hope140 blog

Four Simple Steps for Doing Good on Twitter

by Del Harvey, Director of Trust & Safety at Twitter

You’re here because connecting, sharing, and doing good online is something that’s important to you – and that’s great!

Using online platforms can increase the impact you have by making it easier for you to get your message out to a wider audience, solicit input and feedback, and make connections with others working toward shared goals.

We see folks using Twitter for all sorts of purposes and we’re constantly impressed by just how creative folks are in doing so. While there are any number of uses for Twitter, there’s one in particular that we’ve been thrilled to watch increasing – nonprofits and charities using Twitter to raise awareness about their causes.

@SFfoodbank, an organization that provides healthy food for folks in need in San Francisco and Marin, California, is a great example of this: they use their account to spread word about fundraising events, connect directly with volunteers and donors, and provide folks with a behind-the-scenes look into how the organization works.

But for every great organization using Twitter or other online platforms effectively, there’s another potential volunteer or staff member at an organization that’s still confused or unsure about how to get started or where their help would be most appreciated.

If you’re trying to figure out where you can help, start with these steps:

1. Brainstorm about local causes or organizations that you care about – for example, a local animal shelter or community soup kitchen. Find out whether they have an online presence and, if they do, whether there are volunteer opportunities. If they do have an online presence and there are volunteer opportunities, start with that! If they don’t have an online presence, find out why – it may be simply that they don’t have the resources to dedicate to creating and maintaining one. If that’s the case, ask for permission to create one. Once you’ve got permission, move on to step two.

2. Do your research. Find similar organizations or causes that already have an online presence or that are leaders in the field. Look at how they’re using online platforms and jot down notes on any tactics or strategies that they’re using that might also work for your purposes. Talk to others involved with your cause or organization and develop a plan for creating or adding to their online presence; write down any recommendations or guidelines they give you.

3. Connect with others. Reach out to organizations and causes that are in the same space and ask them what they’ve done that’s worked and whether or not they have any recommendations as to what you should or shouldn’t do. Putting in the time to develop a network will pay real dividends in the end – both in terms of you being able to help others and in terms of getting your message out to more people.

4. Start seeing what works. Take the plan you created and put it into action, then keep trying new strategies until you’ve identified what works best for you!

Find out more about folks using Twitter to help others at @TwitterGood.

About the Author

How Moustaches (and Tweets!) Can Change the Face of Men’s Health

What do Twitter and moustaches have in common?

Both are proven mediums for successfully spreading the message of men’s health across the globe.

During Movember, the month formerly known as November, men grow and women support the Mo (slang for moustache) for 30 days while raising awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. Last year, more than 855,000 participants (Mo Bros and Mo Sistas) raised $126.3 million for the cause, making Movember the largest non-government funder of prostate cancer research in the world.

While at its core Movember is a word-of-mouth campaign driven by in-person communication, our message is reinforced through digital media. Creating remarkable experiences is our mission and using social media to interact with our Mo community is an integral part of achieving this goal.

Over the years our Twitter presence has grown along with our Mo community. In 2011, 196,486 of our participants used Twitter to promote our efforts; combined, they were able to reach 110,228,646 people with tweets about the Movember cause.

#Movember was a global trending topic on Movember 1st 2011 with 5,000 @Movember mentions per day during the month.

Utilizing the Twitter plugin on Movember.com makes it easy for Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to share their Mo growth or support, recruit members to their team and to raise funds. Last year $491,711 in funds were raised via Twitter, up from $139,000 in 2010.

This year, we anticipate a higher volume of conversations created via Twitter.

Our Twitter account, @Movember, has over 51,000 followers globally and, thanks to four weeks of sponsored post by Twitter, we hope to reach even more people with the Movember message to change the face of men’s health.

So go ahead, share some Mo.

A Message to our New Neighbors

Hello Community Friends,

When it was announced last October that Twitter was staying in the City and that we would be moving to a historic art deco building on Market Street, there was a collective sigh of relief – we grew up in this city and would miss it far too much if we were to leave. And as a young and growing organization, we have a lot in common with the neighborhood we’re moving into; It’s a time of transition, where new horizons are coming into view.

A science teacher who uses Twitter for professional development once told me, “Twitter lends itself well to times of change.” By that he meant when groups are trying to affect change or figure out the right path to the future, one of the most valuable things they can do is communicate openly to share ideas and information with anyone who cares to listen, and to connect with those who share their vision that can help elicit action. As a communication tool, Twitter enables this type of collaboration, and we’ve seen communities around the world find smart ways to make use of the platform; San Francisco is one of them.

As a first step toward engaging more directly with the local community, we’ve been taking to the streets since signing our new lease to meet folks in our new neighborhood. We’ve been learning the deep history from long-time residents like Mark Ellinger (@tobiemarx on Twitter), and meeting many of the incredible people that make up the organizations impacting the area already. We want to understand where the brightest hopes and toughest challenges are rooted, and react to that with an approach that stems from our operating principles as an organization.

Since January, we’ve spent over 350 hours connecting with the community by serving meals, teaching coding classes to kids, leading clothing drives, giving legal advice, and teaching seniors how to stay connected. We most recently filled the Cutting Ball theatre (@cuttingball) with employees to see Tenderloin so they are informed by the voice of their neighbors, and to ensure we’re doing our part to build mutual respect and understanding.

As we settle in and form closer ties with those around us, we want to make a positive impact as collaborators, advocating for what we believe in and fostering connectivity within the world outside our doorstep.

For those we have yet to meet, our paths will cross eventually. And you can use @TwitterSF to connect with us anytime and to follow what we’re doing.

#worldwaterday: How Twitter and the Power of Birthdays Can Change the World

A Guest Post by Paull Young of charity:water

Today is World Water Day. It’s a day to recognize that nearly 800 million people on our planet still live without access to life’s most basic need: clean, safe drinking water. That’s 1 in 8 of us. At charity: water we’ve learned that the power of birthdays can change those stats, and that Twitter can play a huge role in getting the message out.

Why birthdays? charity: water began in 2006 with a birthday party. Founder Scott Harrison was turning 31 and decided to ask for donations to water projects instead of birthday presents. He used 100% of the money raised at his birthday to fund six water projects for a refugee camp in Uganda.

Since then, we’ve moved thousands of people to ‘give up’ their birthdays and ask for donations instead of gifts. Millions of dollars have been raised through this simple idea on our fundraising platform mycharitywater.org. Every cent directly funds clean water projects and we prove every completed project with photos and GPS coordinates on Google Maps.

Twitter has been a key tool for birthday campaigners to promote their birthday campaigns and drive donations from their friends. Twitter has consistently been one of the tools that has driven the most traffic to our fundraising site mycharitywater.org.

Today we’re asking the world to join us in pledging to give up a birthday for clean water at http://charitywater.org/birthdays and then to publicly announce their pledge with a tweet.

We hope you can join us!

Empowering Global Change on World Water Day

Guest Post by Mike McCamon, Chief Community Officer, Water.org

Most everyones’ true nature is to help others and make a difference. Unfortunately not every cause can benefit from you picking up a hammer and lending a hand from your own backyard. Such is the nature with most international development causes and in particular the water and sanitation crisis.

But we wanted to change all that.

International development is best done local. Local partners, local technology, and local participation. The proven approach is by empowering those affected by a crisis to solve their own challenges, solutions will be successful and in the long-term sustainable. Hopping on a plane, flying half-way around the globe, and pitching in for a few days does help, but there had to be more efficient ways to have an impact.

While the developed world can provide learnings, resources, charity, and financing, some of the most important work we can do is advocating for the billions who survive through harsh life conditions every day. And not just the big moments, but the everyday moments. “Where will I get my drinking water tomorrow,” or equally important “where will I use the toilet?” are everyday questions asked by billions each day.

So we turned to social media, and in particular Twitter, to empower those in the developed world, in advocating for change. And not just the celebrities, but for all of us. If last century we were all famous for 15 minutes, in the online world, surely each of us will be famous for 15 friends.

From a modest start, now over 35,000 people at one time or another have signed up to “Donate their Voice” to the water crisis. With help from both the somebodies and the nobodies, these campaigns have generated over 45 million online impressions, raised the visibility of the water crisis to historic heights, and most importantly, provoked conversations.

And all you have to do is donate your voice. Join us this week as we celebrate World Water Day and signing up to make a difference. We’d also be honored if you followed @water as we advocate for safe water and a dignity of a toilet for everyone in our lifetime.

Free to Tweet: Celebrating Digital Free Speech

Guest Post by Ken Paulson, President, First Amendment Center

James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the boys would have been all over Twitter.

There’s no question that the nation’s founding fathers would have embraced social media as a logical extension of their own commitment to freedom of speech and press. Today’s digital marketplace of ideas is exactly what they had in mind.

That intersection of traditional American freedoms and emerging technologies is at the heart of a new educational effort called “Free to Tweet,” a campaign organized and supported by a coalition of educators, librarians, artists and journalists to remind young people about the value of these core freedoms.

There’s a lot of reminding to be done. Only three percent of Americans can name the five freedoms of the First Amendment, reflecting a lack of attention to these core liberties in the nation’s classrooms. Surveys show that young people can far more readily name the lead characters of The Simpsons than the freedoms of speech, press, religion, petition and assembly.

To help build understanding, we’re using Twitter (follow us @1forallus) as a platform for an unprecedented campaign in support of the Bill of Rights. On December 15, young people between the ages of 14-22 who tweet in support of the First Amendment will be entered into a competition in which they can win one of 22 $5,000 scholarships by using the hashtag #freetotweet.

The contest, funded by the Knight Foundation, is tied to the 220th birthday of the Bill of Rights, a largely forgotten date in American history.

It’s not as though no one ever attempted to give this day the respect it deserves. On Aug. 21, 1941, a joint resolution of Congress called on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to designate a day in honor of the Bill of Rights.

On Nov. 28 , 1941, the Los Angeles Times reported that “President Roosevelt today called on the American people to observe Dec. 15 as ‘Bill of Rights Day,’ to cherish the ‘immeasurable privileges which the charter guaranteed’ and to rededicate its principles and practice.” FDR called on government officials to fly the flag and for all Americans to “observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and prayer,” noting that Adolf Hitler’s greatest fear was our freedom of speech, press and religion.

Then came Pearl Harbor and World War II, and the national celebration never really caught on. It’s the holiday that got away.

We’re trying to remedy that with a virtual rally on behalf of First Amendment freedoms on its 220th birthday.

All Americans are urged to join us in tweeting on Dec. 15 and help generate the kind of attention and energy that this date so richly deserves.

The irony is that most of us honor the Fourth of July because we believe it’s a day on which Americans secured their freedom. But the truth is that the Declaration of Independence really only secured freedom for white and wealthy men. It took freedom of speech, press, religion, petition and assembly — the five freedoms of the First Amendment — to lead to suffrage for women, the emancipation of slaves and equality for all.

Twitter is the perfect platform for conveying freedom of speech in as quick and contemporary a manner as possible. James Madison would be proud.

Twitter Ads for Good Program: FAQ

What is the Twitter Ads for Good Program?

The Twitter Ads for Good Program is one aspect of the Twitter for Nonprofits Program. See a full list of what the Twitter for Nonprofits program offers here.

Who Can Benefit from Twitter Ads for Good?

The Twitter Ads for Good Program is Split Into Three Separate Funds:

The Global Fund: This fund offers any registered non-profit a chance to amplify their campaign. Recipients of this fund specify an upcoming effort and request promoted Tweets or a promoted accounts as a way to reach beyond their regular audience and create special awareness of an effort. Additionally, any non-profit that pays for promoted tweets or promoted accounts advertising on Twitter is eligible for a 20% discount.

The Crisis Relief Fund: This fund ensures that critical information from relief partners reaches the widest relevant audience during natural disasters and other immediate emergencies. These partners are pre-determined and offer both preventative and post-disaster response messaging.

The Community Fund (San Francisco): This fund focuses on the needs of non-profits in the communities in which Twitter, Inc. operates, starting with San Francisco. This program offers pro-bono ad space to organizations that enhance the lives of local residents and municipal bodies.

How Do Organizations Participate?

Any 501c3 can apply for a grant starting with the Contact Form on our Hope140.org site. Organizations must have a clear need for initiating a Twitter campaign. Grantees are required to track the impact and report back on what they were able to accomplish. Impact reports are critical to our understanding of the real value of these grants and in understanding best practices in this realm.

How Do We Chose Which Organizations Receive Twitter Ads for Good Grants?

Twitter wants to remain as agnostic as possible. That means all applications are approved as long as the organization seeking a grant is confirmed to have 501c3 status and has a clear campaign focus. Given the demand, applicants should apply six months in advance of their desired campaign.

Does the Twitter Ads for Good Program Offer Grants for All Twitter’s Ad Products?

At this time the program only offers grants for promoted Tweets and Accounts.

Where Can I Apply?

Fill in the form here.

Twitter for Nonprofits Program

Since the day we launched our first advertising product in April of 2010, we’ve been supporting non-profits with pro-bono and discounted access to our promoted products on a daily basis. Specifically, our Promoted Tweets for Good and Promoted Crisis Tweets have served dozens upon dozens of organizations, and we are eager to continue our work. With more than 99% of the top 200 nonprofits in the USA on Twitter, we know we’re doing something right.

Starting this fall, we’re formalizing the individual services we offer to nonprofit organizations into a comprehensive “Twitter for Nonprofits Program”.

Read below to read about our existing offerings (and one new one!), and how to apply:

Twitter for Non-Profits Program

1. Twitter Ads for Good

Pro-bono: Select numbers of registered non-profit organizations can receive pro-bono tweets and accounts. This program is booked solid with a 6-month waiting list right now, so organizations must apply early. Fill out this query form for an application.

There are three pro-bono funds:

Global Fund: Any registered non-profit can amplify their campaign to donors around the world through this fund in the Twitter Ads for Good program.

Crisis Relief: Non-profit organizations who provide valuable resources in times of crisis (natural disaster, civil unrest) can apply to be considered for this fund.

Community Fund (San Francisco): Any registered non-profit focusing on the needs of communities where Twitter, Inc. has offices (starting with San Francisco) can apply to this fund.

We also offer paying non-profit advertisers a bonus:

Paid: Registered Non-Profit organizations who do not receive acceptance into our pro-bono program can apply to receive 20% bonus on all ad buys. Contact our sales team here.

2. Hope140 Spotlights

Guest Blog Posts from Hope140

Hope140.org is the website where we featured unique uses of Twitter in the world of social good. If you’re interested in contributing a guest post for the blog at Hope140.org, fill out this query form for an application.

Tweets from @hope140

@Hope140 is a Twitter account dedicated to highlighting positive uses of Twitter for good in the ecosystem. We often tweet out to promote third-party causes. Fill out this query form for an application for us to Tweet about your cause today.

3. Pro-Bono Analytics

We extend pro-bono access to a comprehensive analytics system typically reserved for paying advertisers to a select number of non-profit organizations.

Fill out this query form for an application.

4. Verification

To be considered for Twitter account verification of your non-profit organization, fill out this query form.

As always, some conditions apply to each program. We’re eager to see your applications for doing good on Twitter.

Twitter in Tohuko

Six months after the largest earthquake in 1,000 years, Japan is still working to rebuild.

Here’s a great video from James Kondo from Twitter’s Japan office at TEDX Tokyo, who talks about some of the uses of Twitter in the aftermath.

Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time

The new book by Twitter’s Claire Diaz-Ortiz called Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time is out today!

In celebration, you can get an electronic copy of the book for free for the next 24 hours.

Here are the details:

Starting at 12:00 AM (midnight) PST on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at A Time will be available as a FREE electronic download for 24 hours only.

Where can you find it free for 24 hours on September 6?

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Did you miss the free offer?

Enter to win a copy here.