Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I received the following email from a listerve. The topic of closed alumni communities versus social media is on the minds of a lot of university staff, so I'm posting this along with my response. I'd like to hear from anyone who is using the social networking function of Blackbaud Net Community. We are purchasing Net Community for some of the other things it offers, and we're trying to decide if we should pursue social networking through it or use Facebook, etc.

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Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I spent the last 3 days at the CASE District VII conference, for schools in AZ, CA, Guam, HI, NV, and UT. Social Media was a big topic this year, with workshop titles like "Maximizing Social Networks and Online Resources in Alumni Relations", "Now That Facebook and Twitter Aren't Enough: Integrating Social Media into Your Advancement Toolkit ", and "Making Community Real in a Virtual World" Speakers and attendees reported heavy use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter,

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Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

I just added a Google Voice widget to my web site (on the Contact Us page). When a caller clicks the icon s/he is prompted to enter a name and phone number. Google Voice calls that number, then connects the caller to me as a free VOIP call. Very cool. The hardest part was figuring out how to embed the code on my site. I first tried pasting it into the editor, but it showed up as raw HTML code.

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Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 14, 2009

The results of two new surveys paint a bleak picture of the effectiveness of social media for fundraising and volunteer recruitment. The first from Philanthropy Action , has the depressing title, " Social Networking and Mid-Size Nonprofits: What's the Use? " The survey is based on responses from about 200 mid-sized nonprofits (defined as having revenues between $1 and $5 million annually) between July 2008 and March 2009.

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Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 11, 2009

I'm a member of several LinkedIn discussion groups, but my participation is lukewarm at best. One of the biggest problems is spam--the noise is drowning out the signal. There doesn't seem to be a way for moderators to review messages before they're posted or for participants to flag spam for review by moderators. As a result, one of the groups I belong to includes the following off-topic messages: Vacancy advertising on the UK's leading job boards from only £99.

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Robert Weiner

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

I got a press release today from a PR firm promoting its client's plans to raise $1,000 for Thanksgiving meals and $5,000 for families in need at Christmas. While these are certainly laudable goals, I had a strong negative reaction. First, the message is spam. I have no connection to, and have never heard of, the charity or its PR firm. Second, is this news?

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