June 4th, 2009 | by Anna Kramer
So I’ve finally taken the plunge: I joined Twitter.
People join Twitter every day, of course, but for me the decision had a special significance. Back in April I blogged about the risks of Twitter and what those could mean for Oxfam; my post generated lots of responses, both online and in person.
Oxfam America has had our own Twitter feed for a while now, and it’s definitely helped us get the word out. (Ironically enough, a few readers mentioned that Twitter was actually where they found my blog post.) But I had, and still have, some real reservations about it. As a writer, I worry about the erosion of language and all its power and nuance. As a communicator for social justice, I fear the abbreviated form could also mean the end of in-depth storytelling as we know it. So in some ways, joining Twitter–even though I did so for personal, not Oxfam-related, reasons–felt like a surrender.
However, I admit that I might possibly, just maybe, could have overreacted.
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May 22nd, 2009 | by Guest blogger
Tim Fullerton, Oxfam’s online communications manager, shares his thoughts on four years of reaching out to supporters.
If you are on Oxfam’s email list, are a fan of ours on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, you’ve probably wondered to yourself, “Who is this Tim Fullerton character who’s always sending me emails? Is he real, or just some imaginary person who likes to fill my inbox with Oxfam stuff?”
Well I’m here to tell you that I am in fact real–and that I won’t be emailing you for much longer. Today is my last day at Oxfam, and whether you know it or not, you’ve been part of my extended family over the years: the 350,000 online supporters with whom I’ve developed a very close relationship.
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April 16th, 2009 | by Anna Kramer
Oxfam : ) Poverty : (
That’s what I told my colleague Tim our new tagline will be before long. And while it’s not quite that bad yet, I wasn’t completely joking.
It all started with a conversation about Twitter, which, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is an important new communications tool. Over nine million people are actively tweeting these days; I’ve seen that little blue logo popping up everywhere of late, on website I visit, on blogs I read, and even on ads.
And NGOs aren’t exempt from the frenzy. Oxfam America has our own Twitter feed, which recently reached our goal of 1,000 followers. Almost overnight, this condensed, gibberish-ridden, 140-character limit medium–which I thought would be only a passing fad–has become one of the fastest-growing ways for people to hear about our work.
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