When putting together a social media strategy, be it your initial plan or a revamp, please (except in a few - very few - exceptional cases) stop offering me another movement to jump onto.

A while back, I worked for a woman for three months as a contracted employee - something of an odds and ends outreach person - and after finally putting some thought into her mission, she finally came up with an overarching objective: "I want you to use the Internet to start a movement around [the release of my book]."

The publication in question, which read like a textbook, was a heady and conceptual description of a particular element of global economics. Her goal was radically unachievable and immodest.

Google has apparently applied for a series of patents that will enable it to a put a value on how connected you are, within your social network. Akin to the "pagerank" system used by the search giant for valuing the popularity of websites, "friendrank" would help identify individuals who are particularly influential within circles of friends.

Don't try too hard to crack the code of authenticity. Sometimes reaching out and connecting to "the kids" requires more than constructing a seemingly fail-safe online presence.

"We're really focusing on reaching out to kids," is an expression I am getting used to hearing when talking with outreach coordinators at nonprofits. "We're trying to connect with young people by reaching out to them on the Internet," is often uttered in the same breath. "We're really going to connect with them when we launch our social networking site later this year."

Warning: The following inadvertently turned into something of a rant. The point, in the end, is that it is unwise to build a virtual social net without giving people context as to why you're trying to connect with them. In the end, it turned out to be slightly tainted with distain for social network whoredom. I'll be interested to hear about your take on the subject. 

First of all, I just want to note how exciting it is that Amy Sample Ward has come on board as the new Net2 Community Builder. As you all know, Britt has done an amazing job of bringing some fantastic people around Net2's vision, she is loved and appreciated, and everyone is excited to see her stay involved with the Net2 community. At the same time, we're psyched to be checking out the great things that Amy is going to bring our way. Here's to the future.

Join Facebook and three leaders in using social media for social change for a deeper look at how to spread causes and organize real-world movement through online networks. The session is being held as part of Advertising Week in New York, and is free and open to the public.

Facebook Spark Series: Spark a Movement
When: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, 9:00-9:45 am ET

Where: The Times Center, 242 W. 41st Street, New York, NY

Register for free at: http://www.advertisingweek.com/?page=calendar&eventid=25_17

Presenters:

Dwight Caines, Lead Digital Strategy, Stand Up to Cancer
Joe Green, Co-Founder, Causes
Oscar Morales, activist and organizer, One Million Voices Against FARC

A chat with Susan Gordon, Non-Profit Coordinator for Causes. She tells us a thing or two about how Causes works, how a medical student used Causes to create a 3.3 million+ strong campaign to fight cancer, and how to get your fumigator to join your Cause.

Here’s an recent example of the “long tail” effect working for a non-profit.

Backstage Technologies is a small, “secretly Canadian” software company. They specialize in developing applications for Facebook - specifically, they’ve invented a way to simulate playing “scratch and win” lottery tickets. Careful, I said “simulate” - there isn’t actually money changing hands, you can’t win any cash.

I will give you some actual nuts and bolts, but let me first say this: all good online fundraisers have two basic directions they work in - in and out. ‘In’ is a webpage, where people visit you. ‘Out’ is as in reaching out, through emails, smsing, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook etc etc etc. You are aiming for flow between the two directions. Because - just like all really successful fundraising - this is not so much about asking a bunch of people for money. Actually, it’s about a personal exchange - exactly what the internet was made for. Hold that thought, here come the nuts and bolts…

(to read the rest of this post, click here!)

If the more you communicate, the more impact you can have, the more you potentially can create more support for your cause, get donors, etc, should funders look at nonprofits who are communicating more in a more favorable light?

And should every facebook event post, every myspace friend, be counted towards that communication quota?

Or are nonprofits in new media investing program money in something that has yet to show a serious $$ per person return? 

Are funders even looking at communication as something worth supporting?

What is your experience?