How to "Let Go" and start blogging

Attended keynote address on blogging by Atlantic journalist Andrew Sullivan at the Non-Profit Technology Conference in Atlanta on April 9. The conference title makes most people think it deals with technology, servers, and computers, but the real buzz of the conference is using new social media tools for fundraising and publicity, in short, how to communicate effectively.

Sullivan spoke about his groundbreaking effort at blogging on his "Daily Dish" for atlantic.com, starting in 2000. He shared his experience of posting to the blog twenty times per day, five days per week with a gazillion people following his moves. My first thought was how is the experience of one of the most popular, persistent bloggers relevant to most people starting out or blogging for non-profit organizations.

Blogging has seemed to be more self-centered than a reporter's approach, though some of the best blogs clearly transcend these barriers. I'm thinking of two blogs that have shown me the great potential of blogging.

Oil Wars shows how a frank, open discussion can shed light on a topic -- in this case, Venezuelan society and social movements. This blogger writes with a personal flair, highlighting photos, statistics, government documents to comment on social and economic conditions there. The comments like many popular blogs are frequent and heated -- OW keeps up with all of it. I followed the blog around the time of my travel to Venezuela in 2007 during which time the blog reported on the controversy surrounding the license of privately-held RCTV.

Lawrence of Cyberia frequently reveals "hidden" stories of Palestinian and Israeli history that counters misinformation and myths in US major media and government policy. This blog "uncovers" parts of the Palestine history that are not part of the normal discourse of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, so it's not necessarily a great source for newcomers that don't have a frame of reference or a grasp of the historical context. I found one revealing post on a bus bombing against Arab civilians especially representative of the difficulty in discussing this issue.

In varying ways these blogs inform and educate, but depending on your position on the issue they could also inflame.

Blog as a Broadcast
Much of Sullivan's talk followed his important "Why I Blog" piece written in November 2008. He highlighted several keys to blogs, like how a blog is a "broadcast," not a publication. He emphasized how "it has to move or it dies," losing readers' attention quickly. He described how finding new material is difficult, exhausting, especially since he produces twenty blog posts each day from morning until late at night.

Blogs are not about writing, they are not a web site, he suggested. The key to success is that blogs constantly move, constantly engage, constantly distracts readers. Blogs are not "old form media, old form journalism," he added. He generates much of the blog posts, though another good portion are submitted by readers. Another frequent reader-contributed posts are the "The View from the Window" posts.

Two other key elements of blogging are: "every page is equally accessible" and "everyone reads blogs alone." He noted how readers expect him to write things they agree with. During his first five years of blogging, critics of blogging emphasized how people distrust what's written on the web or on a blog.

Sullivan mentioned his blog is not fact-checked like an investigative article, but that uncorrected errors will drive readers away. One of the qualities of blogging which separate it from traditional journalism is the concept of making mistakes as a means to increase participation. If everyone can comment immediately, then errors, in fact, will be called out quickly.

He discussed several topics as a way to highlight certain qualities of blogging. He noted that when he turned against the Iraq War he lost two-thirds of his readers, especially after admitting mistakes about his position on the war.

Blogs Build Transparency
Transparency can be terrifying, he noted, because everyone has something to hide, has doubts, and makes errors. But transparency is a wonderful thing because of the ability to reveal truth, despite mistakes in fact or judgment. The lack of transparency increases falsehoods and corruption.

He offered specific advice to bloggers or potential bloggers: Think about what's good to keep or not keep; think about why you're trying to hide something from readers.

Blogging is an "accelerated form of letting go." He found that when he changed his style to conversational, though it included incomplete shards, it allowed him to "let go," which is the opposite of publishing stories the old way, where readers are asked to absorb a story without direct feedback.

Nonprofit Technology Conference 2010 - Using social media to engage supporters

The conference title makes most people think it deals with technology, servers, and computers, but the real buzz of the conference is using new social media tools for fundraising and publicity. That is, how can technology be used to support decision-making and communications.

Some highlights of my conference attendance, include the following :

Sessions on "networked non-profits" with authors Beth Kanter and Alison Fine. This session was jam-packed in a mid-size conference room. There was a noticeable amount of excitement around the session with Kanter and Fine -- both are very active in social media and studying organizations. Kanter emphasized that "something fundamental is changing with social media," meaning it facilitates democratic, non-geographic change; social media powers social change. Fine mentioned there is a movement to open up organizations and turn them inside out through social media. They highlighted parts of their upcoming book The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change, specifically around how organizations can overcome the fear of social media. They shared examples of organizations using social media, like Union Rescue Mission, Charity:Water, and Surfrider Foundation. They provided large ideas about how social media, done right, can transform an organization, as well as practical tips to start or grow social media efforts. One example they discussed that could help a nonprofit start up: "step away from the fear with small, incremental" efforts, that is, develop a proof-of-concept where nothing bad can happen.

Keynote address by Atlantic journalist Andrew Sullivan. Much of his talk followed his important "Why I Blog" piece written in November 2008. Sullivan spoke about his groundbreaking effort at writing for his "Daily Dish" blog for atlantic.com, starting in 2000. He shared his experience of posting to the blog twenty times per day, five days per week with a gazillion people following his moves. He highlighted several keys to blogs, like how a blog is a "broadcast," not a publication. He emphasized how "it has to move or it dies." He mentioned finding new material is difficult, exhausting, especially since he produces twenty blog posts each day from morning until late at night. He also said that blogging is an "accelerated form of letting go." He found that when he changed his style to conversational, though it included incomplete shards, it allowed him to "let go," which is the opposite of publishing stories the old way, where readers are asked to absorb a story.

Session on constituent relationship management (CRM) system. One successful, growing CRM system is CiviCRM, an open-source system that has many advanced features. While CiviCRM is a “free,” open-source system, there are 13 full-time employees that develop and support the product. Some of the organizations that have adopted CiviCRM as their CRM application include: Frontline Defenders (Ireland), Wikipedia (managed $875K in contributions), Amnesty International, Creative Commons, and National Association of Soil Scientists. The session focused on case studies from several developers, as well as an update on new features. Case studies include those from HiDef Web Solutions, Civic Actions, See3, and Rayogram.

• Civic Actions (www.civicactions.com) focuses on development of Drupal CMS web sites with CiviCRM applications. They presented how they were able to customize event templates for EcoTuesday, a group of business leaders dedicated to sustainable development. Civic Actions is also able to measure email traffic using CiviCRM, though they acknowledge that other email providers like Vertical Response and Constant Contact provide better analytics than CiviCRM.
• TJ Cook with HiDef Web Solutions (www.HiDefWeb.com) shared their work building web sites for non-profits, including Canadian Bible Society and Faith Comes By Hearing organizations. HiDef has customized the Donation page to filter and display other fields. They also acknowledged the importance of CiviCRM having multiple payment processors for donations and e-commerce applications.
• Allen Burstyn with See3 Communications (www.See3.net) did concentrated work for Friends of the Family, a nonprofit providing family services in Maryland. This organization used CiviCRM to build a custom training solution to track training for hundreds of employees at 30 centers.
• An emerging module referenced during the session includes CiviSchools, a module within CiviCRM to manage a K-8 school interaction with staff, parents, and students
• The NY State Senate presented a case on building a system to manage interactions with constituents. In September 2009 developers looked at 16 different CRM systems used for tracking constituents and constituent cases. They chose CiviCRM and are customizing the CiviCase module. Senate employees can track their daily activities and enter interactions with constituents. They worked with the CiviCRM team on customizations. The development will be used to extend CiviCRM.

The conference is always a great opportunity to network with other nonprofits, social media advocates and consultants. Hearing about the success of other groups using social media provides a roadmap for organizations struggling with adopting these tools in their organizations.

Community workers addressing problems in their neighborhoods

During the agency conference I had the good fortune to share lunch with several people who coordinated food programs within their organizations. The food programs fulfill a range of public needs, like at Southside First Baptist Church on east 50th street, where a mother and daughter worked. Another woman worked for Nova Center. They discussed how the old public school nearby would be a great location for a service organization, but had become dilapidated over time, thus unable to be affordably rehabbed.

Another woman with United Services in Independence noted how they partner with a variety of organizations such as Community Services League, Catholic Charities, and St. Mary's to share resources to meet clients' utility assistance needs. Agencies seem to be all about cooperation, not competition, when serving working poor people in their communities.

Reports of an economic recovery are exaggerated

Harvesters, a 30-year old food bank in Kansas City, is opening a second distribution center in Topeka to better cover its service area in Kansas. The reports of the economy improving are quietly eclipsed by a still increasing demand at food pantries, as well as record highs in food stamp applications, especially in Missouri and Kansas. Several other food banks across the US are expanding the size of their warehouses, but others are expanding new programs to serve specific groups, like providing backpacks full of food over the weekend for school-age children and programs geared toward homeless high school kids.

Sister organizations - KKFI and Heart of America Indian Center

I was glad to see KKFI 90.1 FM community radio and Heart of America Indian Center will trade support for the upcoming Powwow to celebrate American Indian heritage on May 15-16 at Line Creek in exchange for radio spots. I see KKFI and HAIC as sister organizations.

Gadget Crime - then and now

Used to be people had to break in to your apartment to get to your gadgets. The first house in college I shared with two roommates was broken into twice in six months, plus the windows in my car were all broken. I think they stole clothes that time since I had no gadgets. At another apartment someone entered the first floor window and took a boombox;  they left in a hurry without taking a 13-inch TV. Now people are walking around with their collection of gadgets -- one of my daughters had a phone stolen from her purse at a friend's party, another daughter an iPod during PE class. Do people even consider it wrong to steal a phone left unattended on a table?