This month's Net2 Think Tank question asked:  How do real-world (offline) events fit into social media conversations and campaigns? 

This month's Net2 Think Tank question is: How do real-world (offline) events fit into social media conversations and campaigns?

My thinking: Social media conversations and online campaigns create whole new models for bringing together & powering the progressive movement. Although at core: People coming together in the real-world are key to fueling how we organize for change. We need real world events to be a central part of our online organizing. We need offline events to meet each other, bond eye-to-eye, and forge the collaborations that will make our social networks stronger, better connected, and ultimately transformative.

So - a major question is: How can your online community also support events in the real world? What kind of offline events are the best fit for your community? And what real world event models can you learn from or partner with? Well, let's look at five different event types and see if one or more of 'em sparks some ideas for your community!

Coming out of the N2Y4 Conference, I've had a chance to talk and connect with many people offline that I've previously only know as avatars, screen names or email addresses.  It was a great experience to be able to reach out and shake someone's hand.  There are also many groups and organizations now focusing on how they can best combine online and offline interactions or opportunities to take action.  And that's the focus of this month's Net2 Think Tank!

NTEN's 09NTC just wrapped up in San Francisco and many conversations at the conference focused on social media use by nonprofits.  With so many tools out there, and different options for individuals and other organizations to engage with you, how do you manage it all?  April's Net2 Think Tank focused on the multiple entry points of engagement used by nonprofits.  It was a tough question, but someone had to answer it: Idealist's Scott Stadum!

Topic:

Lately, I've heard from many organizations that they are on board with social media and excited to be finding, connecting with and engaging their communities online.  But, they are struggling with the number of options available and how to differentiate between the tools they are using.  So, April's Net2 Think Tank focuses in on the multiple entry points of engagement used by nonprofits.  Won't you join the conversation?

Learn more about the topic and how to participate below.

Net2 Think Tank is a monthly blogging event open to anyone.  We post a question or topic to the NetSquared community and participants submit responses either on their own blogs or on the NetSquared Community Blog.  At the end of the month, the entries get pulled together in the Net2 Think Tank Round-Up.  This month, the topic focused on the search for questions instead of answers.

Read the contributions from March's participants.

Power—who has it and who deserves it—that is what ought to inform technology innovations intended for social change. For example, imagine for a moment that you had put this question to the two most successful social reformers of the 20th century, Martin Luther King and Gandhi. What would they say?

It's Net2 Think Tank time again!  As you probably have heard, NetSquared has three, yep, THREE, open Challenges right now (N2Y4, Change the Web, UCB Human Rights Mobile Challenge).  This has got me thinking about the process of submitting Projects as many people do (check out the Global Project Gallery to see all those submitted to NetSquared Challenges so far

February's Net2 Think Tank sprang from an interview with Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody.  The topic asked: What do you think the role of nonprofit organizations is in the changing world of social media? This month, we also have a book giveaway of a free copy of Skiry's paperback edition of Here Comes Everybody for one of the contributors.

Watch the interview and check out these responses!

You can watch the video interview with Skirky below.  This month, we asked:

What do you think the role of nonprofit organizations is in the changing world of social media? 

External Video:

This topic is fresh in my mind since I just attended the first WeAreMedia workshop.

The workshop highlighted five tactics: