A few brief notes to start (or "old business" for all of you Robert's Rules fetishists):

• I began writing a four part case study about the United Church of Christ's youth outreach methods in the context of its social media outreach plan. While I imagined it would be done by now, it is not. Rev. Ben Guess, Director of Communications at the UCC, has been kind enough to connect me with young members from the church so that I can incorporate their feedback into the overall piece. Please stay tuned, and thanks so much for your interest and patience.
• I am happy to be attending and speaking at the San Francisco Meetup on Tuesday the 11th. I am particularly excited about this opportunity, as I am looking forward to seeing and participating in the flagship NetSquared Meetup group. I'll be speaking about the progress of the Millennials Changing America tour, and I will be happy to be joined by Ben Rattray, an occasional employer of mine, not to mention a consistent supporter, admirable peer, and, of course, head of Change.org (a project sponsor, by the way).

Speaking of Change.org...

I noticed that Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared community organizer wunderkind, was featured on the site as Changemaker of the week (an honor that, through various benign sorts of nepotism and eActivism incestuousness, I have myself been awarded). I am a great admirer of Amy's hard work and efforts, and I was disheartened to visit her profile at Change.org to find that a handful of nonprofit representatives / activists had used her win as an opportunity to write long, fumbling, form-elevator-pitches on Amy's profile wall. All were framed as congratulatory statements.

OK, OK ... I understand that the Changemaker of the week award is a somewhat-fluffy honor, but Amy's efforts are certainly worth high praise, and using the opportunity to offer a sale packaged as praise is tactless. If I were to attend an award ceremony for a community minded economist, wouldn't it be awkward for me to approach she/he and say, "Congratulations. I guess you're interested in community-minded approaches to micro-economics. Well - let me tell you about the nonprofit I work for..." and then proceed to deliver an elevator pitch.

(And to be fair - "elevator pitch" is an extremely generous description of some of the long buried-mission diatribes I am referring to).

Awkward, right?

A litmus test that I try [but sometimes fail] to use whenever I interact with others online is this: If we were at a dinner party / meeting, would I ask this question / drop this line / exploit the opportunity in this way? Speaking of not taking my own advice, this is actually a test that I failed when I snarkily wrote on Amy's wall something to the effect of, "Good job, Amy - Click my link and learn about what it is I do!" It's a good test, yes. Do I follow it all of the time myself? I fancy myself as somewhat impulsive, and I'm not always so good at listening to my own words of wisdom. So, in short, the answer is sometimes "no."

Disclaimer!

Which leads be to adding the disclaimer that I understand where the awkward-commentors are coming from. For the most part, we're nonprofit organizations - or at least we run operations that have staffs and resources that are spread as thin as those at NPOs - and  operating on a shoestring budget does not often lend itself well to thinking every seemingly small action all the way through. The thing about the Internet, though, is that it is a showcase for small, thoughtful extensions of our offline behavior. Our communication online offers a series of avenues where we feature a showcase of small extensions of our (and our organization's) offline personalities and temperament. Herein, our online impulsiveness can easily be translated as a symbol of offline erratic behavior, irresponsibility, or a generally repulsing sense of thoughtlessness.

Who are you going to remember at the party?

The person who shook your hand, looked you in the eye, and congratulated you without an ulterior motive, or the salesperson with the fumbling, awkward, and exploitive sell? Who do you want to give money or support to? Who do you want representing your organization, your passion, and your vision?

It's a pleasure to meet you, my friend. I see you're interested in understanding the best practices of Internet outreach ... Do you mind if I take a minute to tell you a thing or two about my consultancy services?