Postscript

Because I like to give credit where credit is due, I wanted to thank the author of the Huffington Post piece that got me so riled up, where he called out my organization as not embracing social media enough. I responded (you can read that here) and he followed up with this post:

Thanks for the comment. I certainly didn't mean to classify CRS as an organization that is "doing it wrong." Perhaps it was a bit myopic to make broad generalizations about the reach of an organization solely through its number of Twitter followers, but as far as social media services go in terms of self-promotion, Twitter is king.

I'm happy CRS is seeing increasing traffic from Facebook and YouTube, and am happy to mention these gains in my article.

Jonathan Daniel Harris - we're cool. Thanks for the correction. We may not totally agree on the importance of Twitter vs. Facebook, but I respect the point you were making and agree wholeheartedly.

Bad day?

So it's one thing to have a bad day. Nothing major, just too much on my plate and not enough time to deal with all of it.

But it's quote another for a blog you love (Huffington post) to single out the work you do and tell the world you are not doing it well, while referencing a book written by bloggers you read all the time. What??!!!

The post was promoting a new book by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, called "The Networked Nonprofit." I haven't read it yet, but I am sure that it is stellar...they are both phenoms and I read them both regularly. I suspect I would agree with 99% of what is in those pages. Nothing wrong with that. But here's the part that ruined my day:

It's a skill that, remarkably, many groups still struggle to master. Think of how impossible it is, in 2010, to think "promotion" without Twitter, Facebook and online partners. Yet, even major organizations can often fail to capture a motivated online audience. Catholic Relief Services, one of the most prominent nonprofits in the country, for example, has just over 4,000 followers on Twitter. Compare this to the more plugged-in UNICEF, which now boasts well over 100,000.

Once the shock wore off, I drafted this response:

Great blog post, but as the Online Community Manager for Catholic Relief Services, I have to admit it ruffled my feathers. While I will concede that there is always room for improvement, I feel the need to point out that comparing a Catholic agency with UNICEF is hardly an fair comparison. UNICEF's celebrity Goodwill Ambassadors like Mia Farrow, Orlando Bloom and Ricky Martin often have their own fan base on Twitter and ask followers to support UNICEF.

I'm honored that you categorized CRS as "one of the most prominent nonprofits in the country", but a more apt description is that we are more a "best kept secret". We are working diligently to remedy that and it is working; our unaided awareness has doubled over the last year. Clearly our presence in social media and the social, viral platform it provides has helped.

True, 4k followers on Twitter isn't breaking any records, but our audience appears to have chosen Facebook instead. Our rapidly growing page is now over 21,000 and is a community of extremely informed and engaged supporters who comment on our posts. Using Google analytics, we know they visit our website to read the stories we post on FB. We are also using YouTube more and integrating videos in many of our e-mail campaigns with great response.

I think to look at Twitter as the sole mark of an organizations tech and social media savvy is only part of the picture. What say you, HuffPo friends?

Now I'm curious what you think? Obviously, as there are only 1.5 people in this entire organization responsible for all of our ePhilanthropy efforts (that includes online fundraising, e-mail appeals, mobile campaigns as well as social networking). Needless to say we're spread a bit thin and maybe I got a little over-defensive.

Or maybe not.

Could we be doing more with our Twitter channel? Of course. Thing is, it's not a popularity contest. If it was, we'd lose...hands down. I'm much more interested in building a community of CRS evangelists - people who love what we do and want to tell everyone they know. I'm stressing quality over a quantity of supporters and really cultivating those relationships. Isn't that the point of Kanter and Fine's book? To stop looking at numbers and start looking at the whole picture of what we are accomplishing with these efforts.

The rest of the post goes on to explain how the nonprofits who have the most success often utilize free agents with large constituencies of their own. Jeff Brooks had a great post on this yesterday, comparing this happening as just as likely as getting hit by lightening or winning the lottery.

Still, any free agents out there want to help get the word of CRS out? You can follow us at @CatholicRelief.