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NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
Friendlier technology - so that normal people can use it!
What's *really* new on the Web, as opposed to buzzwords and soundbites?:
Technology is finally becoming friendly and accessible to normal people - finally escaping from an exclusive domain belonging to us geeks :-)
Web 2.0 encompasses so many different thinigs - social aspect, tagging etc. But AJAX-enabled capabilities to build better user interfaces is key.
A lot of technology in general (and non-profit tech especially) is very techy, formal and dry. People do not go into non-profit sector to make tons of money. They do it because they want to connect with other human beings - and to promote a cause they believe in. I have seen many non-profit volunteers quickly burning out because they had to spend so much time monkeying with poorly usable and ugly-looking technology, doing the grant work - copy-paste, export-import and all kinds of manual hasle.
Web 2.0 puts the power of modern technologies into the hands of normal people -so they can do more!
Which tools best embody the new opportunities from your point of view and why?:
Sorry about blowing my own horn but I think our product Wild Apricot is a good example of what Web 2.0 can do for non-profits. It might not be the product with most functions or using the coolest Ruby on Rails tech - but I think it is one of the easiest to use systems for non-profits.
We already have hundreds of non-profits organizations - from big ones to some tiny grassroots one using the system because now they can do things on their own - update webpages, handle event registrations and donations, manage members database. All this without having to involve buys tech people for every little thing.
Who's doing the best work with the new tools (technically or in terms of social benefit or both)?:
I see a wave of change across the board. Small charities, tiny grassroots groups and big associations are leveraging the web to do more with less.
What's the bad news? What are the greatest barriers preventing web-based technology from producing social change?:
Most of the tech tools for non-prodits still totally suck. They are hard to use, confuse people and make them waste a lot of time. They look ugly. Many are expensive. Open source ones require too much tech expertise to use them.
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