If You Tweet Them, They Will Come

Working with students in my job, I see the tremendous need for posting updates and utilizing social networks, especially through Facebook.  Most of my employees and volunteers don't seem to use Twitter, but I am constantly being presented with this tool as an option by my professors and other professionals who post comments quite frequently.  My question, as supervisor for several groups of students whether I should take advantage of the tools they already use or introduce them to new forms of technology.  Already I have tried new applications, including Doodle for scheduling and GoogleDocs for file sharing and forms.  But how much more can they handle?  And what would be most useful for mobilizing and updating my staff and volunteers?


I stumbled across an article discussing five tools to mobilize volunteers for nonprofit organizations.  With plans of working as a nonprofit manager, I found this piece a good reminder of how to use technology in the workplace.  I had never before heard of Ning, which is an online tool for creating your own social network or online community.  At this stage in the game, GoogleMaps won't be terribly useful for my work because our student activities tend to be hosted on campus, but I see how this would be helpful to point to event venues sponsored by nonprofits. The article continued to present the usefulness of Twitter, which I still hope to see used more for my current and future professional needs.  The other two suggested tools, Facebook and blogs, are tools that I currently use, and therefore the article reinforced what I already put into practice.  Nevertheless, I am interested in seeing how some of these other tool would work in a nonprofit organization, where the need for volunteers and public support could be addressed using these forms of technology. 

"Five Ways Social Media Connects Nonprofits to Volunteers" from Yahoo Associated Content http://tinyurl.com/4fm9pl4

Gotta Love It!

I must say, that while I'm pretty savvy when it comes to using technology, I quite often find myself wishing I could escape my constant connectedness to Facebook, Twitter, Google (and all its awe-inspiring functions), and every other tool that work and school require me to maintain.  Just last year for my birthday, my family ever-so kindly gave me a Nook so that I could enter into the "new-age" of book-reading, much to my dismay (I did gripe about it and how I prefer flipping the crisp pages of "real" books).  All of these things are handy, yes, but I really like being old school.  Nevertheless, I realize that if I plan to survive and even succeed through employment and maintain communication with friends, family and co-workers, my attitude has to change and I need to step beyond just knowing how to use all these incredible technological features and actually utilize their functions.

This is not the first blog I've maintained (the first served as an account of my semester-long study abroad adventures and the second continues to report many of my musings).  However, this blog will provide a glimpse of the lessons and techniques I develop this semester in my Monday evening IT class.  I hope to make this as exciting as possible, although my wit may wane at times.  So, welcome to the first post, and hopefully by the end, I'm gonna love keeping up with modern technology in a new and snazzy way!

Cheers,
Diane