Today is world AIDS day.

Although the fight against AIDS has come a long way, there's still a lot of work to do. Scientists have created amazing drugs to combat the affects of the disease. Still, the only cure is not to get infected in the first place. That means talking about it, sharing information, making sure that AIDS stays part of our national and international conversation.

The folks at AIDS.gov understand that. Smartly, they've created a whole campaign aimed at people who LOVE to talk: bloggers. At Blogger's Unite, you will find everything you need to write about AIDS and spread the cure, one post at a time.

Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation

As social media grows in popularity, one fact cannot be ignored: if used well, it can generate impressive amounts of traffic and increase engagement around your cause or organization. If ignored, however, it can lead to tears of anguish and people punching their computers.

I spend a lot (and I mean a lot) of time trying to figure out how to use social networking, bookmarking and news sites to enhance the National Wildlife Federation's online presence. The work I've been doing with my large non-profit can be translated to even the smallest message.

There are several key techniques for dispersing information effectively. These overall strategies aren't anything new in the marketing world: Social media is just a new way to do old business. The tools may have changed, but the need for knowing your audience, having an end goal, testing theories, and acting on lessons learned remains the same.

Karen Curry, ACLU

The ability to have conversations with members and supporters is the most exhilarating part of the new media landscape for advocacy groups such as ours. We no longer just shovel stuff out there, not knowing if it ever reached anyone or what they thought of it. Advocacy is now a multi-way street, with information coming in and going out -- and nuance being added to the message as it evolves.

Consider Kenevan McConnon, a Colorado blogger. This May, having just gotten his rebate check from the government, he began looking around online for something to spend it on. Then, he spotted his ACLU renewal form. He had been putting off renewing, for no particular reason, but when he saw the notice sitting on his desk he had an A-HA moment. He realized he could spend his money on that most quintessential of all "made in America" items -- the United States Constitution --and decided to send the entire rebate to the ACLU.

But that was only the start.

Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer, SocialFish, LLC

Social media is all the buzz these days. For associations and non-profits wondering how to get in the game -- or how to figure out whether they should -- listening is the place to start.

Listening means finding the online social spaces where your audience is already communicating, monitoring the conversations that happen there, and gathering intelligence you can use to better understand your audience. Because social media is open and public by nature, listening is not only welcome -- it's expected.

Best of all, you can get started for free!

Lauren-Glenn Davitian, CCTV Center for Media and Democracy

Election 2008 is remarkable for many reasons. For the first time in U.S. history, the candidates for president have raised more than $1 billion. Voter registration is headed for new highs across the nation -- with a firestorm of newly registered voters under the age of thirty. And early voting levels -- 2.2 million ballots as of this writing -- indicate a massive, record-breaking turnout on Tuesday, November 4th.

Because campaigns employ such a variety of communications tactics to win an election -- from door knocking to lawn signs to TV commercials -- it may be hard to determine exactly what role social media tools have played in this historic year. But, clearly, the campaigns have made social media a central strategy in their Donor, Volunteer, and Voter mobilization efforts.

As agents of social change, there is a great deal the nonprofit sector can learn from Election 2008.

It's photosharing day in the We Are Media toolbox festival!

Does your organization run any events? Do you hire a photographer? We used to. Now, each year at the NTC, we ask our colleagues to upload any digital photos they take into Flickr, and to tag those photos with 07NTC / 08NTC / etc. (and NTEN).

The major down side is that we don't always get the high resolution images we might want for a printed piece of collateral.

But there are many more up sides than down sides. I can't think of a better way to show the energy and enthusiasm of our community than through their own photos! Also, we get a much broader range of photos than we would from a single photographer. Finally, when the photos are in a service like Flickr, we can use them in a multitude of ways.

A couple of weeks ago, See3 put out a great set of videos on how to create and use videos in your work. If you're looking to dive in a little deeper, YouTube has a new set of tip sheets you can peruse.

You'll find great ideas on how to turn your video into a full-fledged campaign and shoot and edit on a shoestring, along with more tips for customizing your YouTube Channel.

If you need a little inspiration, check out this video from NTEN member Tim Fullerton of OxFam:

The We Are Media Toolfest continues today with podcasts!

I recently wrote about my first experience as a podcast guest and the process Big Duck uses to create their podcasts. Of course, there's more than one way to make a podcast. I don't do it very often, but when I do, I use a service called Utterli. (I don't like to produce "shows" per se -- but I'm really into interviewing people on the fly.)

There are many reasons you might want to podcast. But where should you start? What tools are right for what kind of podcasting? Share your favorites with us in comments or on the wki!

Week Two of the We Are Media Toolbox begins!

Today, our topic is blogs. To this day, whenever I hear the word blog, I think to myself, "It's better than bad, it's good!" Ren and Stimpy jokes aside, blogs are typically one of the first things people think of when they hear the phrase "Web 2.0." Many begin their launch into the social media space with blogs; I always get questions about how blogs work and what software an organization should use.

Since I've become a near-daily blogger, I have lots of tips and opinions. But we want to know what you use to blog. What features are important? Share your intel with us in the comments below or on the We Are Media wiki.

We're going to close out this week's round of We Are Media Toolbox fun with commenting.

Have you ever commented on a blog, a picture, or a video? In many online communities, comments are more than just, well, comments -- they're part of a conversation. Comments, and then comments on the comments, often create some of the best discussion on the web. Chris Brogan knows this. Sometimes, he lets his community do his blogging for him, in the comments section.

But comments can also be the Nobu of the online world: where you go to see and be seen. Adding value to a post on a highly trafficked blog can bring you lots of exposure -- so much so that cottage industries are springing up! (My favorite line from that site: "Minimum 3 lines of non spammy comments!")

Of course, participating in all those conversations also means that you have a lot to keep up with, so there are more and more services that allow you to track your comments, like coComment.

So tell us, what commenting tools do you love? Share in the comments (!) or on the wiki.