This is also archived on the We ARE Media. What are Social Media? Social media comprise the vast array of communications vehicles including blogs, wikis, e-mail, and social networking sites that are powered by the Internet. Social media can be best understand by what they are NOT. When you choose to use these tools - YOU! So What and Who Cares?

This photo is from dvs' Photostream. This spring, Facebook made some significant changes to the functionality of Pages on their site in order to help brands market more effectively. This has led to a lot of discussion and encouragement aimed at nonprofits about how to market via Facebook. None of your key stakeholders, i.e. communicate via Facebook.

Get ready. This is a rant. look at at least 10 new nonprofit websites each day for work. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised but mostly I'm dismayed by the state of nonprofit websites. We've got to do better folks. Here's why. NO ONE (Well, almost no one) is going to give you a donation online without first visiting your website. News flash! Cheers!

This is a guest post by my frolleague, Catherine Algeri , Senior Account Executive, InfoGROUP Nonprofit. spend a good amount of my “free time” time working on the board of a small, local, grassroots nonprofit. It’s 100% volunteer driven and each board member is recruited for her own area of expertise. I think we’re emailing people too much.”

It's almost a year since President Obama's election, but there is still a LOT of interest in the staggering success of Obama for America (OFA). In particular, people want to know how the campaign used online tools to raise $500 million and win the presidency! Did the money come in through Facebook, MyBarackObama.com, email or SMS? If not, why not?

How many of you have taken Andy Goodman’s storytelling seminar ? Pretty mind-blowing, huh?  Andy unlocks the secrets of good story-telling, decoding a formula for narrative going at least back to Aristotle’s Poetics. There are easily thousands of non-profit communicators who have passed through Andy’s program.  Not for lack of trying.  They are.

I am completely biased in this post because of my own studies in journalism. That said: Newspapers are downsizing. Jobs are being cut. The journalism field is in the midst of a re-invention. Despite the landscape and view people may hold when they think of today’s journalism, enrollment in journalism school has INCREASED ! Get ready. Cliche?

By my most recent count, there are 106 fundraising blogs out there. My definition of "fundraising blogs" is deliberately broad -- these are blogs that are touch on fundraising in some way, at some time. That's a lot of talk about fundraising. More than a normal person can (or probably should) read. But I do. The Agitator. Endless Plain. forimpact.

I can guarantee you this: A lot more people hate the US Air Force than hate your nonprofit organization. For that matter, a lot more people love the Air Force. And that means people say all kinds of things about the Air Force in blogs and other social media places. And the Air Force is doing something about it. And here's the cool part.

Let's face it: People have short attention spans. Especially when it comes to the Internet. We're all clicking around furiously trying to nab the quickest, most-reliable answers to our questions. And, often, we're just browsing for things to entertain our instant-gratification-seeking minds.) Effectively. And, oh yes, quickly. Funny-we did, too.