Twitter better for birds than for nonprofits?

My condolences if you've spent any of your life in a meeting that was about whether your organization should have a Twitter account.

I have yet to see a nonprofit use Twitter in a way that's even close to justifying the small amount of time they're putting into it. Part of the problem may be the way they're approaching it. There's some insight into that from the What's Next Blog, Top 10 Reasons Your Company Should Not Tweet.

Here are some of the reasons not to Tweet:

• Every Tweet has to be approved by legal.
• You are not going to respond when people direct tweets at you.
• You think paying for followers might be a good idea.
• You think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you. Quality trumps quantity.
• You want to protect your updates. conversation.
• You think you can market to people with whom you have no relationship

If any of these are true for you, don't tweet!

That's also true of blogging or any other social media. If your organization isn't able to culturally adjust to the fast moving, conversation-driven, authentic ethos of social media, you are going to be boring and foolish, an utter waste of everyone's time.

(If you know of a nonprofit that's making effective use of Twitter, I'd love to hear about it.)

Technorati Tags: fundraising, Twitter, nptech

Comments

[@AlexnNYC]

I found this post thought twitter search. This post is not only true for non-profits, but any enterprise. Of course, if you want to build a passionate community around your brand - I suggest looking to get rid of the corporate counsel. They will just say no anyway.

[Marc A. Pitman, FundraisingCoach.com]

Good reminder, Jeff! I love that list!

While I might take issue with how you measure return. If dollars raised is the sole measurement, I'd agree the ROI has been questionable yet.

I love the low cost professional development I've gained with Twitter, even when factoring in my time. I can follow conferences and ask questions of colleagues. And Twitter has become my RSS feed. When I see links tweeted by people I trust, it's easy to read them. (My Google Reader is feeling a bit left out. *grin*)

So far, the best fundraising on Twitter appears to be initiated by fans, not orgs. I think that's pretty healthy. But I think it's helpful if the orgs have a familiarity with Twitter.

[Ben D.]

I also found this blog via Twitter. But, I can't find "Jeff Brooks" (at least this one) or Donor Power on Twitter.

I'm fairly new to Twitter but my sense so far is that it's almost impossible to see its value until you start using it. Like every single other person I've ever talked to about it, I thought Twitter was ridiculous until I created an account and started following a few bloggers I respect.

Now I'm thinking it might be the most interesting thing online since Google.

@bdunlap

[Fundraiser girl]

I think if a nonprofit is ethical, "authentic" - I think is the word you use - then yes. Twitter can only help. But if a nonprofit is busy hiding slow moving infrastructure, terrible management, poor morale, and other issues internally - these types of contradictions of inner issues and the outer perception of the organization become very apparent very quickly. Also, you can always tell when a group is "on their game" - by the web presence, their twitter presence, their facebook presence. Who of us haven't seen the painful 30 member facebook group for an organization stepping out into the online landscape? And how much worse if twittered? Jeff, I agree with your take. And I agree that most nonprofits have a poor attitude towards donors. I think we need to adjust our thinking, and show the love. Especially in these days of so little money and resources out there.

[lola]

One of the best uses of Twitter by an organization is National Center for Lesbian Rights. They use Twitter to drive traffic to their website, when new content is uploaded.

[Beth Brodovsky]

Interestingly, I found this blog through Twitter.

I tend to recommend not jumping into anything without watching first. Nonprofits may not be ready to participate in Twitter, but they should be building an awareness of social media. Even if they are not sending outbound messages, chances are someone is blogging, tweeting or posting video somewhere about them.

I use Tweetbeep to set up keyword tracking of Twitter and Google Alerts to track web and blog mentions. Tweeting may or may not be useful, but knowing what is being said about you and your industry is always valuable. More and more people are using social media like Twitter to say it.

Beth Brodovsky

@bethbrodovsky

[Sonia Singh]

I think the Women's Museum (@TheWomensMuseum) in TX is doing really well with their use of Twitter. Not sure of results/impact, but they are using it more for outreach than for fundraising. They live-tweet big events, share info on upcoming events and women's issues, lots of good engaging tweets that get people interested in women's history and events on a broader level.

I started following to use them as a how-to guide. They do really well at sharing their passion and energy in few words.

Sonia Singh
@az_awee

[nommo]

Of course Twitter, and all social media is good for NGOs, charities and non-profits...

Is this blog a commercial op? I followed a tweet and ended up here... you just need to be controversial ;-)

[Gonzalo]

Hi Jeff

I suggest review the blog of one of my favorite new-media guru, I mean to Beth Kanter (http://beth.typepad.com/).

She has done some test to raise funds by Twitter with an amazing results.

Greetings from Chile (the land of the better wine) and sorry for my mistakes (I'm learning english)

[Kimberley MacKenzie]

Great post Jeff. Your point about making sure your org is ready are excellent. I just started tweeting for my own professional and personal experience. Can't imagine that our constituents are ready for my org to tweet. That would be a waste of time for us and I can't imagine how I could make money from it. A social and professional network for me - that seems to be working. At first I blogged about trying to find the point of twitter but I'm slowly seeing that there....isn't really one. AND that is okay!
love your blog
k