Social Media, Twitter Revolution, & Funnels

Phew! The inter-tubes have been chock full this month with smart thinking about communications and organizing for social good.

Three things we think you’ll find valuable:

1. Do you think or do you know that social media channels are helping you meet your goals?

http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2010/9/12/how-useful-is-social-media-to-nonprofits.html

Idealware and NOI released a report and guide for nonprofits using social media, and Allyson Kapin recapped in a terrific blog post. Our take? There seems to be a whole lot of “thinking” and not a lot of measuring going on when it comes to nonprofit efforts on Facebook and Twitter. Definitely worth a read.

2. Why the revolution will not be tweeted.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

Malcolm Gladwell lit up the twitterverse with his treatise on the power of online social networking for major social change. He concludes its power is quite limited. We’re still pondering it, but mostly agree with him with respect to the current state of the art. That said, we’re lucky to collaborate with smart people every day trying to figure out how to change that. We’re hopeful it’s doable.

3. What shape is your funnel?

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/09/what-shape-is-your-funnel.html

Seth Godin offered some thinking about marketing funnels (“put random folks in at the top and loyal customers come out at the bottom…”), noting that sometimes they might not produce not because there aren’t’ enough people at the top, but because there aren’t the right people at the top and the funnel isn’t efficient enough at moving those people through.

His argument reminded us of our friend and colleague Tim Walker’s point about “member experience,” making each experience of interacting with your organization compelling enough to make someone want another. We think Tim’s arguing for more efficient funnels, and we think he’s right.