By now you know what the Academy is all about: it’s a little bit like Firstgiving School…. but hopefully a lot more fun and interesting.  We don’t want it to be Firstgiving grammar school, though, where you have just one teacher for all of your subjects.  This is like Firstgiving University: you get to learn from lots of different professors. 

And so it is my pleasure to introduce to you our first guest lecturer: Brittany!  Our fearless co-op student, Brittany is another regular poster here on the blog (often on Laurel’s account, which is why you don’t see "Brittany" as the post author).  Brittany is in charge of our FOTW program, and she also oversees our involvement with various online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.  That’s why I thought she’d be the perfect person to write today’s lesson.  I leave you in her capable hands…..

Social Networks
guest lecture by Brittany

    So, you start out with this really cool fundraising page provided by, yours truly, Firstgiving. You email it out, get a few donations and then. . . nothing.  You let it slide a few days; hoping against all odds that one of your friends will graciously decide to forward on your FG url, thus furthering the reach of your fundraising realm or. . . or  you could take matters into your own hands.  How – you might ask – can you use the vast resources available to you on the Internet to your advantage?  Well, my dear friends, I am about to entrust you with FANTASTIC FUNDRAISING SECRETS BEYOND IMAGINATION! 

Blogger
    You can use Blogger to set up a blog to keep track of your story as you move toward your campaign, Kyle, one our FOTW who used Blogger to record his bike ride from California to Tennesee.  Also with Blogger you can use a Firstgiving widget to keep your readers aware of how your campaign is going and let them know how near you are towards your final goal!  With Blogger you can but photos in your posts, that you can upload using Flickr (a photo platform that makes it easy to put your photos. . . everywhere) and then insert them into your blog. 

Myspace
    For MySpace all you need to
remember are the 3 B’s: Blog, Badges, and Bulletins.  A great example of someone who used all three
to enhance his efforts is Ethan from the Virginia Beach polar plunge.  At the moment our widgets are not compatiable with MySpace, but we are working on a newer (and better) version of our widget (they’re coming soon, we promise!).  Bulletins are messages sent out to all of your friends on MySpace, so it pretty much is your own personal loudspeaker on the web.  You can use your MySpace blog to give people updates as your fundraising saga evolves. 

Facebook
    The “Share
on Facebook” function can be used to “share” your link with your friends on Facebook.  It’s an easy way to have your photo posted
along with the description of your charity!  There is also room for you to leave a personal
message in the comment box.  The share
will show up on the main news feed, your mini-feed and in “My Shares” section.

    Another way
to use Facebook, in collaboration with your FG page, is to make a group or an event and
invite all your friends! This can be a place for you to rally your supporters
and get everyone excited for your exciting new mission. And don’t forget that Facebook has a place to put personal links. Make sure you include your FG url!

Feeling confused, stressed even?
Our wonderful extended family at Justgiving made this fantastic diagram, here.