The Agitator’s Week In Review.  This week the U.S. marked the 7^th anniversary of 9/11 … in a huge tunnel under Geneva the biggest science project –10,000 scientists and $10 billion – got underway in an attempt to understand the secrets of the universe by recreating the moments just after the Big Bang … the government proceeded to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and as if to highlight the growing problems in the economy, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that fundraising jobs were growing more scarce and successful fundraisers were being laid off. WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8^th

MONDAY: Brave New World of Digital Intimacy  The Agitator kicked of a week on social networking and social media with a must-read précis of a brilliant New York Times magazine piece entitled “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.”  Here Tom introduces you to the new jargon:  terms like “ambient awareness”…“The Dunbar Number”… and “Parasocial relationships.”

TUESDAY:  Making Effective Use of Social Media Tools.  Roger takes a look at the “hands-on” use of online social media when it comes to disaster response.  NPR’s Andy Carvin’s “Mobilizing the Online Community for Hurricane Season” is a great case study.

WEDNESDAY:  Social Media Not Just for Kids. See how AARP is introducing – and benefiting from – social networking tools to the over-50 set.  According to the AARP the audience for their social networking sites has more than doubled since the beta launch of this initiative.

THURSDAY:  Welcome to Mobile Marketing.  Experts offer useful insights as to what might work in the highly intrusive and high immediacy medium of mobile telephones.   Fascinating set of examples involving mobile phone campaigns. Good discussion of mobile marketing from Ad Age.

FRIDAY:  Shifting to Interactive/Digital Marketing.  Tom wraps up the week with a somewhat cynical view of the world of corporate marketing where, according to a recent Epsilon survey of 175 Chief Marketing Officers, 63% report they are moving their marketing spend toward more interactive/digital marketing – away from traditional media like TV and print.

 Your Weekend Bonus.  Even though you may not be using social networks in your fundraising and communications work it’s a good idea to get somewhat familiar with the trends and some of the applications themselves.

Social network sites like MySpace and Facebook started the social network craze partly because people were tired of chat rooms and Instant Messaging just wasn’t cutting it. 

With the evolution of Web 2.0 social network sites began popping up all over the place.  One of the newest – and potentially the most interesting – is Ning.  This is an online platform where users can create their own social websites and social networks. 

From this fundraiser’s perspective the unique feature of Ning (it hopes to compete with other networks like MySpace and Facebook) is that anyone can create their own custom social network for a particular topic or need and cater to a specific audience.

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use alternative that that doesn’t involve having to get a whole new set of tools and a new hosting account then Ning may be your thing.  To take a look go to www.Ning.com and check out the tutorials.

 A Great Overview.  If you have some time this weekend pay a visit to Beth Kanter’s blog and her piece on “How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media.”   Here you’ll find a wealth of insights by Beth and others about why Facebook hasn’t raised big money … the pros and cons of Facebook’s social networking application Social Cause … and plenty of other links that will help get you up to speed on the emerging phenomenon of social network fundraising.

Have a good weekend,

Roger