none other than….Congress members who Twitter. Colleague @ariherzog also maintains the Government page on the Twitter fan wiki for future updates. Enjoy!
U.S. Senate
- Votes from the Senate floor
- @NRSC - National Republican Senatorial Committee
- Joe Biden (D-Del.)
- Sen. John McCain (R-Az.)
- Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
- Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
- Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
- Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
- Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
- Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
U.S. House of Representatives
- Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
- Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.)
- Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
- John Boehner (R-Ohio)
- John Boozman (R-Ark.)
- Michael Burgess (R-Texas)
- Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
- Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
- John Culberson (R-Texas)
- Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)
- Randy Forbes (R-Va.)
- Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
- Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.)
- Tom Latham (R-Iowa)
- Bob Latta (R-Ohio)
- Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.)
- Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.)
- Candice Miller (R-Mich.)
- George Miller (D-Calif.)
- Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
- Tom Price (R-Ga.)
- Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.)
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-Fla.)
- Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
- Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
- John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
- Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
- Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
- Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
- Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
- John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)
- Ron Paul (R-Texas) (FAKE PROFILE)
Executive Branch (including Cabinet, departments, and agencies)
- The White House: Communications Office
- The White House: Office of National Drug Control Policy
- Department of Agriculture: Food Safety Information Center
- Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Marine Sanctuary
- Department of Defense: DipNote Blog, @dipnote
- Department of Defense: Maxine Teller, Public Affairs
- Department of Defense: Mark Drapeau, Research Fellow, National Defense University
- Department of Defense: US Joint Forces Command
- Department of Defense: Department of Army: US Army
- Department of Defense: Department of Navy: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division: HJ Armstrong, public affairs
- Department of Energy: Argonne National Laboratory
- Department of Health & Human Services: AIDS.gov (AIDS Conference)
- Department of Health & Human Services: AIDS.gov (Main)
- Department of Health & Human Services: National Institutes of Health: NIH Communications Office
- Department of Health & Human Services: National Institutes of Health: Jim Angus
- Department of Health & Human Services: Office on Women’s Health
- Department of Homeland Security: Emergency Preparedness
- Department of Homeland Security: Leadership Journal
- Department of Homeland Security: Transportation Security Administration blog team
- Department of Homeland Security: US Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Department of Interior: National Park Service: Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park
- Department of Interior: National Park Service: National Center for Preservation Technology & Training
- Department of State: Country-specific Information, travel department
- Department of State: Dipnote, official blog feed
- Department of State: US Embassy, London
- Environmental Protection Agency: EPA
- Environmental Protection Agency: EPA News Releases
- Environmental Protection Agency: Greenversations blog
- General Services Administration: Federal Citizen Information Center
- GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: GovGab
- GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: GobiernoUSA.gov
- GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: USA.gov
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Astrobiology Institute
- NASA: CoLab, advising and consulting on NASA collaboration
- NASA: Desert RATS
- NASA: Earth Observatory, echoed at Natural Hazard
- NASA: GLAST
- NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
- NASA: Jason-1 project
- NASA: Kepler
- NASA: Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer
- NASA: Lunar Crater Observation & Sensing Satellite
- NASA: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- NASA: NanoSail-D mission, first solar sail created for nanosatellites
- NASA: NASA EDGE
- NASA: PharmaSat
- NASA: PreSat
- NASA: Public Affairs
- NASA: Solar Dynamics Observatory
- NASA: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
- NASA: Emma Antunes, web manager
- NASA: Ames Research Center: Public Affairs Office
- NASA: Ames Research Center: Kimberly Ennico, payload scientist
- NASA: Goddard Space Flight Center: Linda Cureton, chief information officer
- NASA: Goddard Space Flight Center: Ravi Sharma, engineer
- NASA: Innovative Partnerships Program: Doug Comstock, director
- NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Cassini, flying around Saturn
- NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Earth Vital Signs
- NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mars Exploration Rover
- NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: News, unofficial feed, not endorsed by JPL
- NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Phoenix Mars Lander
- NASA: Langley Research Center: Bil Kleb, computational aerothermodynamist
- NASA: Marshall Space Flight Center: Daniel Kanigan, public affairs
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Chris Rasmussen, social software knowledge manager/trainer
- Office of Personnel Management: OPM
- Securities and Exchange Commission: SEC Investor Education
- Social Security Administration: Lee Alviar, public affairs specialist in Dallas
- U.S. Geological Survey: USGS
- U.S. Geological Survey: Earthquake & Tsunami Warning
- U.S. Geological Survey: Dave Govoni, paleontologist
- U.S. Intelligence Community: Andrea Baker
- U.S. Intelligence Community: Heather Cox
- U.S. Intelligence Community: John Hale
- U.S. Peace Corps
- U.S. Small Business Administration: Business.Gov
Additional
- Bob Barr (L), former U.S. Representative from Georgia, presidential candidate in 2008
- John Edwards (D), former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008
- @secgen - The U.N. Secretary General
- @peacecorps - The Peace Corps
- L.A. California Fire Department
- Mike Huckabee - Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate
U.S. State Government Leaders
- @schwarzenegger - California Gov. Arnold Schwarsenegger
- @GovernorGibbons - Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (No longer actice and beware the fake account @FakeGibbons)
- @govgranholm - Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm
- @johncherry - Michigan Lieutenant Gov. John Cherry
- @PeterKinder - Missouri Lieutenant Gov. Peter Kinder
- Mark Boughton, Mayor of Danbury, Connecticut
- R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S. State Government
- @coloradogov - Colorado Government
- @kygov - Kentucky Government
- @vermontgov - Vermont Government
- @UtahGov - Utah Government
- @SCGOV - South Carolina Government
- @www_maine_gov - Maine Government
- @rigov - Rhode Island Government
- @wsdot - Washington State Department of Transportation
- @NevDCNR - Nevada Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
Liked what you read? Feel free to share with others: 
Alexandra Bornkessel
Email: socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com
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