Warning: The following inadvertently turned into something of a rant. The point, in the end, is that it is unwise to build a virtual social net without giving people context as to why you're trying to connect with them. In the end, it turned out to be slightly tainted with distain for social network whoredom. I'll be interested to hear about your take on the subject. 

Our organization has been in an unusual position since Hurricane Ike slammed us a week and some change ago. Houston is just now reverting to normalcy... though a complete recovery is months away, if at all possible. The Blood Center shut down its operations for four days in response to Ike and began collecting again last Tuesday, calling for the public to give blood and replenish the supply.

We are all guilty. You too.

We have all used Excel as a database, even though it’s really not a database program. Real database programs take training - Excel, however, can make you that call list in the blink of an eye. So you use it. There’s more: many of us have used Photoshop for making pamphlets and posters, even though it’s not actually meant to do either. Worse, we’ve made pamphlets in Word.

The mind reels! Or maybe it doesn’t, because frankly tech tools are made to be subverted. Especially by non-profit staff who are on a grant deadline, and just need a way to get this poster done, fast.

So you can imagine how happy I was to discover ways that people are subverting our new best friends - Youtube, Twitter and Facebook - for fun and non-profit.

Tu Diabetes is an online community where members help each other out, educate themslves and share the steps taken every day to stay healthy while living with this very serious condition. Tu Diabetes employs a gamut of web tools in its process of reaching out to new community members, keeping the community informed, and educating the public.

I will give you some actual nuts and bolts, but let me first say this: all good online fundraisers have two basic directions they work in - in and out. ‘In’ is a webpage, where people visit you. ‘Out’ is as in reaching out, through emails, smsing, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook etc etc etc. You are aiming for flow between the two directions. Because - just like all really successful fundraising - this is not so much about asking a bunch of people for money. Actually, it’s about a personal exchange - exactly what the internet was made for. Hold that thought, here come the nuts and bolts…

(to read the rest of this post, click here!)

A chat with Nate Ritter (who is awesome) about Twitter, why the government needs to clean up their data, and Giving Anonymously.

The online fundraising platform, Firstgiving, has an interesting promotion running right now.

If you follow them on Twitter at  www.twitter.com/firstgiving, and tweet them at @firstgiving the URL of your favorite firstgiving campaign, your favorite campaign will be entered in a drawing to win a $250 donation.  The more people who tweet about that campaign, the greater its chances of being chosen for the $250 donation.

Thank you kbaird for the photo!

Cross-posted from the TechSoup Blog:

"Mark your calendars for two free TechSoup Twitter events: TechSoup Talks Twitter: Webinar June 9 and Online Event June 10 .

This is my first year not being at NetSquared in person and I'm trying to figure out the best way to follow (and maybe even engage with) the goings-on from here in North Carolina.

I just started using friend feed and I wonder if their "room" function might be helpful here. http://friendfeed.com/rooms/

I also plan to attend the event in SecondLife tomorrow, although I'm not sure what time is best to visit.

Other suggestions?