Social Media 101 for Jewish Communal Professionals

Web 2.0 "101”: Introduction to Social Media and the New Internet Lisa Colton Founder and President, Darim Online [email_address] 434.977.1170 JCPSC February 24, 2009

Overview
Social Media Theory and Implications
Look at various social media tools:
Blogs
Social Networking
Wikis
Twitter
Photo credit: KarenSJilly, Flickr

More Than New Functionality
Social Media is fundamentally changing the way people
relate to one another, and provides not just new
opportunities, but new norms for relationship building and
doing business.
Volume Personal Volume, Viral, and Personal

New Perspective on the 80/20 Rule 80/20 Rule example: 80% of your fundraising comes from 20% of the wealthiest donors. New Perspective: 80% of your message is distributed through 20% of your most connected constituents. Connect with the well-connected! Leverage their networks and trust.

What Is Social Media?
The Term “Social Media” refers to online tools (web sites) that depend
on user contributions and interactions between people to build shared
meaning and value. It is:
Participatory : It blurs the line between media and audience.
Open and Democratic: It encourages voting, comments and the sharing of information. For this reason it is seen as authentic and trustworthy.
Conversational: Two (or more) way conversation rather than one-directional broadcast.
Communal: Supports formation, growth and strength of communities around a particular shared interest.
Connected: Thrives on being connected, making use of links to other sites, resources and people, rather than being territorial and proprietary.

Increasing Depth of Connections
Content (email, web sites) moved to connections (listservs, chat rooms) grew into collaborations (social networking, wikis, etc.). The evolution of technology is getting more and more “human”.
The strength of social media is that is marries the power of the technology with real human needs, instincts and behaviors;
We want to express ourselves;
We want to be heard;
We want to connect with other people;
We want to collaborate;
We want to be productive;
We want to be reflective;
We want to trust those we connect with;
We want to feel in control;

Thinking Strategically: POST
P EOPLE: Identify audience(s)
Understand their technographics profile
O BJECTIVES
What are you goals and objectives for this audience?
Listening to needs, energizing alumni, connecting like minded people…
What is the S TRATEGY to reach these goals?
A plan (with room to grow)
Implications of the plan (privacy policies, training, etc.)
Who is in charge? Who is participating?
How to evaluate vendors/products
Determine the specifics of the T ECHNOLOGIES
you’ll use. Implement, measure, refine!

The Social Technographics Ladder
Groundswell , by Forrester research
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html

http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs BLOG

What is Unique About Blogs and Blogging?
Democracy : range of opinions and discussion. Comments and guest bloggers build community and invite discussion.
Empowered : don’t need to have IT middleman - blog platforms area easy for non-technical writers to post to.
Personal: More casual (does not mean less thoughtful) and succinct than most website content. Often includes personal anecdotes and humor. Builds community by getting to know the people, not just the organization, behind the blog.
Accessible: Two-way conversation makes you accessible, friendly and HUMAN.
Delivered: Via RSS your posts are delivered to them.
Highly relevant: Blogs are often much more focused than other sources of information, making them highly valuable and attractive to the specific audience you want to reach.

Examples: www.jcarrot.org
Blog of Hazon (Jewish food, environmental bike rides, etc.)
Specific focus, integrating two interests.
Building a brand -- connections into other programs.
Empowering and energizing a movement.

Examples: www.JewPoint0.org
Blog of Darim Online
Demonstrate our value
Share knowledge
Invite best practices
Present ideas and opportunities our audience might not find otherwise
Multiple bloggers for diversity of expertise and approach.

Avi Chai - Educational Technology
http://edtechexp.blogspot.com/
Seed funding for technology in day schools
Internal knowledge sharing, documentation. (This is public to share more broadly, but can be private)

Taking the Learning Outside of the Walls
CBI Preschool
Share what’s going on inside with interested parties outside
Reinforce learning at home
Demonstrate value beyond the obvious
Embed video

RSS -- Really Simple Syndication
115 million + blogs
Old way: go OUT to blogs and news sites and check periodically for new and interesting content. This requires time and initiative.
New way: RSS allows you to subscribe to your favorite sources of content, and new content is delivered to you in your “reader” window.
Many sites have icons that allow you to subscribe in one click. Look for these icons.
For an RSS video, visit:
http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

What is an RSS Reader?
This is Lisa’s Google Reader.
Like “bookmarks”, left side shows list of feeds she’s subscribed to, with new posts in bold.
Can read excerpt or full posting within the RSS reader.
Aggregates what you’re interested in to save time and bring the things you care about to you.

Fun Blog Names
The Jew and the Carrot (Hazon)
Jlearn2.0 (Jewish Education and Technology)
The Fly Fishing Rabbi
Feed Me Bubbe
Bagel Blogger
Yid with a Lid
Judeosphere
Velveteen Rabbi
JewPoint0
How does the name influence your interest/attraction?

Blogging Resources
Free or low cost blogging platforms:
www.blogger.com
www.wordpress.com
RSS readers:
www.bloglines.com
www.google.com/reader
Books:
The Blogging Church
Naked Conversations

SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social Networking builds online communities of people who share interests and activities. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users share information about themselves, find and connect with others, and share information (including photos, etc.) with others.
Social Capital is the value of the connections between and among social networks for increasing productivity, spreading information, and locating desired resources.

Social Networking
Single source of information about a person (often both personal and professional).
Facebook is highly “sticky”. 45% of users return at least once daily.
Groups can define a “community” and help people get to know one another and contribute to a shared identity and dialogue.
Facebook hit over 110 million users within the last month.
Must determine your goals, and create a strategy to make it useful. (Remember: POST)

Example of the Power of Social Media: Connect
Facebook: Camp Alumni Group
Alum initiated and virally spread - 147 members
Reconnected with dozens of people
Thanksgiving events organized
909 photo, 2 video and 67 text posts

Facebook Causes
Causes is an application
Users can JOIN a cause, DONATE (thru Network For Good), and recruit others to the cause.
Works well for specific campaigns
Spread virally
Birthday function

NING
Specialized social networks
Open or closed
Many features (discussion, blogs, photos, video, profiles, RSS etc)
Customize design/URL
Requires momentum to keep people coming back (less sticky than Facebook for many users, but also more focused)
Instant and free
Anyone part of a Ning group?
Storahlab, a project of Storahtelling

Ambient Awareness
See NYTimes Article “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy” Sept 7, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/5frgla
Small bits of information add up to a stronger relationship
Implications for community building, staff relationships, team cohesion, board engagement, volunteer and donor recruitment and engagement, etc.
If you are in the business of relationship building, this is one of your most powerful tools.

WIKIS
A wiki is a collaborative online workspace where members can add and edit content easily. Wikipedia is the most commonly known wiki.
Wikis can be private or public, and have a variety of permissions.
“ Wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian.

What is a Wiki? Why Do I Need One? Old Way New Way WIKI

Wikis - Jewish Education 3.0 Project
Collaborative process
Knowledge repository
Central address

How to Add to a Wiki
Click “edit this page”
Use a WYSIWYG toolbar like a Word doc
Click “save”

Uses of Wikis
Drafting grant proposals or reports
Project plans for a distributed team
Storage of documents to be accessible from anywhere
Central repository for ideas, brainstorms, etc.
Your experiences?

Permissions
Totally open
By invitation only
Request to join
Anyone can view, only members can edit

Wiki Resources
Wikispaces.com
Free basic account
$10-50/yr for private, on own domain, remove ads
See TechSoup.com/stock for nonprofit discounts

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service
that allows users to send and read other’s updates
(“tweets”), which are text posts of up to 140 characters.
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and
instant messaging, SMS (text msg on phone), RSS, email
or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Twitter
Post your update
List of updates of those you follow
Photo credit: Stuart Henshall, Flickr

Power of Twitter
“ These technologies are helping us to create an information and intimacy revolution, not driving us to interact less as some purport.”
- Jake Brewer on Beth Kanter’s blog (beth.typepad.com)

Twitter Examples Sharing Knowledge Promotion/Marketing Keeping Up with Friends

Professional Twitter
Share your ah-ha moments and links to valuable things
Get questions answered/input
Share openings and opportunities for spontaneous connections (opportunities that otherwise might have been missed)
Great article: “Business and Nonprofits Find Value in Twitter” (Wild Apricot Nonprofit Technology Blog) http://tinyurl.com/5ht8e8
Many posts on Twitter on Darim’s Blog: http://www.JewPoint0.org
Remember people using Twitter and other tools are mavens and connectors who are powerful allies for you and your org!
Follow us @DarimOnline, or me personally @LisaColton

Start Listening
Find opportunities for your org to observe what people are already doing and saying
Sign up for Google Alerts ( www. googlealert .com )
Search Technorati.com for your organization

Q/A and Discussion
Your experiences
Successes?
Frustrations?
Questions?

Social Media 101 for Jewish Communal Professionals

by Darim Online on Feb 24, 2009

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Social Media 101 for Jewish Communal Professionals — Presentation Transcript