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Flickr Photo: zombophotoI do a lot of traveling and talk to lots of people about social media and why I think it matters for nonprofits. I give a good twenty minutes about how the ground has shifted under our feet and social media is aligned with our current values as a society and a sector. It's one of those 10,000 feet view sorts of things.

And while I think that most people really appreciate the context, I can practically HEAR them thinking as I talk, "Yeah, but how the heck do I actually figure this stuff out?"

I usually give a few pieces of advice and then start showing off the tools that matter most to me. Now I have some new sources of inspiration for my talks. Chris Brogan has a great post today that consists almost entirely of questions:

• What were your first steps into social media?
• Who were your early people you admired and followed?
• How did you get started?
• If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
• What will you do in the next few months with social media?

There are dozens of comments with answers already, and they reveal some pretty great advice to folks who are currently wondering how to get started with social media. A few of the points come up again and again:

Flickr Photo: savolskertsonNo matter which side of the political aisle you sit on, there's no doubt that social media is having a big impact on this presidential race. We even dedicated a whole newsletter issue to the topic.

My favorite stories are the ones that don't actually involve the campaigns. I love hearing about ordinary citizens starting up FaceBook groups or MySpace pages for their candidates, making democracy their own.

The latest example to come to my attention? Super.del.egates.us for Obama. No endorsement of candidates here, just sheer admiration for Jo and Michelle for taking the reigns of democracy into their own hands and empowering others by using a wiki.

It gives me hope on days when Hillary, Barack, and John all film spots for a WWE episode instead of debating.

Flickr Photo: Capt KodakIt's not about the technology, it's about the people.

You are not marketing, you are building community.

In case you need to remind yourself, or others, of these principles, check out Twistori. It's a perfect example of what social media is all about: people. It exposes the humanity that makes social media so powerful -- our love, our hate, our thoughts, our beliefs.

The next time you're thinking about how to get your message out in social media, visit Twistori. Then think about how you can help inspire, motivate, and excite the people in your community instead.

Chris BroganAre you an NTEN member? Then you're in luck! Chris Brogan, social media expert, is going to be kind enough to share an hour with us next week for an Ask the Expert session.

Okay, so Chris prefers to say he's not an expert, but that he advises people on social media use. That doesn't change the fact that he's smart and savvy on the social media front. One of his specialties? Starting and maintaining conversations with stakeholders.

If your organization is trying to figure out how to move your stakeholders from passive listeners to passionate participants, this is your golden opportunity. NTEN Members get exclusive access to ask questions and hear them answered, for free!

Join us on Monday, May 5 at 11am Pacific for this phone call and live chat. The event is free for NTEN members, so sign up today.

Let's see how many social media metaphors I can cram into one post, shall we? :)

Jeremiah Owyang has a piece today about trust. I don't know if you've felt this lately, but I certainly have: we're head over heels for trust in the sector these days. I wrote a bit about it back in November. Katya Andresen and Mark Rovner think it's one of the seven things everyone wants. Search for "trust" on Beth's Blog and you'll come up with myriad posts. Search for trust on the NTEN website and you'll get dozens of job listings where "building trust" is in the job description.

But back to Jeremiah's post. Want to guess what the number one source of trusted information is for most Americans?

Flickr Photo: ourlady ofdisgraceDoes your organization blog? Do you encourage folks to post pictures online? Perhaps you have a video podcast?

If your organization uses social media tools, you want to bookmark the Berkman Center's new Citizen Media Legal Guide. It's not completely built out yet -- I couldn't find any information about Libel and Blogs for example. But the resources that ARE live are great. Here are just a few resources that address some of the questions I hear all the time:

• Deciding Whether and How to be Anonymous
• Deciding Whether and How to License Your Content
• Journalism Skills and Principles

I am especially looking forward to the forthcoming "Special Content" section which will cover enticing topics like "Employee Blogs." Did that sound sarcastic? I really mean it. I'm excited to see some really practical guidelines to which we can point the sector.

Flickr Photo: not waltonSince I became Executive Director of NTEN last November, the number of things I've needed to stay on top of has exploded. On any given day, I need to be an expert in:

• Social Media tools and strategies
• DNS settings
• Nonprofit and Board Governance
• How innovative nonprofits are using technology
• The state of municipal wireless
• Email open rates
• Human resources laws
• Anything and everything NTEN members are up to
• And everything anyone is saying about NTEN

My old way of managing information was not cutting it. Although I use a lot of social media tools, I was very email-inbox centric. My inbox was the place I kept articles I wanted to read later, ideas I wanted to follow up on, and all of my to-do items.

The result? If you emailed me in the last three months, I probably didn't respond very quickly, if at all. That's no way to lead a membership organization.

Do you have an idea for a mashup that could be a tool for social change? Can you imagine a way to combine data from more than one source into an integrated tool that would increase awareness around an issue? NetSquared, a project of TechSoup, is awarding a share of $100,000 in prize money, and a trip to the NetSquared Conference, to the top 20 winners of the NetSquared Mashup Challenge.

Submit your idea for a mashup with social impact by March 14, 2008 at 5 PM PST. Submission forms are available at http://www.netsquared.org/mashup.

There are three parts to the Challenge:

Flickr Photo: ClangoPublic radio is an interesting space to watch. It can be an old school media model, determining what's important and broadcasting it to the silent masses. But many public radio stations are also leaders when it comes to integrating new social media tools into their work and giving their communities a voice in the process. That's why it was strange to read that NPR CEO Ken Stern has been let go. From the NPR coverage:

Stern argued that NPR shows and news and cultural segments increasingly had to be available on whatever platforms people wanted to hear them.

NPR is considered a leader in news and music podcasts. And under Stern it has also struck deals to deliver its content new ways, such as through cell phones.

But that push has aggravated anxiety among local stations about their relationship to the network. NPR member stations rely heavily on popular shows, particularly Morning Edition, to generate donations. But if people can listen to them through NPR's Web site or even their own cell phones, why would they stay loyal to stations still reliant on pledge drives?

Was Stern really let go solely because of an old vs. new media clash? Probably not. Are NPR stations around the country asking these kinds of questions about social media? Definitely.