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NpTech Conversations

Non-Profit techies are blogging about the NTC next month in New Orleans (here and here)

Any excuse for a party! Drupal 6 release! Also, Jeff Reifman of NewsCloud announces the beta release of the Drupal Newsroom Module!

Last week, TechSoup's Nonprofit Commons hosted "Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life." You can find the chat and associated links here.

You have until March 14 at 5:00 PM to enter the NetSquared Mashup Challenge. Check out the projects that have entered so far in the project gallery.

Philanthropy 2.0

"Is Facebook a Bust or Is Obama's Model the Future?" asks the NTEN blog riffing a recent article in Slate Magazine titled The Facebook Philanthropos.

A new online journal about the everyday people who work in community nonprofits is coming. It's called Blue Avocado. Hat tip Lucy Bernholz who is working on some thoughts about relationships between online giving marketplaces (DonorsChoose, GlobalGiving, Kiva) and how (if) they are changing giving.

Chris Brogan is hosting a TalkaThon on the question, "What is the Next Kiva.Org?"

Don't Tell the Donor asks "Is Everybody Talking about You Yet?" nd suggests that nonprofits respect their donors, give them something o talk to about, and then get out of the way. In a new column on the onprofit Times called "Our Donors Are Talking - What Are We Afraid of?, the column talks about transparency and the need for charities to join the conversation.

Social Media Adoption, Strategy, and Evaluation

Marshall Kirkpatrick summarizes the responses he got from his 1300 friends on Twitter about the barriers to social media adoption and how to avoid them. (hat tip Beth Dunn)

Tim Davies is working through strategy options on Facebook and provides an great analysis of Facebook groups versus pages. On TechSoup, there's a discussion about Facebook pages and networking tips.

Leyla Farah points to some recent articles about the death of social networking in the nonprofit sector with some commentary.

Beth Dunn writes about the importance of outcome-based thinking in the successful implementation of a social networking strategy.

Paul Caplan advocates for more qualitative data or stories to be included with your numbers when evaluating social media projects. Check out the Social Media Guide he wrote for the Media Trust in the UK.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Clay Shirky's forthcoming new book (publication date Feb. 28th) pulls together a solid theory of organizing and networks. The Network-Centric Advocacy blog gives it a rave! (and points to this YouTube video of Clay Shirky)

Social Media

Amy Sample Ward gives us a reflection on how she uses Twitter and shares some of her recommendations about micro-blogging can be useful to nonprofits. She says Twitter can open a window into the conversation already taking place in your industry and bring you into that conversation as a participant.

Meanwhile across the pond, Louise Brown from the ICT Hub has a post called "Twitter-Tastic" where she describes Twitter as a giant text messaging service but with pictures and hyperlinks. She points to a post called "Twitter's Two Networks" that illustrates the difference between following and followers as listening and talking.

Chris Brogan started a project called "Twitter Packs" which is a simple list of people who use twitter organized by interests or locations. The Nonprofit Twitter Pack is here (are you following everyone?). Not on the nonprofit list? Add yourself here.

The 7 Things You Should Know About series from Educause provides concise information on emerging technology tools. Each brief focuses on a single technology or practice. Two recent briefs include Twitter, Facebook, and Skype.

The Mobile Active Wiki has a stash of well organized links about Mobile Advocacy, a one-stop place to learn more about it, strategy considerations, costs, tools, and best practices. (And if you have a stash of old cell phones in your sock drawer, be sure to see this video - The Secret Life of Cell Phones and visit this site to learn more about recycling your old cell phones.)

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Philanthropy Re-Wired is a casual examination of how technology is changing the sector and written by Claire Baralt