Great reads from around the web on June 23rd

These are some links I wanted to share from June 23rd. Find me on Delicious for more!

  • Aardvark – Take a look at this tool that leverages the extended networks we all have to get answers to questions that you may not know who to ask, but your network does! It's an interesting idea and I'd love to talk to people or organizations that have used it – have you?
  • Exploring Social Media for Social Good #FindingTheGood – Have you been following Mashable's Summer of Social Good? This week they are rounding up and highlighting examples of social media use by WWF, The Humane Society, Livestrong and Oxfam America – plus, you can add your organization to the list!
  • Reflections on America’s Giving Challenge – Did you follow or participate in the America's Giving Challenge from the Case Foundation? Check out the evaluation report from Beth Kanter and Allison Fine. "The research presented in this report reflects the attitudes and experiences of Giving Challenge participants, from cause champions to individual donors to nonprofit leaders. We think it helps paint a picture of what worked particularly well and what could be improved in future challenges — both here at the Case Foundation and at other organizations experimenting with similar online competitions."
  • Is Twitter a Social Network? – What do you think? What do you consider to be the differences between a social networking platform and a communications platform or something else? Interested to hear your responses!
  • Why Non-Profits Are So Good at Social Media – Conversation Starter … – Alex Samuel, the CEO of Social Signal, has a great post on the Harvard Business Review discussing why nonprofits are early adopters/good with social media. The key lessons she includes are:
    1. Engage your audience by speaking to their core concerns.
    2. Put your audience in the driver's seat.
    3. Offer a mix of tangible and social benefits.
    4. Embrace emergent value propositions.
    5. Innovate within the bounds of your core mission

Author: Amy Sample Ward

Amy Sample Ward is trainer, author, and community organizer focused on the intersections of technology and social change. Amy is also the CEO of NTEN, a nonprofit that supports organizations fulfilling their missions through the skillful and racially equitable use of technology.

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