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As a business it’s tempting to think of a 'tribe' as a 'customer base.' That’s wrong. People aren’t part of a tribe simply because they buy a product or service. What qualifies them as a tribe are their connections. Tribes of customers are connected to an idea, each other, products, services, employees, etc.—creating a network of connections to the business as a whole."

Tweet. Meet. Give. On 12 February 2009 202 cities around the world held Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Social Change and the Connected Age

Connectedness does not come from technology but is facilitated and strengthened by it. The greatest challenge for nonprofit organizations and their leaders in the Connected age is recognizing that using social-media tools is easy compared with adopting a new mindset for social change. Today, nonprofit groups are part of a larger network or ecosystem of people, organizations, resources, and information. Relying on old-fashioned, top-down management approaches for setting activist agendas and designing fund-raising and volunteering efforts will lead inevitably to disappointing results. Power is shifting from institutions to individuals throughout society. We have seen what happens when people can barter and sell goods without a middleperson on eBay, and when we can watch what we want, when we want, through YouTube. The same sorts of shifts are happening quietly in the nonprofit world. Anyone can create and post a video of what they think their Congressional representatives do all day as part of the "Congress in :30 Secs" campaign organized by the Sunlight Foundation. Volunteers can document the Connections between campaign contributions and legislation as part of the Genocide Intervention Network. Donors can pick a school and a specific project to support as part of the DonorsChoose Web site. Successful Connected-age organizations are those that facilitate broadly representative networks of social activists — not necessarily organizations with the biggest membership lists or the most money in their coffers. These days, young people, in particular, are not likely to join behemoth membership organizations. Instead, they go online to express their views and instantly Connect with individuals and communities interested in their issues and concerns. They also self-organize for social action as so many did in joining the immigration marches last spring.

Councillors connected: elected members and social media

Digital Partnerships Could Revive, Energize Local Media

Local news, interests and connections between consumers and advertisers are at the heart of both the failing traditional media saddled with legacy costs and the nimble Web-based contenders. The value of all things local has been woefully underestimated. It has been devalued in print and television, which can't quite make the leap to digital, and botched on the Internet--where it seems impossible to capitalize on the hyperpersonal in bloggers and tweeters run amok. What could be more relevant than what is going on in consumers' own backyard? Institutional media (newspapers and TV stations) has failed to connect with local as it is being redefined by consumers who are obsessing over the interactive ME-dia they care about most: their needs, family and friends. "The future of local is intensely personal. It is about what is within 1,000 feet of where you stand. Local is centered on the individual," says Outside.in CEO Mark Josephson

The shift of core ad dollars to digital could be even more pronounced if the major traditional media are not able to integrate new interactive products into their bundle. Holding on to advertiser and consumers isn't enough; everyone must be interactively engaged. 

"Businesses built to operate in the Networked World are as different from the Industrial Age models as a computer is from a multi-plane camera. Networked organizations are more biological than industrial. They resemble their employees more than their employees resemble them. They are highly adaptive, mobile, open, sensitive to their environment, and ultra-responsive. They continuously evolve, nurtured by a steady stream of intelligent input from inside and outside the organization. In a networked organization, where good ideas originate is not half as important as how–-and how frequently—those good ideas become reality. Good managers don’t try to control their brand’s narrative but, rather, to foster an environment in which it can be liberated, expanded and unleashed across networks. The emphasis is not on following a script, but on improvisation."

What's the future of social media?

21 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website Sticky