I bet charity:water is listening, too; they are very good at that sort of thing.

I was reminded of this next tweet I ‘collected’ last year. Just small talk; but most relationships start with small talk.

As Anne is fond of saying: it’s about creating target moments, far more than about target audiences.

Many scoff at those of us who love Twitter, and frankly I couldn’t care less. It works for me (at least for the moment). But I recognise that others – particularly decision makers – need to hear more than that. Twelve months ago I wrote a post, which asked, Do you tweet out on a limb? – with some suggestions on how to convince colleagues of the value of Twitter. That particular battle is on-going – although for me, Cory Doctorow nailed it earlier in the year.

The real value of Twitter… is to keep the invisible lines of connection between us alive

These days – above all else it seems – I am asked whether you can be personal (as opposed to private) and professional in social media? While Dawn Foster has written eloquently around this subject on her blog, there is generally a good deal of uncertainty about how to represent the charity brand personally – so yesterday I asked my Twitter friends about their experiences (see the bullet points a bit further down).

It must be said that on the whole, charities are gradually giving their staff more visibility online – none more so than the always refreshing charity:water – who positively celebrate their employees with a blog ‘category’ all of their own. Other organisations prefer to maintain a Twitter ‘list’ of tweeting employees – although even this is by no means a straightforward ask, and more than one person told me (privately) that they had to stop their charity employer from adding them to a staff list, citing their tweets as “too political”, and potentially compromising.

Of the 200+ people I ‘follow’ on Twitter who work for UK charities, I’d say a minority actually name their employer – with a handful carrying the stamp of approval of a Twitter ‘handle’ that is ‘on brand’ – e.g. Colin Butfield (@Colin_WWF), Head of Campaigns at the conservation and sustainable development charity. Also in that category include @onekindMK, @redspesh_oxfam, and Carolyn Miller @MerlinChiefExec.

What I do know is that I much prefer to follow real people than a corporate charity brand. Over time, everyone who wishes to, can participate. These voices may evolve into a charity’s social ‘tone of voice’ – the aggregate of all their staff – and become a vital aspect to their brand.

Back to the question. Steven Buckley (@stevenbuckley), Head of Communications and Brand at Christian Aid, shared the following with me…

[It's] Difficult to say anything that could be perceived as contrary to org policy and hard to let off steam about internal challenges. On balance I think a personal / corporate public profile is a good thing (credibility / opinion etc) but will admit that there are times when I’d like to say something about an issue – ‘chugging’ is just one thing that comes to mind – but I end up staying schtum.

A few people told me they give quite a bit of thought about what they do and don’t tweet about. Some admit to composing a tweet and, then thinking better of it. I’ve consolidated the feedback I received* into this brief list:

• Include a disclaimer in your profile;
• Common sense should always prevail;
• Don’t tweet what you wouldn’t want to see in print – or your mother to read;
• Keep it clean (a few people advised against swearing);
• Try to stay clear of controversial topics – or at the very least refrain from using inflammatory language.
• While your views are your own, bear in mind what you say could reflect negatively on the charity’s reputation
• Take care not to announce a new initiative before the ‘official’ word is out, and if in doubt leave it out, or seek advice (even though embargoes are so last century);
• Do not say anything that may damage relationships with corporate partners, suppliers, and other charities
• Be transparent – if responding to any work-related social media activities always make a disclosure.

I’d say that is a pretty good list. What do you think?

There are a few things I would also recommend charity leaders consider seriously…

• Begin from a position of trust;
• Don’t outsource your charity’s ‘voice’;
• Don’t make social media another silo;
• This is more than just a question of adoption – which is not enough on its own. You want those who ‘get it’ to collaborate with others;
• Build up the digital capability of your organisation – this should be endorsed as an HR objective;
• The digital capability that comes on-stream needs to be rolled into the brand
• Allow staff the freedom to be themselves – at least those who are already comfortable in their own skin;
• Avoid jumping in with both feet; many staff will already be fearful of getting involved. Rather consider carefully how you can signal a gentle suggestion of permission – “We’re cool about you tweeting” sort of thing;
• Recognise that much of the value in Twitter stems from its immediacy and the ability of staff to report and share what they are experiencing right in front of them;
• As a general rule, social media is best done by those closest to the frontline, already talking about your work – i.e. contextual conversations that might lead to an action, rather than something staged;
• Capture good examples of Twitter use that catch your eye, and share. This will help create a humanising effect that will invite staff to be part of an internal community.

That list is longer than what I had first intended. I guess it’s not that simple. But it is imperative; imperative that charities seek to build on the passionate community they (hopefully) have right under their noses: their People. For in the end, it’s all about the people.

Above all, charity leaders should recognise and encourage the ‘currency’ of connection that cements relationships and sparks new collaborations. Indeed, the best way to protect and embed the brand is the distribution of trust and the transfer of skills to the wider organisation. And as the internet for many has become a tool for everyday life, so charities should work to make sure every member of staff feels comfortable using it as part of their role – not least to allow for the free flow of ideas and to encourage innovation that often thrives in the grey spaces between ‘silos’.

Talking of which – I’ve witnessed how Twitter (among other things) can close those spaces between otherwise siloed employees – in a similar way to how Tom Peters describes the benefits of “manipulating the physical space” within organisations.

* Special thanks to @kanter, @AnnieGoss, @seidld, @medavep, @missnpatel, @lucycaldicott, @abougu, @benrmatthews, , @jacquiobeirne, @RobmDyson, @suefidler and others who asked to remain anonymous.

The 8th NFPtweetup will be held on 15th September 2010, and further information on this and previous events is available at www.nfptweetup.org.uk. As always, kudos to beautifulworld and JustGiving for sponsoring and supporting this event.

Do you work for a charity? Do you use Twitter?

I’ll put the question I posed in the title another way:

Do you ‘tweet’ ‘under the radar’… or seek management buy-in before you start?

This is one of the questions we’ll be asking on Thursday (the 24th), when it will be the turn of my friends at Breast Cancer Care to host the fourth NFPtweetup.

When the very first nfptweetup was held in November 2008, you could pretty much squeeze everyone who ticked both the ‘charity’, and ‘Twitter’ boxes into the cosy upstairs room in the Coach and Horses in London’s Soho.

Less than one year later, and you are too many to mention. Many UK charities (or at least many individuals within charities) have adopted Twitter and like me have no doubt been surprised, confounded, and delighted in equal measure.

There are many great examples of Twitter success; I signposted a few good examples in a short and sweet piece I wrote for London Twestival earlier this month. Beth has done better elsewhere.

On Thursday I’ve agreed to facilitate a group break-out session around convincing colleagues of Twitter’s value?

Tweeting charity CEO, Gary Williams of Sound Seekers is in no doubt. He told me (in less than 140 characters)…

[It] has to be about organisational goals. Specifically, it has to be about building a richer conversation with stakeholders, potential supporters.

So, there you have it.

But what if you’re not lucky enough to have someone like Gary as your CEO and want to get internal buy-in? Should you go under the radar of management in order to first build a compelling and coherent business case (rather than a vaguely-defined idea) and make your ‘apology’ afterwards? Or do you prepare a 20-page strategy document – as Neil Williams did to convince civil service colleagues of the value of embracing Twitter. (Neil’s PDF template is well worth downloading by the way).

Now for me personally Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread (with the possible exception of Flickr and meeting my wife). It’s of enormous value to me. I’m with Danah, who I think described Twitter as “a social filter, flushing good stuff to me.” That’s it right there.

Plan or improvise?

But what problem does Twitter solve if you are a charity? And how do you capture the value from the relentless flow from people who would like to connect with you. It’s certainly more than a numbers game. As Joanne Jacobs points out:

Social media influence is best measured by network effects analysis, not popularity.

Takes a bit of time and effort then.

So do you plan or improvise? Can you plan *too much*? Arguably, you cannot nail down a strategy in an environment of such accelerating turbulence. You have to be ready to jump on opportunities (if you’ve left some slack in your budget). Maybe just trust your instinct and use some basic principles as a guide instead.

If you do run up against the buffers trying to convince ‘non-believers’ in your organisation to experiment with Twitter, we can all learn from Katya Andresen’s wise list of tactics to employ (written with social media in mind, not just Twitter)…

1. Change the subject:  If you’re having a debate over the value of social media [or Twitter], you’re having the wrong discussion. The discussion should be about your organisation’s goals – with web 2.0 being the means, not the end (see #2).
2. Make it about what your boss already wants: Don’t position your web 2.0 idea as a social media initiative; frame it as your initiative to support your boss’s goals, in your boss’s language.
3. Make it about the audience: A good way to depersonalise the web 2.0 debate is to make it about your target audience’s preferences rather than a philosophical tug of war between you and said boss.
4. Sign your boss up to listen: Set up Google Alerts and TweetBeep for your boss, so she or he can see that there are already many discussions about your organisation going on online.
5. Set some ground rules:  Set a social media policy for your organisation, so it’s clear how to respond to what you’re hearing – and what types of initiatives have internal support.
6. Start clear and small: If you’re going to start an initiative, make it a small one with clear goals so you know how to measure success.
7. Report, report, report: Share every little bit of progress and give your boss credit for it!

A pretty good list – even if I do balk a little at kowtowing to “your boss” quite so much! I’m hoping we can come up with our own list on Thursday.

I’ll give Neil Williams almost the last word on this. Neil says one of the benefits of having the [20-page] document in his armoury is

To get buy-in, explain Twitter’s importance to non-believers and the uninitiated, and face down accusations of bandwagon-jumping.

After all, microblogging is a low-barrier to entry, low-risk and low-resource channel relative to other corporate communications overheads like a blog or printed newsletter. And the pioneers in corporate use of Twitter by central government… all started as low-profile experiments and grew organically into what they are today.

Anyway, if you’ve registered for Thursday’s event – I’ll see you there. If you haven’t (and it’s already fully booked), you can follow the proceedings online.

Once again, the event is being sponsored by JustGiving (see Jonathan Waddingham’s summary of the nfptweetup story to date) and Beautiful World (who’s co-founder, Rachel Beer came up with the whole idea in the first place).

You had better believe it when I say of all the events I attend regularly… this is my favourite. I get a chance to spend some face-to-face time with some very good ‘online’ friends.