Chapters 5 and 6

The fifth chapter in our book talks about Listening, engaging and building relationships. Showing that you are listening in social media is huge. As Chapstick recently found out, if you delete criticism and appear you are not listening, it can blow up in your face. Always keep in mind you may not always hear what you want, but listening to what the public (supporters or not) have to say is the only way to ensure you can build strong relationships. Engaging is the next step. Safe Harbor does a great job in this department. They Twitter and FB constantly educating people on victims and survivors and inviting people to functions and events. They are also building strong relationships by being who they are; authentic.

The story about the CEO of Whole Foods (or as some call whole paycheck) astroturfing is hilarious. The funny thing is, he’s still in the news for using a pseudonym, like in this article here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/23/rahodeb-returns-whole-foo_n_103244.html

It is also true that social media cannot create friendships, people create friendships. You can enhance your relationship through social media, but still, how close are you to your 18 long lost middle school friends on Facebook? These people may fit into the category of Happy Bystanders on the Ladder of Engagement. Some people may want to be more engaged but don’t have time, or know how, others just may be happy to spread the word when asked. The largest point is to ASK.

In Chapter six the book talks about Dashboards and how important they are for an organization to measure their progress. The website: http://www.nten.org/blog/2009/04/16/dashboards-track-your-organizational-progress has a very impressive list of what to include, how to include it and how it make it look presentable. This is information that should be shared with the organization, but what about the public? The book gives an example of what happens when a Dashboard goes public:   http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/11/is-a-publically-shared-dashboard-your-nonprofits-best-friend.html  and in this case it was a good decision. They offered transparency, which is more important now due to the rapid development of social media.

There are three types of organizations when it comes to transparency; the fortress, the transactionals and the transparent. The fortress is exactly like it sounds, guarded with high walls and zero transparency. If this sounds like the DMV you would be correct. The second is transactionals, these organizations base decisions on cost. Finally there are transparent organizations. These organizations are like glass houses, and they are much stronger because there is that element of trust involved.   By making your work public, you are setting a standard for your organization. People will trust you more if you are not hiding behind walls or secrets. It will make your network stronger and larger than any fortress.