Date post: | 31-Oct-2014 |
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Technology |
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Using Social Mediato Bootstrap an NGO
Case studies and clinic
Suw Charman-AndersonSocial Technologist
Why use social media?
• Community of interest (and action)
• Tools are cheap or free
• Tools are easy to set up and use
• Can reach huge numbers of people...
• Where there’s internet access
• Where there’s widespread technology
Inside
• Use tools internally to:
• Organise yourself and team
• Collaborate on documents
• Share information
• Save information
Outside
• Build relationships with your constituency
• Create space for a community to grow
• Rallying people to action
• Fundraising
• Support for your constituency
• Draw on wisdom in your community
Third party tools
• E.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wordpress.com, Flickr, Delicious
• Pros:
• Cheap or free• Easy to use• No technical skills needed• No web hosting needed• Built-in audience
Third party tools
• E.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wordpress.com, Flickr, Delicious
• Cons:
• Reliant on unpredictable services• No control over down-time• Lack of customisation• Can get lost in the noise of other users
Overall benefits
• Allows you to punch above your weight
• Engenders trust
• Promotes fast growth
• Creates reliable relationships
• Makes you more effective/efficient
Pitfalls
• Takes time to nurture a community
• Maintaining presence in social networks and writing blogs takes time and effort
• Competition for attention is tough
Case Study 1
Open Rights Group
• Non-profit digital rights advocacy group
• Started July 2005
• Now an established voice in digital rights community, government and media.
•
• Community building takes time
• You can’t skimp on talking to people
• Find a volunteer to help with your comms
• Don’t hold the reins too tightly
• Work in the open when you can
Lessons learnt 1
Lessons learnt 2
• Everything takes longer• Delegate as much as possible to
volunteers• Get a volunteer manager• Don’t be afraid to nag
• Tap into local design and development community• Get a good project manager
Lessons learnt 3
• Don’t burn out
• Be selective in your goals
• Build relationships with the media
• Tie online into offline
Case Study 2
Ada Lovelace Day
• International day of blogging celebrating women in technology
• 24th March
• Founded in 2009
• If you have an idea people care about, it will spread like wildfire
• Ask people to do something they would do anyway, e.g. write a blog post
• Make it easy to sign up• Help people share• Be prepared for success.
Lessons Learnt
Using what’sout there
Learn from MySociety
• Use the tools that already exist• Can you repurpose someone else’s tools?
• translate into your own language• collaborate to extend functionality
• If what you need doesn’t exist, collaborate on new tools
• Don’t try to do everything yourself• Waste of time• Slows you down
ClinicWhat do you
want achieve?
Thank you for listening!
Suw Charman-Andersonsocial technologist
[email protected]@suw on Twitter
charman-anderson.comchocolateandvodka.com