Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

Kate and I published a primer on social networking for poverty law advocates and organizations in the July-August 2009 issue of Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. Here’s the abstract:

The emergence of social network websites as some of the most highly visited on the Internet presents an opportunity for poverty law advocates to leverage these networks to maximize the impact of advocacy work. To accomplish this, advocates must first understand what these networks are (including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), how they function, and what they offer to support communication and collaboration around advocacy. Guidance and concrete examples of how individuals and organizations can most productively engage with social networks assist advocates in making the most of these tools.

Our thanks to Jason Vail, Ilze Hirsh, and Michelle Nicolet at the Shriver Center as well as Liz Keith and Pam Weisz at Pro Bono Net for their suggestions and support. We’re also working on putting together a webinar on social networking with the Shriver Center in October. More details on that to come. In the meantime, please share your thoughts about the article in the comments. We’d love to hear your feedback. –M&K

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In April, I asked legal aid programs if they were using Craigslist for outreach. A couple of people responded, reporting mixed results but expressing interest in trying again.  (If either of you are reading this, please let us know if you have additional results to report.)

If you have or are thinking about including Craigslist in your outreach plans, "Lawyers Advertising on Craigslist," a recent Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast, is worth listening to. This episode features Will Hornsby, counsel at the ABA's Division for Legal Services, who provides an overview of several ethical issues that you need to consider. - K

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TechSoup reports that MarketingProfs is offering a free marketing webinar on April 1, 2009 from 11 am to 5 pm Eastern. Topics that they'll cover include

• Online branding
• Building community with Facebook
• Getting your fans to tell your story

For more information, check out the TechSoup post about the free webinar. - K

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The Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University School of Law just announced the launch of a new online lawyer directory in collaboration with Justia.com that allows lawyers to purchase a LII badge for their profile, with proceeds going to support the work of LII. More information about the Legal Information Institute is available here. -M

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Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court held a hearing on the state of legal services. In addition to a great opportunity to learn more about Texas' legal services community, this hearing was also an amazing example of how to include people who can't attend in person: Cynthia Martinez, the TRLA Communications Director, live-blogged the entire session, and the hearing was webcast live and recorded.  - K

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For those of use who don't have a paid web designer on staff, MailChimp is trying to help make our HTML emails a little prettier. They have made several HTML email templates available for free. Programs that want to experiment with e-newsletters or fundraising e-mails can use these templates to add a little panache without any expense. - K

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Idealware, an organization we've mentioned before on Technola, is offering a free webinar--Online Communications on a Shoestring. The session will look at how websites, e-mail blasts, and social media can help your organization serve its mission. This webinar will be held on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm (Eastern). You can register online here. - K

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Hamster Dance. Star Wars Kid. All Your Base Are Belong To Us. All went viral and were viewed by millions. But as it turns out, going viral might not be all that it is cracked up to be. You do get the immediate fame, but your site, project, or product may not gain a lasting following according to The Word of Mouth Manual - Volume II from Dave Balter. You would do better building a community of loyal followers even if it takes longer.

Dave has a few other nuggets to share.

• People have a list of about 40 products and services that they are willing to talk about.
• Word of mouth is not about the big influencers but normal people who influence their smaller networks.
• Organizations engaged in word of mouth marketing need to recognize that it is a conversation and have to be ready to listen to what comes back.
• Don't just jump in. Word of mouth takes planning. (Dave used a couple of great examples - Ghost Busters and the Coney Island hot dog eating contest.) - K

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VerticalResponse, a web-based bulk email tool, is offering a free program that allows nonprofits to send out up to 10,000 emails per month. What's more, you can purchase additional email credits at a 15% discount. Before you sign up, however, be sure to check out the recent idealware review of VerticalResponse, which discusses a couple of limitations that you should be aware of. - M

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A post today by Carolyn Elefant on Legal Blog Watch highlights an interesting study by FindLaw, which indicates that putting an online video on a law firm website can help attract clients:

"FindLaw's studies show that when choosing a lawyer online, consumers visit an average of 4.8 sites before making a decision, as compared to just 1.8 sites when a Web page contains a video. Moreover, an increasing number of Internet users -- 74 percent -- watch videos online every day, proof of this visual medium's online appeal."

View the full post here.

Although a number of legal aid and pro bono websites use videos to deliver substantive content to users, few use online videos to message to clients and volunteers about their services or introduce them to the outstanding advocates in their organizations. While FindLaw's research is clearly geared towards the business of lawyer marketing, its findings are compelling. They speak to the power of online video to improve a client's confidence in, and increased familiarity with, a firm's services ... something that legal aid programs should be very interested in.

Two excellent examples of using online video to highlight the work of advocates can be found at IllinoisProBono.org and IllinoisLegalAdvocate.org, which feature monthly videos on volunteers and legal aid attorneys who are making a difference in their communities. We know that these folks exist all around us, but do our clients and volunteers? -M

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MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn make building an online community seem easy. But those of us who have had to moderate an online e-mail list know differently. Getting people to subscribe and contribute takes a lot of effort until you've got enough interested and invested people to keep the conversation going.

For those of you who are building an online community with an e-mail list, you might be interested in the resources highlighted during a recent discussion on the NTEN Discussion e-mail list.

• Tips for Facilitating an Environmental Email List (ONE/Northwest)
• Publishing Your Own eNewsletter Or Running Your Own eNetwork (Kabissa)
• Building Electronic Communities and Network (Information Management Resource Kit) - K

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From the title, you might be hoping for a guide to online romance in the legal aid and pro bono community. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint. This is not that article. (Maybe you want to head over and check out the networking opportunities at the ABA Equal Justice Conference?)

This article is really an ode to Andy Goodman and the resources that he and his colleagues produce to help progressive businesses and public interest groups "reach people more effectively." Usually, that means getting them tell their stories better. I stumbled upon Andy Goodman accidentally. I was looking for marketing and outreach best practices and picked up The Communications Toolkit from Cause Communications. Andy Goodman's name seemed to be everywhere, so I looked him up online to see what else he might know. My online research ended with me signing up to receive two books - Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes and Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - and his newsletter, Free-Range Thinking. It took me a while to pick up the books, and I regret not reading them earlier. They look dense but are quick reads with lots of useful images and valuable information.

• Bad Presentations is a simple discussion of what works and how to give a great presentation. It should be a necessary read for everyone advocating for good causes. At the very least, if you use PowerPoint, for your audience's sake, please read Chapter 4.

• Bad Ads is also a great resource. While this book concentrates on creating big, glossy ads with great design, the principles that Andy lays out aren't just about those big glossy ads. Getting people's attention and having them remember your message is just as important if you are creating simple fliers that promote your website or a fundraising event.

The newsletter is just as impressive. In this day of e-newsletters, it refreshing to have a small four page newsletter arrive by snail mail each month. It covers a wide variety of topics related to advocacy and communications. And true to his message, Andy tells stories to involve the reader. You can sign up for several of Andy's workshops on his site. However, if you want to hear how he presents for free, you can check out a recording at the Social Innovation Conversations' website. - K

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One of the best free resources available to nonprofit technologists is idealware, a site that provides informative reviews and comparisons of nonprofit software. Articles that may be of interest to folks in the legal aid community include:

• Donate Now: Selecting an Online Donation Tool
• Getting Started with Blogging Software
• A Few Good Low-Cost Constituent Databases
• A Few Good Email Newsletter Tools
• A Few Good Event Registration Tools
• Six Views of Project Management Software
• Grants Management Software: Survey Results and Analysis
• A Few Good Accounting Packages

If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe to their monthly newsletter and check out their blog. - M

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