Britt Bravo is on a much-deserved vacation, so I'm stepping in for her to keep news and information about the social change web coming your way!

CARE is a humanitarian organization working to fight global poverty by serving individuals and families in the poorest communities of the world. CARE recently launched CARE Connections, a free, online community to connect you with others supporting global poverty work, women's empowerment, world news and more. You can learn more about CARE Connections, here.

Hi everyone!

I'm new on NetSquared and thought it might be a good idea to use this first post to introduce the work we're doing at UnLtdWorld around free, open and accessible data, hoping that many members of this community will find this of interest, especially those working on social entrepreneurship.

Josh Levy, who is awesome, and I talk about his new job as managing editor at Change.org, what he's learned at techPresident, and why he believes that just writing blogs won't change the world.

What is your role at Change.org?

Alexandra Samuel, longtime friend of NetSquared, talks to us about aligning the interests of businesses and NGOs, designing for participation, and how learning to have meaningful conversations online will save the world.

Jed Sundwall: What does Social Signal do?

This is Richard Landry, reporting live from the NetSquared Conference. I am covering the session entitled, “Investing in Social Networks,” led by Peter Campbell, director of Information Technology for Earthjustice (“Because the earth needs a good lawyer”).

Live blogging is a practice of careful listening, and I have a long way to go in that area! So if you see something that I misunderstood or misreported, please post a comment/correction.

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TechSoup’s free day-long online event is coming up this Wed. May 14th: Online Activism: Social Media Tools for Social Change in the TechSoup online forums.

Dive into the conversation with hosts Heather Mansfield, owner of DIOSA Communications and Online Community Manager for Change.org and Carie Lewis, Internet Marketing Manager for the Humane Society of the United States, as they explore the ins and outs of using social networking sites and strategies for determining how, why, and when to use different applications to broadcast your message. In discussing the dos and don’ts of effectively fundraising and promoting your cause, we’ll also look at lessons learned from successful (and not so successful) online campaigns.

Join us Wed. May 14, for a free, one-day online event, in the TechSoup Emerging Technologies forum as we discuss issues such as:

Change Everything - the site we built for Vancity Credit Union - never seems to run short on surprises.

Shortly after it launched in 2006, a self-organized drive delivered more than 70 big bags of warm clothing to homeless shelters in Vancouver's downtown east side. Not long after, a Change Everything member called EnviroWoman captured our imaginations (and those of folks like WorldChanging and The Guardian) with her tales of living plastic-free for a year.

Liveblogging "How Do Social Networks Fit Into Your Communications Strategy" by Brian Reich of EchoDitto. Co-author of Media Rules. Please excuse errors from writing quickly.

Why social networks are important: tech is becoming integral to every day life. We want to stay more connected and engaged via tech. Everything we do is informed by social interactions.

Two ways people use social networks:

How do you decide if and how your nonprofit should use social networking? That's the question on a lot of folk's minds this week:

The Wild Apricot Blog linked to 7 posts about the Best Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools for Nonprofits as part of the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants yesterday.

Last month, Change.org launched a new service to allow nonprofits to create their own branded social networks on its platform. This month they've teamed up with Network for Good. The partnership will allow nonprofits that receive donations through Network for Good to create a branded social network on Change.org, and nonprofits that receive donations through Change.org to use Network for Good’s giving system to track donations, email supporters, and manage donor data.

Nice teamwork!