Tweeterism » Twitter for nonprofits

There’s a Twitter Haiku Contest Going On…

tweeterism — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:52:52 +0000

A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three metrical phrases of 5, 7 and 5 respectively. It’s an elegant and minimalistic form of expression, one that is perfect for something like Twitter. Which is why Twitter is hosting the first real-time haiku poetry competition, with judges Yoko Ono and poet Jackie Kay, picking the best verses from entries posted live on London’s Kings Cross’s biggest digital billboard.

The competition begins on Monday, May 18 and runs until Friday, May 22. Commuters arriving into Kings Cross are invited to submit three line haiku-style poems on the subject of the British summer from their mobile phones using Twitter. To submit haikus, commuters have to place the prefix @kingsplace so their entries will be picked up by the Kings Place Twitter account. The best contributions are then moderated and appear within minutes on the largest digital billboard at the station.

Winners will stand to win free entry to a weekly poetry event for the rest of the year.. it’s not a hugely enticing prize but still, its worth it if you’re in London and love poetry. This is a pretty cool way of using Twitter and I think businesses should take note of how Twitter can be leveraged to grab mindshare in public places.

Creating a Twitter Feed for Conferences and Events

tweeterism — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:03:01 +0000

The Traveling Librarian blog has an simple post on how to create a Twitter conference feed so as to share content and messages about the specific conference to others who are attending or not. It’s quite easy to do and very useful especially if you are the organizer for the conference and are placed in charged of media communications.

I would add that one should designate the hashtag beforehand and actively promote it along with the account via the official marketing literature. Perhaps the conference account can be included in a press release to be sent out to the media as well, should they be covering it. This might provide them a greater experience of the conference especially if they are not attending in person.

So, for three conferences now I’ve created a Twitter RSS feed for those who are not at the conference to read the posts of those that are. The method or system isn’t perfect but I think I’ve got the major bugs worked out. So here’s how you do it.

Twestival: A Gathering of Twitter Communities for Charity

tweeterism — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:15:31 +0000

Twestival is a series of community gatherings featuring Twitter users worldwide on the 12th of February 2009. The goal of this is to bring together Twitter users locally for an evening of fun and also to raise money for charity.

Basically, what you can do is to check out the city sites listed on their mainpage and then participate in the specific event. Or you can donate directly to the charity or spread word of the festival (see the media kit) if you’re not attending.

This kinda of community volunteerism just demonstrates the ability of Twitter as a platform to organize and coordinate efforts by many individuals. Apart from the altruistic motivations, Twestival is a great showcase of what Twitter can be used to achieve when users are organized collectively around a specific theme.

Right now, we’re all concerned with stuff like what our friends are doing, checking the latest Twitter client or reading about how to use Twitter to market yourself. It’s refreshing to see how Twitter (and any other online social networking website) can pull people out of their immediate self-interests or ongoing social circles to engage in something that isn’t all virtual.

After all, people are meeting up IRL (in real life) to meet the faces behind the avatars. If someone ever tells you that Twitter is a waste of time and won’t amount to anything in the ‘real world’, show them to Twestival.

How the National Wildlife Federation Uses Twitter

tweeterism — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:35:06 +0000

This interview with Danielle Brigida, an Operations Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, gives us a general overview of how non-profits can use Twitter to generate support. She offers a golden piece of advice:

Start slow, listen and understand the space before you jump in. Don’t follow too many people initially–but follow people who share your interests or who are local to your area. Grow organically and be authentic. Talk to people like they are your friends, not like you are trying to advertise. I think the most important thing you can do is be real and ask for help when you need it.