The other day I wrote up a collection of information for a non-profit starting to get into social media. Thought I might as well share it more broadly.
Blogs can be free – for example
- Blogger – https://www.blogger.com/start – It’s free and totally WYSIWYG, plus there’s lots of information on how to use it.
- WordPress.com – http://wordpress.com/ – A stronger more flexible host, that requires some know-how but is basically WYSIWYG. Again, tutorials and videos are available; use Google & search for them.
- Both of these require only people to learn how to use them and then to write, post pictures etc.
- You can also pay for experts to run blogs and for more expensive systems. I’d go for the simplest, that is, Blogger, if I were you.
Chat rooms,
- What do you want chat rooms for?
- If you just want a way for a group’s members to communicate, check out Google Groups – http://groups.google.com/?pli=1 – It’s free, email-based and asynchronous. People send to their Google Group and it goes to all the members, who can then reply if they want to.
- If you do want to talk to a small group all at the same time, you might try Skype – http://www.skype.com/ – also free
- There are other ways to set up chat rooms, too, but that’s a start.
Ask an expert forum,
- Probably you should just set up a FAQ on a wiki where people could share expertise.
Social networking site
- Ning is a very good free one – it does take time and expertise to set up and maintain – http://www.ning.com/
Webinar,
- I’ve never used Vyew – http://vyew.com/site/product/vyew-in-action/uses – but this could be what you want – again, someone would have to know or learn how to use it.
- I’ve attended webinars that were run with WebEx for literally thousands – http://www.webex.com/ – but it wasn’t entirely satisfying and it isn’t free.
- You might want to check with local podcaster and webinar producer Donna Papacosta – http://trafcom.com/services.html#webinars
Webcast,
- Again, what do you want it for?
- If for live webcasting, check out Ustream – http://www.ustream.tv/ – free, but time and expertise required
- If for presentations or tutorials, check out SlideShare for PowerPoints – http://www.slideshare.net/ – it’s free and only requires the creation and uploading of slide shows
- Screencasts are interesting – people get to see what’s on your screen and hear you speak – Jing – http://www.jingproject.com/ or Screenr – http://screenr.com/ – both are free but you have to learn a little to use them
- Also, if you create a video, you can upload it for free at a number of sites, including YouTube and Vimeo
- You might find VoiceThreads interesting too – http://voicethread.com/#home
Podcast,
- There’s lots on Google about podcasting, and it’s easy enough to add an audio file to a blog post – here’s some information – http://computer.howstuffworks.com/how-to-podcast.htm. There’s free recording software called Audacity – http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ – and lots of tutorials available on it. It takes a while to learn.
On-line seminars
- See webcasts
Almost all the costs for the ones I’ve mentioned are people-based – needing only expertise and/or time to learn
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Halton Peel Communicators Association – http://www.hpcaonline.org/
Learning Living 