Is There Life Outside of Work?

It's no surprise that people in the nonprofit field tend to work a lot of hours.  I also know a lot of IT people that are constantly connected.  Is there life outside of work?
 
I say, yes, there is life outside of work - if you choose to make it a priority.  Check out my article on LinkToPro.com and tell me some of your tips for finding balance.

Social media presentation: Twitter, Facebook, Blogger

First Federal recorded this presentation I gave in May of this year. The 50-minute recording can be viewed here. Hope it's helpful to those new to social media!

Is Yammer a corporate alternative to Twitter?

Unlike Twitter, which is for the general public, Yammer is focused on companies, and only users with the same email domain can be part of a given network. It also takes a slightly different approach with updates. Twitter asks “What are you doing”? and Yammer asks “What are you working on?”

Yammer also seems to be a “mini-facebook” since every employee has a profile, which could be useful for large companies. Organizations with remote users may also find this feature helps remote users feel more connected to the organization.

Having a knowledgebase with past conversations has the potential to reduce email conversations. With conversations in one place, it could serve as a public email system for users and possibly reduce email overload.

Since it is web based, there’s no need to host or maintain the service on a company server. The basic version is free for those who simply want to try it out. If it turns out to be something your company wants to implement, there are several different options for upgraded service.

Managing twitter with sobees

Sobees is a tool for managing Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace.  It’s up to you to determine which accounts you want to connect and how you want to access it.  You can use it in a browser, on your desktop, or mobile device.  Many users will probably initially use it for Twitter.  If you choose to add more than your Twitter account, you can still organize your social networks however you choose.  You may want one vertical column per social network or a full column for your primary network, and have the other networks combined in another column. 

Probably the best feature for twitter users is anti-spam blocking.  You can block twitter spam using specific keywords and determine which trending topics to keep out of your timeline.  Many twitter users spending time dealing with clutter will appreciate this feature.  Like other tools, you can also use your existing twitter lists so there’s no need to recreate. 

If you decide to connect to multiple social networks with Sobees, you can easily update your status on multiple sites at the same together or select only one or two to update at a time.  There are clearly multiple tools out there, but it never hurts to experiment with the frees ones to see what works best for you.

Managing email overload

I’m sure I am not the only one with multiple email accounts. I have a couple different ones for work, several for personal use, and a couple more that I use for side projects. 

Whether you're nonprofit or for-profit, you’re probably receiving more email than you have time to read. Other than deleting your accounts, you just can’t get rid of email. However, there are ways to manage email overload. Check out my full post on LinkToPro.com for some of tips for managing email overload.

Interested in twitter, but not ready for an account?