It Doesn't Hurt to Give a Tweet

Give a Tweet is a relatively new Twitter application (beta) to encourage Twitter users to donate to non-profit organizations and/or match the donations of others. I don't see a downside to experimenting with this approach to soliciting donations. While there is a little labor required by non-profits to set up ("claim") and monitor the account, most of the administrative details, including the delivery of donations to your nonprofit are handled directly by Network for Good.

“Give a Tweet was founded to leverage the real-time power of Twitter to make it easy to donate to non-profits. Give a Tweet wants to enhance the donations received by helping individuals and companies promote the non-profits that they support by matching donations from friends and strangers! The original donation gets a boost, the matcher gets the kudos and the charities benefit all around.”

Risk
Because the Give a Tweet application is fairly new, it may take a while before it is widely adopted and/or perceived as a valid donation vehicle.

Benefits
There is no financial commitment required.
Administration of actual donations is provided by Network for Good.
You may be able to raise money for your non-profit via an already established social network channel – your Twitter account.

Cost
4.75% fee for collecting and disbursement of donations.


Matching
There is a potential to partner with or find donors who will match your Give a Tweet donations.
Followers of your twitter account can be encouraged to donate on your Give a Tweet page and to send their followers to your page to make donations.
Businesses (especially small businesses) that donate or match can benefit by getting exposure for their philanthropy via Twitter.

Security
A human vets your claim to set up a non-profit page.
Donations are collected via a secure donation form provided by Network for Good.
All donations go directly to your mailing address or can be directly deposited in your account.

Administration
Set Up
Login using the official Twitter account for the organization and “Claim” your organization. This goes thru a (human) verification process. Once the Twitter account is linked you can login, set up and edit your information organization's info on Giveatweet.com.
Maintenance
Directing followers to the Give a Tweet page. Attracting and nurturing followers willing to donate and/or match the donations of other followers. Checking Network for Good admin console and reporting on donations.
Tax Receipts
Tax donation receipts are sent by Network for Good.
Your organization does need to send an additional receipt.
Disbursements
Network for Good disburses all successful donations made through the Give a Tweet site on the 15th of each month.

Resources
Three Reasons Why Nonprofits Should Give a Tweet
Sample:Give a Tweet Announcement
Sample: Give a Tweet Page
Give a Tweet: How Small Businesses Can Generate Buzz on Twitter Through Philanthropy and Cause Marketing
Give a Tweet on Facebook

Writing in Books

I went to a lecture recently about reading. There was a lot of discussion about annotation. Some people had strong feelings about whether they would/would not buy used books (text books) that were annotated and whether or not their decision would be influenced by whether the annotator was an A or a D student. There was talk about whether people remember the act of annotating or remember something because it was annotated.

However, when someone brought up annotation of fiction, many people seemed astonished (in a bad way). Apparently fiction is the Maginot Line of annotation. People seemed appalled by the very mention of it. I didn’t get the distinction; I thought everyone wrote in everything.

I have many of my mother’s books and many of them are fiction and many are annotated. Apparently I come from a long line of annotators, my grandmother also scribbled on everything she read (including the newspaper) and even made notes for herself on the dining room walls. Frustrated writers? Maybe. Eccentrics? Yes. Total reprobates? No, defiling a library book was out of the question. But writing in your own copy of Moby Dick – go for it.

At the time of the lecture I was reading one of my mother’s books. It was full of small notes and underlined sentences, and whether I understood them or not, the annotations, more than the book itself, were giving me great pleasure. I can’t claim to know why my mom noted what she did; why some things deserved exclamation points and others question marks; but I have a pretty good idea what YES!!! means next to an underlined sentence. I value the book because messy, illegible, snarky, incomprehensibly daring youthful and exuberant - my mother is there. Her handwriting was small with undefined letters (she always said she ruined it by learning shorthand) but it is distinctively hers. Her comments too, hers alone. Yet mine to keep and ponder, even savor, because she wrote in books.

TMI

Too much information.

onSale.com

Satisfying Menu

Thank you QVC.

I love kitchen stuff. From this cascading menu I can shop by product type or by brand name. The categories are easy to read (black text and bullets) and easy to select (good contrast on mouse-over and adequate leading between lines).

And, at the bottom of the menu there's a choice that's visually highlighted to view New or Clearance Items.

Works for me.

Bakeware page at QVC

This web page will self-destruct in . . .

Users are distracted (taunted?) in so many ways today: moving pages, moving pop-ups, pop-ups that can't be closed, messages where OK and Cancel mean the same thing, i.e. Cancel does not in fact cancel.

For me, page curl - where the web page appears to be self-destructing by peeling off a layer of its skin (complete with a ripping sound) - is one of the most offensive.

I wish someone would do a study about time on site/page curl implementation; because when the tearing sound starts, I'm out of there. . .

Semantics . . .

Glossary of Naval Terms - Circa 1943
Passed on by my mother, a WAVE Captain during WWII:

Take necessary action - It's your headache now.

We should confer - Send your yeoman over to see mine.

Forwarded - Pigeon-holed in a more ornate office.

A growing Body of naval opinion - Two brass hats have agreed.

Take immediate action - Do something in a hurry before we both catch hell.

For your information - Let's both forget it.

Your observations are desired - Do the dirty work so I can write "forwarded".

Your department is negligent - I have just been given hell.

You are to be commended - This is a particularly dirty job coming in the next routing.

Naval tradition demands - I have just been talking to an old Chief.

Give this your immediate attention - For God's sake find the papers.

You will show him every courtesy - His uncle is an Admiral.

The inspection party has departed - How about a binge tonight?

Let's have a little more hubba - To hell with the priorities, let's get the routines out of here.

Much Ado About Shoes

This was posted on Twitter today: BillPilgrim The holes in the soles of a lawyer's shoes have become a legal issue during a civil trial in Palm Beach Co http://tw8.us/XT

In the article, a lawyer (with, I assume, intact shoes) vehemently insists that the lawyer he is opposing has a great and unfair advantage by virtue of having (and displaying) a hole in his shoe.

Precedent might suggest otherwise. Consider Adlai Stevenson, democratic presidential candidate, much beloved for the hole in his shoe, yet still defeated by Eisenhower.

For the record, most of my shoes look like Adlai's - or worse.

What Would Dewayne and Charlie say?

I didn't design this layout. But I liked it, that is, until I started to hear the persistent voices of my previous boss and of my mentor nudging me to really analyze it.

Maybe sometimes hearing voices is a good thing. Dewayne was saying "why does it waste so much real estate?" and Charlie said "why doesn't it conform to standards?" Good questions guys (as usual). Here is the original interface and a suggested redesign. (click on thumbnails for larger view)

Original Layout: http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz/

Issues:

• A tab control that doesn't look like a tab.
• A tab-like presentation that uses almost one third of the screen space.
• An unnecessary breadcrumb trail.
• Non-standard positioning of Search entry field.
• Horizontal scrolling.

Suggested Layout (based on same amount of screen real estate)

Design Suggestions:

• Combine title and subtitle text to conserve vertical space.
  
• Move Search entry field and button to standard upper right position to provide consistency and conserve vertical space.
  
• Eliminate breadcrumb path to conserve vertical space.
  
• Provide standard tab presentation to allow for three panel presentation of information.
• Provide standard tab presentation to eliminate horizontal scrolling.
• Divide third tab into text area and contact area, eliminating need for fourth level of data presentation.