hidef

Brainmesh is HiDef's weekly get-together in which our team discusses technological innovations and trends, relating them to how they impact great causes such as nonprofits and social enterprises.

Back to another rousing edition of Cause-based Work at HiDef, the team had much discuss in terms of new technologies and innovations that folks should know about. Enjoy!

This week's Brainmesh was a cornucopia of relevant news and views from the team. From tools that are making it easier for nonprofits to create rich content to moves in the market that nonprofits should definitely watch, we've tried to capture some of the most intriguing things happening this week and hope you enjoy.

YouTube's Free Video Editing Tools

YouTube's Free Video Editing Tools

Google just announced a built-in video editor for all users. This announcements makes it really easy for anybody to do the 90% of editing that most need to do when they're trying to get a simple video online and look better than the rough cut.

Brainmesh is HiDef's weekly get together in which our team discusses technological innovations and trends and relate them to how they impact great causes such as nonprofits and social enterprises.

iPhone 4 Announcement Reactions

We opened up discussing the iPhone 4 announcement, from two angles. First, that we are a bit discouraged by some of things that weren't announced at yesterday's keynote by Steve Jobs. For me, two biggies were another U.S. carrier wasn't announced, and that syncing over the air and using cloud technologies weren't discussed (ie, we still must connect to iTunes to do certain things).

Branding is your nonprofit's face to the world. Your brand is much more than a logo--it's who you are and what you do. In many ways, it's like the first sentence of a rich story that you tell to each person that you're cause is trying to reach.

And, as we all know, that first sentence is critical to hooking the reader. It's important that your brand hook us into your cause. Here are a few reasons why branding is an important investment for your nonprofit.

It's What You Are and What You Do

Your brand is often our first exposure to your cause. Your brand should communicate who you are and what you do. Like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, the same can be said about your brand.

In 2009 many nonprofits opted not to invest in building social communities on their main website (ie "house" networks), electing instead to harness the point and click ease of establishing commercial networks: a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter account, a Ning network. NTEN’s latest Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report tells the story:

Facebook is still used by more nonprofits than any other commercial social network with 86% of nonprofits indicating that they have a presence on this network… Twitter grew to 60%. Overall, the number of nonprofits with one or more house social networks has decreased... to 22.2%.

Facebook: 86% usage. Twitter: 60%. House networks: 22%. The survey surmises that a high initial investment is to blame for the drop in usage, given the state of the economy.

When I heard the news from about Facebook spreading its presence more evenly across websites through things like social plugins and Instant Personalization, I couldn't help but stack the news up against other offerings that have sought to socialize and personalize the web browsing experience: RocketOn, Yoowalk, and Flock.

Why am I comparing Open Graph to a virtual-world-on-top-of-browsing (RocketOn), websites-as-virtual-buildings (Yoowalk), and Browser-as-socialmedia-aggregator (Flock)?

I'm comparing them to Open Graph because I believe Open Graph provides the user experience these great projects were seeking, but better.

Let's make a quick comparison and understand what the best way of engaging folks for your cause is and why.

Facebook isn’t just a potential market that many haven’t “tapped”. It’s also a place for real-time, personal conversation and feedback from your constituents. You shouldn’t treat it trivially, but you shouldn’t be afraid of it either.

Many posts speak of the need to get started on Facebook and offer a long list of tips. Those lists can be quite daunting, so in this post we’ll help you get up and running from ground zero.

For this process to go smoothly, you should already have a personal Facebook account and be logged in. Don’t worry, you’re not going to share any of your personal information. Facebook just needs an administrator for the Facebook page, and you can do that via your personal account (and change it later if you wish).

The 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference provided me a wealth of wisdom and friendships. It also gave me a sense of urgency regarding how nonprofits operate on the Internet, which is where I want to focus in this reflective, trend-defining post.

For quite some time nonprofits have focused on having a web site and making sure information is kept up to date. However, the web is no longer a platform for displaying electronic brochures; it is a platform for live interactions and relationships.

Here, then, are five ways the "Version 1.0" understandings of what the web offers are being replaced by the new roles technology plays in great causes.

It's the first day of my first Nonprofit Technology Conference (put on by NTEN) experience. I must say, I like the vibe. Sure, it's a wee disorganized, and there's plenty of salesmanship going on, but there's also an overarching sense of camaraderie and purpose to what it's all about. 

Here are three things I'm mulling over as I've had a few minutes to start soaking it all in. Mull with me.

As a non-profit organization operating on a challenging budget, tracking your reach online is often one of those laborious yet essential tasks. At this point, you may not have a clear picture about how effective your different marketing strategies are. Google Analytics, a free website analytics tool, allows you to focus your current and future marketing efforts on the advertising channels that produce the most reach and the majority of donations, providing your organization with the transparency and efficiency it needs.

Although there are many paid tracking solutions available, Google's free analytics tool supports, analyzes, and optimizes websites of all sizes. Let's get to know the basics of this robust and sometimes daunting tool, as well as some of the downsides you ought to know about.