"We've just got to keep on keepin' on" I say to my boss as we try to understand why our efforts to engage our fans and followers have flopped again and again. But a question arises in the back of my mind; what am I expecting here? To be overwhelmed with RTs and comments? To be scrambling to keep up with it all? Right now, it's a slow trickle of engagement here and there. But it seems there is a hook we haven't baited properly, no one's biting.

"If you look at nonprofits, I think the successful ones have a passionate core that want to hear what's going on, that want to see what's going on with video, that want to get regular updates, that want to comment, engage, and participate. Social media very much facilitates that in an easy and, as I said, affordable way, so it's a natural fit for what nonprofits are looking for." --Eric Mattson

Before the holidays, I interviewed Eric Mattson, the co-author of the recent study, Blogging for the Hearts of Donors, about social media usage by the 200 largest charities in the United States. You can listen to the interview on the NetSquared Podcast, or read the edited transcript below.

Eric Mattson: Hello, my name is Eric Mattson. I am a Marketing Consultant and social media scholar based in Seattle, Washington. Over the last 12 to 18 months I've been doing a series of research projects with my partner, Prof. Nora Barnes of the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth looking at social media adoption in various industries. For example, corporate adoption by looking at the Inc. 500, university adoption by looking at college admissions departments, and most recently, and part of the focus of this podcast, looking at adoption by some of the largest US charities and nonprofits to see: how familiar are they with social media, are they using social media, are they monitoring social media? Some of these fundamental, foundational questions that seems to still be out there, despite the fact that social media has become a fairly well known space with the advent of MySpace and Facebook and blogs and what not. That's a little bit about me and that's a little bit about the high level view of our research.

BB: Before you did the study, what did you expect to find, and then, what surprised you the most about what you did find?

The Overbrook Foundation recently published, "Web 2.0 Assessment of The Overbrook Foundation's Human Rights Grantees" by Allison Fine, author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age,

The Foundation provides financial support to 55 human rights organizations with a range of budgets and staff size. Most of the organiations are based in New York City or Washington DC.

Location

With Ukraine's President Yuschenko appealing today for radical improvement in child protection policies. 

http://en.for-ua.com/news/2007/03/13/165639.html

His priorities for 2007 include:

• passing and enforcing a law on the fulfillment of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• promoting and encouraging adoption;
• introducing financial aid mechanisms to support children;
• eradicating homelessness among children;
• reforming the system of orphanages and children’s homes.