I’m sure you’ve heard about Twitter. Ever since Oprah and Ashton Kutcher and CNN started tweeting, everybody is talking about the popular micro-blogging service. And then there was the Iranian election and aftermath that was “reported” through Twitter (and other social media) recently. And we’ve blogged about Twitter already in the past. Our first blog post was about the service in general, just as a bit of an overview. Our second post talked about micro-blogging more generally.

So, why another post about the seemingly ubiquitous service? Because enough individuals and nonprofits are using the service now, making it a legitimate communications channel. Sure, Oprah rarely uses the service. And Kutcher basically used it to gather followers, not to truly engage with fans. But now more and more people are joining the service. And more and more nonprofits (and for-profits) are finding it a great way to communicate with and engage their constituents. A number of participating GIJP camps have already started to Tweet as well. You can find links to many of their accounts from the GIJP Twitter account: @gijp.

What You Need to Know

Our Message Hasn’t Changed: Don’t use Twitter or any other technology without considering your overall communications and outreach strategy. Remember that the key to utilizing these social media tools is the quality of the interactions with your constituents, not necessarily the quantity of platforms on which you’ve slapped your logo. Make sure Twitter is helping you reach some specific goal. The goal could be reaching out to long-lost alumni. Or communicating camp updates to nervous parents. Or sharing information with other local organizations. If Twitter isn’t helping you reach some specific goal, don’t spend too much time on it. Find out where your constituents are and spend your time and energy on those platforms.

Some Basics for Getting Started: Here are two articles that will give you lots of great information:

1) For a primer on Twitter, the NYTimes recently ran a great overview article about Twitter and how to use it.

2) The Association for Fundraising Professionals website also posted a brief discussion of how nonprofits can take advantage of Twitter.

Sign up for www.twitter.com and start tweeting! Some tips for getting started with your Twitter account:

1. You can sign up as an individual or as your organization (or both). There are a number of tools that will allow you manage both an individual and organization account. They can also help multiple staff members tweet to a central organization Twitter account. Check out www.cotweet.com and www.hootsuite.com for two of the more popular tools.
2. Even if you have an organization account, be authentic! Engage with others: respond to their posts and forward interesting tweets (called retweeting). Make your interactions personal, just like with other social media.
3. Follow others’ tweets. When you follow someone else, you will see their tweets in your personalized Twitter homepage.
4. Learn the lingo:

• Follow/Unfollow – You can decide whose Tweets you will see in your own personalized Twitter homepage. You can also unfollow someone if you aren’t interested in what they are tweeting anymore.
• @ replies. When you put the @ sign in front of someone’s Twitter name (i.e, @gijp), it means you are speaking directly to that person. However, the tweet is still public – your followers will see the Tweet in their homepage and anyone can search in Twitter or Google to find that Tweet. If someone mentions your user name in a tweet, the tweet will show up in a special @ replies section on the right side of your Twitter  homepage.
• DM – direct message. These are private messages sent to another Twitter account. These messages are not searchable or viewable by anyone but the recipient.
• # Hashtags – allows you to “tag” or categorize a tweet for easy searching. For example, #iranelection. This is often used at a conference where all participants use the same hashtag while planning for and participating in the conference. For example, the popular South by Southwest conference used #SxSW.
• Protect your Updates. You can actually set your profile on Twitter so that only those whom you choose can see your tweets. Note, however, that we recommend leaving these updates public to allow you to find and connect with more constituents.
• Block. You can choose to block particular users on Twitter. This doesn’t block them from reading your tweets like Proteting your Updates, however. Instead, it simply keeps them from being able to follow you. They can still search for your tweets and read them, but nobody will be able to see that they are Following you on your Twitter profile. The main reasons to block someone are if they are abusing Twitter in some way (i.e., spamming) or have an inappropriate profile picture.

If you would like to learn more, we will be having a special Webinar on July 21, 2009 at 1 PM EDT to demonstrate Twitter and discuss it in more detail. You can register online at http://register.gijptech.org.

Are you using Twitter? Have any great tips for getting the most out of it? Anything we should avoid when using Twitter? Let us know in the comments below.

I recently discovered this very informative article on Microblogging on the NonProfit Times website. As this article defines, microblogging is

posting concise snippets of text, images, videos, or other content online that are then delivered to subscribers (sometimes called “friends” and “followers”) via text messages, desktop widgets, and Web sites that either feature or enable microblogging.

The most popular microblogging tool is Twitter, which allows users to post up to 140 characters (text only) from their computer or via cellphone text messages. Each message is called a “tweet.” For more basic information about Twitter, check out our previous blog post on the subject.

I found a couple of things interesting about this article. First, they mention the reality that there are lots of tools out there nonprofit organizations can potentially use to reach out to (and listen to) their constituents…and no organization has the time or the resources to focus on them all. They key is to consider your overall communications strategy and determine which tools fit this strategy the best. The fact that one of the tools mentioned in the article – Pownce – is already out of business since this article was published is another sign to consider the use of these tools carefully!

Second, the article mentions that the best time to use microblogging is when

you have regular news, tips or updates to share, and if these can be communicated in a couple hundred characters or less.

For example, some camps are beginning to use Twitter while at camp when they see a particular camper or group of campers do something interesting or extraordinary. This allows parents to read in real-time what their children are doing at camp. It may even reduce the number of phone calls from anxious parents who want to make sure their children are enjoying themselves at camp!

As I mentioned in my previous blog post about Twitter, URJ Henry S Jacobs Camp has been microblogging for awhile, and have received lots of great feedback from their alumni and other constituents. This effort, as well as Jacobs Camp’s other creative Alumni Outreach strategies will be highlighted in our next Grinspoon Institute Webinar. Check it out!

Also, another form of microblogging is using the Status update feature in social networking site Facebook. For example, Celia Baczkowski, the Development Director of Surprise Lake Camp recently used this short status update to help with their latest fundraising campaign. Throughout the campaign, she used her Facebook status updates to direct all of her “friends” (including many camp constituents) to their website to learn more about the campaign and donate with an online form; update the progress of the campaign; and even thank all of her friends who donated to the campaign.

Have you used microblogging to communicate with your constituents? Please let us know about your experiences (or questions) in the Blog Comments or in our Discussion Forum.

Have you tweeted yet? I came across this article about Twitter and how nonprofits can use it to engage their constituents. Basically, Twitter allows you to send real-time messages of 140 characters or less to a set of people who decide to “follow” your updates (“tweets”). You can post and view your tweets from the web, from an application like twhirl that you download to your desktop, or even from a mobile phone.

I’m just beginning to consider how Twitter can be used effectively. You can find me at http://twitter.com/kmartone. As the article linked above says, Twitter asks “what are you doing now.” So I post about what I am doing. For example, right now I might tweet, “posting on the blog about Twitter.” I also set up twitter to post a link to this blog every time I post a new entry here. Sometimes I’ll ask a question to those people following me to learn a bit more about a certain subject. For instance, I might ask, “what do you use twitter for?” The question automatically goes out to anyone who is “following” my tweets.

So far, I find the listening side of Twitter to be the most important. I have found a lot of great people on Twitter who talk about how to effectively use technology, specifically for nonprofits. Once you are on Twitter, you can find lots of people with specific interests by reviewing TwitterPacks. TwitterPacks are simply lists of people on Twitter who tweet most often about specific topics.

How can camps use Twitter? First, I’d say you should just create a Twitter ID and check it out. See if you have time/interest in posting updates. If not, you may not want to spend time on this particular channel – focus on Facebook or blogging or some other channel to reach out to alumni. You are better off focusing on only one or two tools than trying to maintain a presence everywhere online. Remember: it’s the quality of your communities/interactions online, not the quantity.

If you DO enjoy posting your updates on Twitter, start asking your Alumni if they are on Twitter. Follow them. Listen to what they say. You may find out new things about what interests them, what makes them who they are. No matter what channel – Twitter, Facebook, blogs, the alumni section of your website, phone calls, etc. – listening is the key to learning what is important to each of your constituents.

URJ Henry S Jacobs Camp is using Twitter in another interesting way – microblogging. Their Camp Director and two Assistant Directors are actually posting their tweets directly onto their website so that non-twitterers can see what they are up to as well. They say they have had a very positive response to their efforts thus far.

Do you Twitter? Have you found it useful? Do you have any other ideas for using Twitter to build community?