eric's blog

1. Listen. Twitter is a two-way communications tool. Whether you just click on the @ Connect button in Twitter or use a high-end social media management software like Radiant 6, listening to what people are saying to or about you is important. A great tool that we use is social mention.
   
   
2. Ask a question, start a dialogue. The best way to engage with your followers is to ask them a question. Plus, studies have shown that people are more likely to respond, share or click on the link of a social media post that is in the form of a question.
   
   
3. The best way to get followed, is to follow other people/organizations; however, don't just follow everyone. Make sure they are relevant to what you are tweeting about and it's best not to follow more people than are following you.
   
   
4. Social media is social. Retweet what you learn from those your follow. Thank people for promoting what you do. Help promote what your friends/organizations with similar missions are doing.
   
   
5. Tweet more, but only if it is good content; however, make sure to ...
   
   
6. Pace yourself. Don't send out a ton of tweets all at once. After so many tweets clumped up together it just starts to become noise. Make sure there is at least five minutes between tweets.
   
   
7. One great way to make sure that you don't send out too many tweets at once is to use social media management software to schedule your tweets. We use Hootsuite. Another popular free piece of software is Tweetdeck.
   
   
8. Schedule tweets when it makes sense for people to read them. Think of your audience. If you are trying to engage people at home, tweet when they are at home. If you are trying to promote a screening, schedule it about the time people are asking themselves, "What do you want to do this weekend?".
   
   
   
9. Use TweetWhen and other analytics to see what times you get retweeted the most and schedule during those times. We've noticed lunch, weekends and evenings are times when people tune in to their Twitter feeds.
   
   
10. The average lifespan for a tweet is three hours, so don't tweet about the same thing for about three hours, unless it is for an event that it coming up soon, then tweet about it around the time the other tweet is coming to the end of its life.
    
    
    
11. Keep your tweets to about 100 characters. This will allow people to add their comments when they retweet you. Shorter tweets are also more likely to have their links clicked on.
    
    
12. Shorter tweets are better, but try 2 avoid the text style of writing, where u shortn wrds by takin out letters & using signs & numbers. 2 much of this can make ur tweet hard 2 read.
    
    
13. Use a URL shortener. Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck have them. Another popular one is bit.ly. Not only does this make your tweets shorter, but it allows you to track how many times the link was clicked on.
    
    
14. #Don't #Over #Use #Hashtags in #Your #Tweets. Limit it to two or three max.
    
    
15. Use hashtags only when appropriate like to target a geographic area, a well-established or event-related hashtag and in rare cases as a way to emphasize a word or as a punchline. That said ...
    
    
16. Watch for trending hashtags that you can jump on that can be connected to your mission or that would be of interest to your audience (i.e. What do you think of the Navy Seal Team 6 using the code name Geronimo for #Osama Bin Laden?).
    
    
17. Check your hashtags before using them. If you have a typo in your hashtag, you won't be part of the conversation that you thought you would be. Also, if you just make up a hashtag that is being used for something else, you might be part of a conversation you don't want to have associated with your brand.
    
    
18. Tweet more photos. People love photos and if they like them, they will share them. A picture is worth a 1,000 words right?  Also, they will show up on your Twitter profile as "Recent Images" and give people a sense of what you are about.
    
    
19. Posters are "photos" too. Want to get all the information about an event out in a single tweet? Turn the poster for the event into an image and tweet it. In most cases, depending on how you tweet them, people can see them right from their Twitter feed.
    
    
20. Tweet more video clips. You can use the shortened URL from the "share" section of YouTube videos (i.e. http://youtu.be/87ZSLhfLz5E) and the video will play within people's Twitter feeds.
    
    
21. There are many more tips that could be given, but the most important is that you experiment with different types of tweets and see what your audience responds to.
    
    
22. You can tell how your audience is responding by using free analytics like Klout, twitalyzer, twtrland and tweetstats. The best person (or organization) to compare with is you. Don't obsess about how others are doing, just work to improve your own Twitter stream's results from week to week, month to month.

In an earlier blog post I shared examples of resposive design found at the site Media Queries and encouraged people to incorporate responsive design in their site's redesign, but I found that people were asking, "That's great but how do I make my site responsive?"

Many non-profits will use WordPress or Drupal as an out of the box cheap DIY method for building their site, so I wanted to include a few themes for the two platforms that use responsive design.

Some examples of themes for Drupal that use responsive design:

• Zen
• Doune
• Sky
• Omega

Some examples of themes for WordPress that use responsive design:

• Responsive
• Oxygen
• iFeature
• Reveal

If you are really DIY, here is a great tutorial from net.tutsplus.com

Okay, in my last blog post I said "Build for mobile first" when redesigning your site; however, some people can't wait for their next redesign and for that I have a solution that I came across at the Google for Non-Profits Pre-Conference at the Non-Profit Technology Conference. Best of all, it's cheap, easy and free. It's the mobilize project from Google Sites -- sites.google.com/mobilize.

1. Design for Mobile First. This is a good idea not only because more and more people are accessing the web from mobile devices, but it will also force you to pare down your site to its core essential functions.
   
   
   
2. Create a Site that Uses Responsive Design. No one can make a single site that looks good on a 27" monitor and a handheld phone, so set up your site so that it changes depending on how it is being viewed. Good examples of responsive design can be found at mediaqueri.es.
   
   
   
3. Move to a CMS (Content Management System). Here are a few open source ones Content Management Systems, that we've either had a good experience with or have heard good things about: WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. WordPress and Drupal also have options that will host your content so you don't have to set-up your own server.
   
   
   
4. Integrate Social Media Tools into Your Site. Social media is a cheap and easy way for people to spread the word about your site. Giving people the tools to connect with and share your connect is a great way to increase user satisfaction and drive traffic to your site. There are several different ways to add social media to your site including widgets from sites such as Facebook or twitter, a third-party widget like ShareThis, a CMS module and Google Analytics code.
   
   
   
5. Create User Profiles or Stories. Figure out what your users want to do at your site by either looking at your website analytics or asking them through surveys. We like surveymonkey for online surveys. Creating stories will help you work through the way people tend to interact with your site and will help your developer get a clear picture of what you want.
   
   
   
6. Speaking of analytics, if you don't already, you should start to Use Analytics Software. Google Analytics is great, because it is powerful and free.
   
   
   
7. Get a Graphic Designer who has designed themes for the CMS your site will be created in. If your graphic designer can create something stunning that works, it will save you money when the coders go to build the actual site.
   
   
   
8. Check References and make sure if references speak well of the group that their site was built using the same technology you will be using.
   
   
   
9. Identify a Project Manager within your organization that can talk tech with your developers or make sure that someone on your development team is well versed in what your organization does. Think of this as the translator between the people that know your organization and that know how to build your site.
   
   
   
10. Start Getting Your Content Ready to Move Over as Soon as Possible. Remember when the shell of your site is done, you still need to add content. There have been many sites that have been delayed months because they waited to get the content ready for the new site until the site was 100% done.
    
    
    
11. Build in Some Additional Funds and Time in Your Budget and Timeline, so you can handle overages in both. Most projects go over budget and time. Be prepared and plan for it.
    
    
    
12. Test Your Site on your users or those who you hope to be your users. You don't need to spend a bunch of money. Don’t know who your users are? Look at the demographics of your Facebook Insights or ask in your survey mentioned above.Go to a community center or public place and bring a laptop and tablet for people to surf your site and give you feedback.
    
    
    
13. Don't Let the Great Be the Enemy of the Good and Remember that a Good Plan Today is Better than a Great Plan Tomorrow. The web is ever changing. Custom coding takes a while and maybe you can reach your goals with an existing module. Perhaps there is a theme for your site that already exists and that can look great with just a little tweak here or there. By keeping costs low and timelines short, you can create another iteration of you site based on real-world feedback from your users.

There are way more tips one could give, but these are the ones that are either new, really important or often overlooked.

In March, I was on a panel at SXSW called "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide." Working with technology and culture in Indian Country, I have seen how the lack of Internet access can be a roadblock for people to share or even get information about their culture. Because of this reason, I am so passionate about doing what I can to help bridge the Digital Divide.

The panel went well. I was happy to see so many journalists attend and have their eyes opened to the problem that still exists today, especially in rural areas. There were a lot of tweets about the issue during the event and a couple of articles were even written as a result.

It was after SXSW, as I was putting together a recap of the panel, when the subject came full circle. I got a call from my father, he was having a problem. He was applying to give nature tours for the state of Texas in the gulf region and hill country. He had to pass a test online in order to get the job. Part of the test was to identify animals in videos on the site and he couldn't get the videos to play. I stayed on the phone with him for about 30 minutes to troubleshoot the problem -- helping him find the right plugins, etc.

I never really thought of my father on the other side of the Digital Divide. He'd always encouraged my interest in technology and I was off to college about the time the Internet started to take off. But here, he was trapped on one side of the Digital Divide, unable to get fully employeed and a job he loved without a little help.

You see, something that a lot of people don't realize, and that was part of panel's discussion was that the Digital Divide is not just about having an actual physical connection to the Internet. It is also about training people, who are new to the Internet or maybe don't use it that often, how to navigate Web 2.0.

So this is my plea to the people reading this blog post: Take time and help those people in your life, in your community, in your Tribe that might have a little problem with technology; be a bridge builder and help close the Digital Divide.

I'll be putting up new posts on technology every Tuesday. I encourage you to share them in whatever way you wish, including non-digital media, like newspapers or Tribal radio.

Additional Resources About the Digital Divide:

"Innovating News in Native Communities" from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism "The State of the News Media 2012"

"Digital Nation: 21st Century America's Progress Towards Universal Broadband Internet Access"

"Scholars' Roundtable: The Effects of Expanding Broadband to Rural Areas"

FCC Eyes Broadband For Indian Reservations

Panel Recap for "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide"

Listen to "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide"

Questions:

Who in your life do you want to help cross the Digital Divide?

What do you think the biggest roadblock to people accessing the Internet is today?

I will be going to SXSW Interactive this year to moderate the panel "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide".

While I am there I will also be live tweeting information I learn at the pre-conference meeting of public media geeks (a.k.a. Integrated Media Association (iMA) conference) and from the sessions that I attend as Interactive Media Specialist for NAPT.

• Let's Talk Video for Social Change
• Storytelling Beyond Words: New Forms of Journalism
• No Brochures: Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits
• Designing Games for Documentary
• CrowdTV: Crowd-Sourcing Documentaries

If you want to get my notes on the sessions, just follow our twitter account @nativemedia March 7-13.

This is a list of sessions that I am going to attend for sure. I have others that I have penciled in, but feel free to recommend a session that you'd love to get tweets about by tweeting us at @nativemedia and using the sessions hashtag.

Check out this interview with our Assistant Director George Lee. It aired this morning Wednesday September 7th on KOLN/KGIN 10/11

If you've been watching, let us know what you thought.

Or watch the series online and let us know what you think.