Cheep cheep! A re-tweet (of sorts) of a re-tweet: this came to me via Beth Kanter, original content by Robin Broitman at Interactive Insights Group.

HOW-TO Write Effectively for Twitter & the Social Web, a collection of articles: http://ow.ly/pq5N

The main message is that writing for the web is different and those that make the leap to a more conversational tone and a snappier style will be more effective communicators.

A couple of my favorites from the collection:

How to Write for the Web
From Knight Digital Media Center: Blogs, wikis and discussion boards dissolve the barrier between writer and reader, creating a more informal and interactive writing environment. Take advantage of this opportunity and distinguish yourself by writing in a clean, active, conversational style that will make your readers feel as comfortable reading your words as they feel when talking with a close friend.

5 Rules for Better Web Writing
From Mashable: Josh Catone provides 5 rules to be a better writer on the web from “knowing your objective” to “knowing your audience” to “keeping it short” to “making it scannable” to “embracing constraints.”

~Peg Giffels

A number of recent events have provided a reminder of the importance of security in our computing lives.  Instead of elaborating in one long blog post, I will break these out into smaller, individual discussions.  Top of mind for me today is the recent trend of cyber theft – costing businesses, schools, and other organizations tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The general approach is for the attackers to use a keystroke logging program, typically placed on a computer system through a virus or malware, to steal the credentials that the organization uses to manage its bank accounts online.  A common method for placing these spies is through email promoting “too good to be true” offers like an unexpected refund/rebate or generous money making opportunity.  Once in place, these rogue programs may go undetected by your antivirus protection software.  Once the thieves have gathered the necessary bank credentials, they can then access them online to make outbound transfers to their network of accounts.  The money movement does not stop there, as the funds will be moved again and eventually land overseas.

So what can we do to help protect ourselves?  Unfortunately, in today’s wired world, we cannot insulate ourselves completely.  However, we can reduce our risks by implementing the following precautions:

• Email: Always be mindful that not all email is good email.  Only open email from trusted sources.  And even then, if the message seems suspicious, treat it as such or check with the sender to verify before opening.
• Antivirus: In addition to having antivirus protection software installed and running on your computers, make sure that they are being updated with the latest virus signatures.  Outdated signatures leave you at risk from new and evolving threats.  If a computer does happen to become infected, consider seriously the risk/benefit of reinstalling the operating system and applications, instead of just removing the virus.  The upfront inconvenience may reduce or eliminate future frustrations.
• Bank Accounts: Stay vigilant in monitoring your banking activity.  In the several instances that I am aware of personally, the organization spotted the fraudulent activity itself.  Early detection will help limit the potential loss and increase the chance of recovering those funds.  In fact, failure to identify and dispute unauthorized activity on a commercial account within a couple of business days greatly reduces the likelihood of retrieving any of the money that was transferred.
• Dedicated Terminal: To maximize protection from unwanted access, dedicate a computer for online banking and then limit it to only that activity.  Do not do any other web browsing or email from that workstation.  When you are done with your banking, turn it off until you need to access your account again.

The Internet provides us with many benefits, but it also leaves us open to unfriendly human interference if we are not careful.  So use common sense as you surf and email.  If you have questions or concerns about the safety of your network and computers, work with your IT professional to review your environment and implement any necessary changes.

If you want to read more about this trend in cyber theft, check the following posts from Brian Krebs’ blog:

• Cyber Crooks Target Public & Private Schools
• Data Breach Highlights Role Of ‘Money Mules’

Let’s be safe out there …

To pick up the conversation about what social media offers to nonprofits and why we should care, there are a couple of videos on YouTube (beware — these are social media products so you’re joining the revolution by watching!) that I recommend to anyone who is wondering why they should consider “harnessing the power of social media” for their organization. And there’s a book I recommend as well. It passed my “don’t recommend anything I wouldn’t actually read” test last week when my bookmark passed the halfway point.

The first video is “Social Media Revolution“, loaded with mind boggling statistics like “If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s largest.” Or “If you were paid $1 every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you’d earn $156 … per hour.” They use sheer size to make the case that social media is not just a fad, but is “a fundamental shift in how we communicate.” I couldn’t help wondering, however, what happens when those millions of users get distracted by the next thing to come along, which I wanted to do after a couple of minutes of the music sound track.

The second video is “Social Media in Plain English” from the folks at Common Craft. Using the analogy of ice cream shops, they illustrate how decentralized activities can be more effective and responsive than centralized organizations — one of the main drivers of the social media revolution. (They also offer a “Twitter in Plain English” video that lays it out quite clearly for the tweet-o-phobes.)

And finally, the book recommendation. I know, a book — ancient technology. I still prefer reading from paper to reading off the screen. Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody” is a very readable analysis of the technology and human behavior dynamics that are, he says, prompting huge changes in our society.  One of the “lightbulb moments” for me came at the end of a case study when Shirky points out on p.12 that power is accruing to all of us who used to be relegated to the role of audience. “It demonstrates how a story can go from local to global in a heartbeat. And it demonstrates the ease and speed with which a group can be mobilized for the right kind of cause.” Shirky builds a case that goes beyond sheer size to the underlying reasons that social media is attractive and here to stay.

Global mobilization — that’s the hope of every nonprofit ED and Fund Development Director — that YOUR cause will light up hearts and minds (and open checkbooks) across the world. And that’s the promise of the social media revolution — easy access to lots of hearts and minds who can influence even more people and spread the word for you. Given that promise, does it matter if it’s a fad?

Today I’m sending the final report summarizing the impact of NPower Seattle’s work on a 2-year project funded by a grant from the Greater Everett Community Foundation. The grant, which came from the Verizon/MCI merger Public Purpose Fund via GECF, enabled us to build partnerships with key influencer groups in the Bellingham and Wenatchee regions, and to provide quality technology training for nonprofit partners in these “underserved” areas.

Thanks go out to the whole team who made this work possible: Jaime Greene and Ann Jensen who proposed NPower’s participation three years ago, Jon Frank who managed the project and delivered training, Mike Anitas who stepped in to train the final workshops in Wenatchee this summer, Elaina Buzzell who administered Stable and Secure Scans with 11 participating organizations, Bridget O’Brien who managed registration, and our partners at the Whatcom Council of Nonprofits, the Opportunity Council, Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council, and the Community Foundation of North Central Washington who promoted the trainings.

We trust that our work on this grant will have a lasting impact. To quote the evaluation report prepared by MGS Consulting, “One of NPower’s goals is to increase the tech skills of nonprofits.  These trainings helped meet that goal and made an immediate positive difference to participating nonprofits.  In addition, all but one of the follow up survey respondents at both locations indicated that they believe the NPower training they participated in will continue to assist their organizations in the future.”

Finally, a big thank you to the Greater Everett Community Foundation for their support. We could not have accomplished this without the help of this grant!

Apple recently released Snow Leopard, an updated version of their Mac operating system.  One of the new features with this version is integrated support for Microsoft Exchange Server using Apple’s Mail, Address Book and iCal applications.  Before you get too excited, keep in mind that Snow Leopard only supports connecting to Exchange Server 2007.  If you are connecting to  Exchange Server 2003 (or earlier), Snow Leopard offers IMAP support, but you will not get the same integrated experience.  However, for users who need to connect to a mail server running Exchange 2007, this may be reason enough alone to upgrade.  For more information, check out the links below:

• Apple - Mac OS X Snow Leopard
  
• Snow Leopard and Microsoft Exchange First Impressions
• Snow Leopard In Depth: Exchange

We are happy to announce that we have hired a new Training Manager, Leah Ankeny, who will be joining the NPower Seattle staff on Monday, September 14. Leah has experience in both the for profit and nonprofit sectors, most recently at the Committee for Children in Seattle. She brings many talents to NPower including marketing, training and data analysis.

On another note, our trainer Jack DeLap has decided to return to school to finish his PhD.  Students and staff alike will miss Jack’s enthusiasm and knowledge. We are sorry to see Jack go, but excited for him as he begins a new chapter in his career.

Please join us in welcoming Leah and in saying goodbye to the soon to be Dr. DeLap.

Where would you turn for advice from your peers on whether to add social fundraising to your repertoire of individual donor solicitation and communication tools? NPower’s Websites and Applications team can help you set up your website to link to social fundraising sites, but what if you want to know more about the “strategy” side, or to hear from others about which tools are best or how to adapt your communications to make the best use of social fundraising sites?  One suggestion is to check out TechSoup’s discussion forums.  The online discussions connect nonprofit staff with each other and with technology experts who chime in. 

Here’s a TechSoup example: a discussion about social fundraising prompted by a post requesting “experience or advice on social fundraising apps like firstgiving.com, donordrive.com, changingthepresent.com, givezooks.com, activegiving.com, etc.” The one response so far offers links to resources from Idealware and TechSoup that look like a good start on figuring out the strategy side.

You can also see a sort of table of contents of forum topics and links to recent discussions on the Discussion Forums main page. Have fun!

~Peg Giffels

Following up on an earlier post, two new agency profiles are posted on the NPower Seattle website:

• Arts Corps (Salesforce CRM)
• Washington Health Foundation (technology planning)

These, along with the rest of the library, are available at: http://www.npowerseattle.org/about-us/tech-impact.