Supporting Technology

Technology: Social Networking

What is it?

Social networking is about creating online communities who are interested in the similar things, have the same likes or are striving for the same objectives. It's a fantastic way of creating awareness of a particular issue, creating a consensus of opinion or learning about new ideas.

How could this help your organisation?

• There is no faster way to spread a message then through utilising social networking.
• Viral marketing and campaigning is a hugely powerful tool and creates awareness extremely efficiently
• Can create communities of interest to bounce ideas off and share experiences

How to get started?

There are hundreds of social networking sites many of which have specialism's or a particular focus. This means it depend on what you want to do as to which site you will want to use. The most popular general sites include, Facebook, Bebo and MySpace all of which have subcategories.

Technology: Flickr, photo sharing website

What is it?

Flickr is an online storage facility for photos. These photos can be stored privately or left to be viewed openly by the public. The photos are "tagged" to enable visitors to search for particular areas of interest.  

How could this help your organisation?

• Flickr is a massively useful tool. Even if only used to store photos it can free up server space and allow access to your photos anywhere that you have access to a computer.
• It's often very difficult to source good quality photos for websites and publicity, especially without paying a heavy price for them!
• The contributors to Flickr usually allow you to use their photos free of charge, they usually only ask to be credited.
• So if you're creating a newsletter or updating a webpage Flickr can provide a free quality photos to make it more user friendly and accessible.

How to get started:

Simply set up a free account at www.flickr.com and start uploading photos. You can look at photos without joining but need an account to get the most out of the site.  

Technology: Blogs

What is it?

Blogs are a written diary detailing events in a periodical fashion. The name is taken form weblog and forms an online series of events.

How can this help your organisation?

• Keeping staff up to date about what individuals are doing
• To provide a periodic record of what you have been doing to feedback to funders
• To provide case studies of typical events and parts of your work

How to get started?

All you need is some webspace in order to start posting blogs. This could be done on your existing website or on a specially designed blogging site e.g. blogspot. Then its simply a case of posting information that you feel would be of interest to your targeted group. This is a great way to engage younger people in the sector.
 
 

Technology: Twitter

What is it?

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends.

• Mobile phones are the most accessible form of mobile media
• Twitter can be used to alert masses of people, quickly, efficiently and cheaply
• Asking question and collating responses as easy as email but more accessible

How to get started?

Simply log on to Twitter.com and enter your details. You will be taken through a quick setup wizard and be on your way in no time!