I agree with Gina’s statement to a certain extent. Quote:

“Facebook… is actually going more in the direction of connecting you with the people you have strong relationships with your real identity, with status messages, and with photo sharing… Twitter’s about news and real time events.”

Ning instead is about building (strong) relationships with people you may not know in real life. So they overlap nicely to a certain degree, in terms of what they allow you as an individual or as a business to do.

But I still feel they are in direct competition, not only against each other but with all other things that pull us in different directions in our lives. We each may belong to dozens of social networks (online), be a part of multiple networks (offline -think your children’s PTA, homehowner’s associations, trade groups, etc.) and each of these expect a chunk of our time. No matter how effective we are, days are still 24 hours long and we have a few hours we need to sleep every day. So in the end Ning, Facebook, Twitter and all manifestations of social media in our lives are in direct competition for our most valuable asset: time.

How do you manage your time in social media?

DHF fosters a supportive environment where people touched by diabetes can connect with each other, hold informed discussions and share their experiences. As a result, their members find comfort in not feeling alone and together they promote a better understanding of life with diabetes. Since 2007, they have launched two social networks: TuDiabetes.com (in English) and EsTuDiabetes.com (in Spanish). Through their online communities, they’ve developed diabetes awareness initiatives such as Word In Your Hand, Drawing Diabetes, Diabetes Supplies Art, No-Sugar Added Poetry and the 14,000 People With Diabetes Test-in.

Click here to learn more about The Diabetes Hands Foundation and to make a donation to support this important initiative.

Matt mentions several nonprofits that are seeing good results with mobile advocacy, such as American Federation of Teachers, The Humane Society of the United States, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. For example, “NCLR had a lot of success tweeting out messages asking people to text “nclr to 69866” to sign up to get the California Supreme Court’s ruling on Prop 8 via SMS the moment it was ruled upon. The advantage of the SMS is that, like your email list, you can then own the data on your list, you can segment your list, and you can start building a relationship with individuals who have opted-in to your list.”

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Success in social marketing and fundraising means making our clients visible in a crowded online marketplace. Our agency works with clients to develop a strategy that not only uses social networks, but also persuades others to pass the word on. That means creating inspiring and thoughtful messages that work for both email inboxes and social networking sites. It means telling a story that communicates the meaning of the work we are describing, and showing the results that come from it.

The desired goal is to have the public, or the media, pick up a story and carry it even further — a bonus that is the reward for hard work and creative thinking.

Even better, is when an agency partners with a once-in-a-lifetime client who needs no introduction to the social marketplace — in our case, President Bill Clinton and his foundation, the William J. Clinton Foundation. On August 19th, President Clinton celebrated his 63rd birthday. To celebrate, The Madera Group collaborated with his foundation staff to launch an online birthday card fundraising campaign with the culminating message sent by his beloved friend Nelson Mandela.

By the way, it is not too late to send President Clinton a birthday wish and make a donation.

Happy Birthday President Clinton! We thank you and your foundation for all that you are doing around the world to fight climate change, eliminate childhood obesity, and give access to HIV/AIDS medicines to millions of people. Your work is an inspiration to us all.

Last month, President Barack Obama spoke to people of Ghana about opportunity, responsibility, and the important role each of them has in determining their country’s future. His message was clear: “The world will be what you make of it.” Obama’s words challenged and encouraged the people of Ghana to take control of their own destiny – Africans have already shown their capacity and commitment to making change, and now is the time for them to use those tools to create new opportunities for themselves, he said.

Since 2003, Dana Dakin has been helping to bring opportunities to life for Ghanaian women. Dakin is the founder of Womens Trust, a nonprofit group that works to empower women and girls in Africa through microenterprise, education and healthcare, and that has helped over 1,000 underprivileged women secure microloans and rise above unstable living wages. The organization’s U.S. team works closely with an on-the-ground staff in Pokuase, Ghana. The staff is responsible for loan administration and management of Womens Trust’s education and healthcare programs.

Madera Group is working with Women Trust to increase their online presence and visibility in the social media world. We recently helped launch a new Womens Trust Facebook page to promote future fundraising and social events this fall. Please visit the Women’s Trust fan page to learn more about their work and ways to get involved with the organization.

Photo: Founder Dana Dakin with Gertrude Ankrah, Program Development Director of WomensTrust in Pokuase, Ghana (photo by Suki Hill)

The Madera Group supports United4Iran.org’s global day of solidarity on Saturday, July 25th. Untited4Iran is a non-partisian group of individuals working to end the widespread and systematic violations of the people of Iran’s human and civil rights. In just three weeks United4Iran participation has grown to over 110 cities worldwide.

The Madera Group has been assisting United4Iran.org with website strategy, social networking and video production and coordination.

Nobel Peace Laureates, prominent Iranian poets & artists, and many others support the global day of action including: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Sean Penn, Dariush, Jody Williams, Betty Williams, Mairead Maguire, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Simin Behbahani, and Ismael Khoii.

Please watch this excellent video, produced by a participant in Amsterdam to support the event.

I am in San Francisco for the national conference of WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, giving the keynote address at lunch today.  As I prepare to speak I am overwhelmed with the importance of women getting together, reaching out and venturing out to talk with other business owners about how they are handling the dramatic changes in the marketplace, the economy and their family lives.

We can learn so much if we get out of our offices and homes, put down our cell phones, Blackberry’s and iPhones and talk with other entrepreneurs, as well as representatives from big corporations and government, about how the game has changed, what the new rules are this week, where the possible business leads are and strategies for survival and future growth. You’ll get very little insight sitting in you office trying to figure out why you are losing customers, clients and contracts all by yourself. The shame, doubt and blaming will set in if the only conversation you are having is with you. So set aside money if you can, and attend a few business conferences or meetings.  And when you can’t get away, keep stay connected by attending a few of our webinars.

By traveling to San Francisco this week I have had the opportunity to meet Kat Taylor, the founding Director of OneCalifornia Bank, the bank that made the SBA-insured loan that Linda Russell has been blogging about.  (Kat has an incredibly beautiful fish tank on her front steps that feeds an edible garden. I’ve never seen anything like it.) Thanks to Linda’s introduction we are now discussing how to introduce more women in the Bay Area to financing opportunities through OneCalifornia Bank.

I also have had the opportunity to talk with Lorene Arey – Count Me In board member who embraces change and always challenges me to face the future joyfully. I took that picture of the Golden Gate Bridge from her living room. Last night I had dinner with Kath Delaney of the Madera Group who is helping Count Me In optimize our web site and tonight I will be attending a gathering of M3 Racers at Molly Fuller’s business Hands on Gourmet.  I know I will come away smarter, calmer and clearer about what lies ahead and how we will all move forward together.

Practice staying connected. Being in a community in person and online is the best way to survive and thrive now.

Believe in you,
Nell

Change.org has launched 

a new career service and online marketplace for social change jobs called Jobs for Change.  They’ve created the site in partnership with more than a dozen nonprofits, including Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, AmeriCorps Alums, Echoing Green, Network for Good, and Encore Careers.  Among other things they’ve hired a team of career advisors to help people find and advance a career in social change — whether that’s in the nonprofit, government, or social enterprise sectors — and are hoping this can be a gateway for people looking to enter the sector. Their website also offers a vision statement that people can sign in support of the importance of mission-driven careers.