by Chris Noble (Originally posted on What Gives and re-posted here with the author’s permission.)

** Understatement ALERT **

knows a little something about organizing using social media.  In fact, if you were alive and online in 2008, you’ve probably seen some of Joe’s work.  As the New Media Director of President Obama’s 2008 campaign, Joe oversaw all online aspects of an unprecedented fundraising, communications and grassroots mobilization effort.  Now at Blue State Digital, Joe and his team use the principles they’ve learned to provide tools and services for social action online.

The cool thing is, he doesn’t take all the credit.  And he seems to think any group on a mission can have similar results, as long as they start with the basics: Find the voice for your campaign (or organization).  Start with the value proposition of what you’re trying to do, and how it will make a difference in the world.  Joe argues that no one will get behind an empty mission statement, and that effective organizing has to come from central, shared goals, not from the tools (Twitter, Mobile, Facebook) used to propagate those goals.

That’s a very important message for folks today who are wrestling with social media and trying to figure out how to start using it to bolster their nonprofit or charity.  Sometimes the tools themselves are so daunting (or so exciting) that we forget the message is what compels us to act.

It may be a lesson you’ve already learned. But it’s still worth listening to Joe talk about it. Check it out!

from on .

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