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Twitter 101 for Nonprofits

You know how, every so often, you come across a presentation you wish you’d created? For me, this week, it’s Twitter 101 for Nonprofits. In this slideshow introduction to the “fastest-growing social media platform in the world,” Frank Barry (@franswaa) and Jeff Patrick (@commonknow) hit a strong balance between overview and detail, how to and real-world case studies.

In brief, here’s what the 58-slide presentation covers:

  • What is Twitter and where did it come from?
  • How does Twitter work?
  • How big is the Twitter base?
  • How are nonprofits and commercial groups using Twitter?
  • Is Twitter really valuable?
  • Does it really work for online community building, advocacy, and fundraising?
  • What’s the future of Twitter?

View Twitter 101 for Nonprofits on SlideShare.com to see a full content outline, including URLs mentioned in the presentation, and options to share online or download the file.

Why Twitter?

Depending what stats we’re looking at, there might be a bit of a debate about whether Facebook or Twitter is growing faster — fair to say that Facebook and Twitter are duking it out for social networking dominance right now.  However, of the two platforms, Twitter’s relative simplicity makes it the easier choice if you to “get up to speed” quickly and with minimal investment in content creation. It's a good first step if your nonprofit organization is new to social media and not yet sure where to invest your time and resources.

Want More?

See also Twitter's own guide, Twitter 101 — it's directed at business users, but still a very useful foundation for individuals and nonprofits — and Heather Mansfield's 10 Twitter Tips for Nonprofit Organizations at Change.org, as well as Wild Apricot's own blog posts about Twitter tips and tweaks.

What blog posts, presentations, or other resources have you found most useful for learning the basics of Twitter?  Please share in the comments!

 

Published Monday, September 14, 2009 5:09 PM by Rebecca
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Comments

 

Twitter Trackbacks for Wild Apricot Blog : Twitter 101 for Nonprofits [wildapricot.com] on Topsy.com said:

September 14, 2009 2:33 PM
 

Joanne Fritz said:

Terrific! Sharing my own tips and citing you as resource http://bit.ly/18hT7i  

September 15, 2009 9:31 AM
 

Rebecca said:

Thanks, Joanne! :-)

September 15, 2009 10:03 AM
 

Wild Apricot Blog said:

The importance of measuring the effects of your organization’s social media outreach is not in question. But what metrics should you track? How? And what can you do with those numbers? Let’s look at Twitter, for example.

December 9, 2009 2:42 PM

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