One of the most interesting things about working at Firstgiving is seeing all the amazingly inventive things people do to promote their online fundraising pages. Sometimes we even get to invent or discover new ways. So you can image how proud of ourselves were were when we decided that we were going to start using Twitter to help people promote their fundraising pages. Well, sure enough, several intrepid Firstgivers had already been there, done that. So this blog post is for the rest of you who are either wondering what Twitter is, or trying to figure out how you can use it to help promote a cause you care about.

What is it? Twitter is like instant messaging and also like blogging, but also not like either one. You just type in whatever you’re doing or thinking, and your friends online can see what you’re up to and share what they’re up to. You sort of have to try it. Millions have, and many are completely addicted.

How do I get started? Go to www.twitter.com and sign up. It’s free. Then find or invite your friends, or make new friends and “follow” them, meaning that you read their little updates. Make sure you add Firstgiving as a friend, too, or @firstgiving as we say in Twitterspeak, so you can read our updates, too.

How does this help raise money for my cause? Twitter is great for telling the world that you’re raising money for a cause in a simple and non-intrusive way. It’s also really easy for people who see your update to repeat or “retweet” it to all their friends. If you tweet to us about your fundraising page (start your update with @firstgiving to get our attention) we’ll retweet your message. Sometimes we even make small donations to pages that are promoted on Twitter.

Try Twitter, it’s easy and fun and you might like it. You can use Twitter to tell your friends about your fundraising page and your cause, and use it to update everybody about how close you’re getting to your goal. Don’t forget to add Firstgiving as a friend – we look forward to Twittering with you.