Emaily Post’s Guide to Online Decorum

By Olga Woltman, Vice President, M+R Strategic Services

While Ms. Post’s advice about the appropriate dress for a butler in a well-appointed house and the rules of conduct for a débutante are hopelessly outdated, good manners still count. Without a doubt, email is an efficient and cost-effective way to build and maintain relationships, whether with your organization’s supporters or with your own nearest and dearest. But those relationships will be stronger and healthier if you heed the do's and don’ts of polite email society – they’re simple and apply in equal measure to both groups.

Click to read more ...

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is the Question

These days it seems that everyone is familiar with blogging. Blogs provide great forums for new voices, allowing people to document and share experiences and practical knowledge. Blogging has become immensely popular in the U.S.: the blog population in America is now above 12 million, which is roughly 8% of all adult internet users. In addition, 39% of Americans who use the internet, 57 million total, currently read blogs. This wide audience makes blogs a great way to reach people and keep them informed.

Why is this important to nonprofits? Blogs focused on particular issues are not overly common, and a blog can be a great way to engage a particular audience.

Click to read more ...

NetSquared DC: Beyond the Logic Puzzle

NetSquared DC,which met Tuesday night, brings together people interested in using technology to create social change. The NetSquared DC Meetup group is now the largest NetSquared Meetup in the nation, with over 100 members. Tuesday night's speaker was Ryan Ozimek, founder of PICnet, a firm that hosts websites for nonprofits and for several members of Congress.

Ryan spoke about the logic puzzles some Congressional offices have instituted that require solving a simple math problem before you can submit an email to a Representative. While he understood why individuals and nonprofits would fight the institution of the logic puzzles, Ryan pointed out that even without the puzzles, the impact of mass or form emails is sometimes little more than a tally on an intern's post-it.

Click to read more ...

Best day to send an e-mail - is there a seasonality factor?

It's July.  Have you been sending your e-mails on a Monday?

Perhaps it's worth revisiting the topic:  which day of the week results in highest e-mail click through rates?  This is of particular importance because studies show that the best day of the week for CTR's varies from month to month.

Check out page 6 of this study.

The author of this paper does point out though that there is no such thing as a universal "best day" to send e-mail. Individual organizations still should conduct their own testing to determine which day of the week works best for them, but any test should consider Friday and Sunday as viable challengers.

Hmmm ...  food for thought.

Have you read your RSS feeds today? That's what I thought...

By Justin Perkins

So RSS is pretty much one of the coolest technologies to come along since Al Gore invented the internet, but I'm not convinced that it's really taken off in practice. Why? Because you still have to remember to go to a website. RSS via email may be the happy medium.

Maybe some of you out there are diligent RSS junkies who slurp up morning headlines from a thousand different blogs and newspapers via RSS, but I'd be willing to wager that out of the almost 230 million internet users in North America, you're the exception.

Click to read more ...

Interview with Care2's CEO, Randy Paynter

See the interview on treehugger.com.

Create a Viral Video Splash

Source: Bushin30Seconds.org

As you've probably noticed, an online movement is beginning to democratize television and video. New online video sites are offering millions of user-created video clips that are entertaining and viral. Ian Hardy of the BBC calls the growth of online video "the viral video revolution." As more people turn away from the television and look online for news, online video has rapidly grown. David Moore, from Getdemocracy.com interprets the trend: "I think what's happening is that there's a genuine movement where TV and video is shifting from a top-down medium, to a medium that's entirely from the bottom up, where everyone is able to, say, create a local news channel, or to publish video of their family reunion online easily." Some of these new clips have proven to be extremely impactful. After the recent US immigration day strike, video clips from throughout the United States flooded in to and were posted at Getdemocracy.com.

Click to read more ...