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Social Media for Nonprofit Best Practice: Don't Forget to Tell Your Supporters How to Use the Tools
Increasing numbers of nonprofits are using the social web on their sites, but what I don't see enough of is explainations for their constituents of how to use these tools.
Oxfam International does a pretty good job of educating their supporters. On the bottom of its home page it has links to its rss feeds as well as to Facebook, del.ico.us, Yahoo and Google:
Next to the RSS feeds is a link to "What's RSS?" When you click on it, you see this page:
Next to the links for del.icio.us, Facebook, etc. there is a link to "What are These?" When you click on it, you see a page that explains social bookmarking:
This page could use a little more fleshing out to explain how each service works.
Another good example of a nonprofit helping folks learn how to use social web tools is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's explanation of how supporters can subscribe to their Voices on Genocide Prevention podcast.
Although more people have heard the words blog, podcast, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc., don't assume that they actually know how to use them. Don't forget to help them out, so they can help you (:
- Britt Bravo's blog
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Internet ethical food resources
Despite all the kinks that still need to be worked out, the Internet has become such a great resource for non-profits! I intern for the Eat Well Guide (you mentioned us back in August after the debut of our Cultivating the Web guide)--Thanks for recommending us on your blog! Did you know that Eat Well has teamed up with the Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, to issue a Local, Organic Thanksgiving Challenge? We're inviting people to take a spin on the Eat Well Guide to find local food and cook at least one local (preferably organic) dish for Thanksgiving, and share recipes at the CU site. Read more about it at the Green Fork. [http://blog.eatwellguide.org/2008/11/take-the-local-organic-thanksgiving-challenge/]