Comments on: Twitter Boosts Social Entrepreneurs

By: Wayan

Wayan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:56:27 +0000

Hmm… also I don’t think the 6 degrees of separation works all that well with Social Entrepreneurship. Its a bigger filed than you might imagine. About as close as I get to any of those folks is seeing them at conferences. I think in our field, the rule needs to be that the connection counts if you’ve worked together.

By: Wayan

Wayan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:49:11 +0000

Oh of course Twitter can choose whomever they want, and glad they started this. Just kinda disappointing that they played so… trendy.

Everyone interested in social entrepreneurship knows of Acumen and Skoll and their inner circle.. It would’ve been much more enlightening and beneficial had Twitter reached beyond the cool kids and into the broader scope of social entrepreneurs.

Just look at the list that Social Edge compiled. Rotating through that group would be more enlightening and worthy than the group they chose.

No matter, Twitter is rolling out “lists functionality” soon, which will democratize the who’s who in social entrepreneurship. Add to it that I’d rather have one dedicated follower who added me because they share the topic I love (ICT4D in Africa) than 10 who clicked on me but couldn’t find Uganda on a map.

By: Sean Stannard-Stockton

Sean Stannard-Stockton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:34:22 +0000

Insightful comment Wayan. However, I would suggested that you can play the Six Degrees of Separation game very easily with most of the social entrepreneurship space. That being said, I too would like to see a broader list. But that being said, it is Twitter’s choice to list whoever they want!

By: Wayan

Wayan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:34:36 +0000

I love the idea! Its great to see Twitter getting past those that are already famous and recognizing those that are changing the world in a different way.

I just hope to see it expand past what looks to be a pretty self-involved list. Within 0 degrees of separation we have:

1. Jacqueline Novogratz founded 2. Acumen Fund which has a partnership with 3. Skoll Foundation who runs 4. Social Edge with bloggers 5. Kjerstin Erickson and 6. Matt Flannery, of 7. Kiva who sits on the board of 8. Room to Read

What about democratizing this process a bit by using a hashtag to nominate those that should be on the next list? Say #TSESU for Twitter Social Enterprise Suggested Users.

By: Beth Kanter

Beth Kanter — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:33:31 +0000

Sean:

You missed one on your list!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/3985132969/

Wow, thanks Claire! Now, I’m going to track the impact over time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/3984767371/

And of course, be more mindful of retweeting nonprofit’s tweets.

By: Miquel

Miquel — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:14:53 +0000

I suppose this is good news depending on how you use Twitter. If you use it as a broadcast medium, then the more followers, the better, in theory. But if you use it as a communication medium (as my organization does), then a sudden blast of followers doesn’t really do all that much, except to muddy the waters.
Personally, I find it also be a very dangerous arena to enter for those working on a new model of development in places such as Africa. If you find yourself suddenly broadcasting to 16,000 people instead of the 1,000 (or even 100) which you have grown around your Twitter organically, are you not falling in to the same paradigm of decades of previous development where there is no conversation with those affected? Instead, are you not just creating the same, one-way communication models, except in a new medium?
While the chance to have that people hearing what I’m saying seems quite tempting on the surface, it doesn’t merit much. Twitter has been great in my organization for getting clickthrus to articles, but in getting people to actually take any real action, it’s practically useless.

By: Beth Kanter

Beth Kanter — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:27:40 +0000

Interesting, a few weeks there was a giant flap about Seth Godin’s use of the twitter followers or the top twitter lists to determine nonprofit success of social media. Now we’ll be able to see? I like what Skoll Foundation did! Great use of leverage.

By: Evan Bartlett

Evan Bartlett — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:14:06 +0000

Wonder what caused this? I’m a volunteer doing social media stuff for @kiva’s community outreach team and I pitched @jack on the idea a week ago via direct message in this little amateur mock-up http://bit.ly/3P6IkN

He didn’t think it would do much in terms of getting quality followers, so I don’t know if he’s responsible.

Any feedback on the quality of the followers or conversions? Having a higher number can’t be bad, but it’ll be interesting to see if they are nearly as engaged…

By: Wade Hilton

Wade Hilton — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:16:20 +0000

Hi Claire:
I’m new to Twitter and although I have eleven books on the market, I’m lacking in funds. Any tips on how I could get them in the hands of the public? Take a look at some of the more important ones on the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=wade+hilton&x=0&y=0
Kind regards,
Wade

By: Claire Williams

Claire Williams — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:45:51 +0000

Hey All –

We’re honored to be able to use Twitter to highlight your amazing work! Do contact me with any questions,

Claire and everybody at Twitter

By: Collective Responsib

Collective Responsib — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:58:55 +0000

Here is a list of over 50 socialentrepreneurs in China.

http://china-crossroads.com/2009/07/29/socialpreneur-twitters/

By: Erin Michelson

Erin Michelson — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:52:52 +0000

This is really fabulous. Glad to see a mix of philanthropic people and nonprofit orgs on the list.

By: Allison Reynolds

Allison Reynolds — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:44:33 +0000

I wonder if Seth Godin had a word in their ears. This was how Squidoo attracted many people, by appealing to their philanthropic sides.

And let’s hope this silences blowhards like @scobelizer that have been demanding they should be on the list. Well done Twitter.

By: Kjerstin Erickson

Kjerstin Erickson — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:48:42 +0000

From what I can tell, this is an initiative of Claire Williams (@trippingonwords), a 2009 Skoll Scholar now working on Social Innovation for Twitter. Just another little example of how the movement is evolving, and how social entrepreneurship can be just as effectively (and often more impactfully) practiced from within existing companies. They are also compiling a list of Twitter best practices specifically for NPOs. Cool stuff.