Story telling is part of our core as a creature. Everything we do is wrapped in our stories. Every day we hear and share narratives through watching the television, reading email, planning projects, talking on the phone, hearing how our kid's day went, and even paying bills. Every one of these activities tells a tale. Our stories are used to convince, commiserate, cajole, teach, criticize, tell, and commiserate. They're told orally, through pictures, and written word.

Until recently, media was limited to newspapers, magazines, radio, and television-known as industrial media. Since the 1990s social media has given the general populace a voice though the use of:

• Bulletin Board Systems (these have been around for ever)
• Forums
• Wikis
• Blogs
• Photo Sharing
• Video Sharing
• Podcasting
• Chat

Other forms like micro-blogging and virtual worlds have recently extended the reach of ordinary folks even farther to include live or almost live media.

Social media is defined by the interactions between people sharing stories. Technology enables people to interact and collaborate--to tell stories.

Non-profits live and die by the stories they tell. These stories are used in realising each and every non-profit's mission. Narratives are used to generate revenues through services, grants, and products. Stories help justify a nonprofit's mission by demonstrating social good.

Blogging
Blogging can be one of the most powerful vehicles for getting your message across. Search engines love blogs--fresh content makes search engine crawlers extremely happy increasing search engine rankings. That translates to higher traffic on your nonprofit's Website--which is likely the most cost effective way of communicating to your constituent base and extending that base. Don't blog just to make noise, but when you have something to say--say it.

Wikis
Wikis provide a terrific mechanism to collaborate on text. Wikis are living documents that everybody who has adequate permissions to update and change. They can provide a mechanism for rapid change of content online.

Forums
Forums create a sense of community where people tend to support one another. This can range from supporting a product or service to collaborating/workshopping ideas for projects or grants. Forums can provide advice from experts and colleagues. Provide a place, and you may find that your constituents create a community.

Photo Sharing
Photo sharing services like Flickr provide another mechanism for stories, in the form of pictures, to be told. It is common for groups at conferences to set up groups and organized tagging to create mosaics of community members. Use a service like Flickr at every event your nonprofit participates in and tag them well.

Video Sharing
Increasingly use of services like YouTube and Revver have become grassroots methods of reaching many people for religion, politics, training, and entertainment. Video sharing sites provide inexpensive and effective ways to distribute your message.

Podcasting
Podcasting is like the radio of social media. Podcasts can range from rough and crude to highly polished and professional. Podcasts, like video, can provide a very personal insight into your nonprofit.

Chat
Chat seems to be used less often than other social medias by nonprofits although they can be an element of different technologies like Secondlife Skype, and IRC channels. Chat is great for immediate communication and can be used by teams to work through projects. I use Skype pretty much everyday to communicate with my web development teams.

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Some Advice
First off, if you start using social media like blogs and forums and you choose to not tightly control them, you need to be prepared to lose control. Losing control isn't a bad thing and in fact can provide you with a more vibrant community and more traffic.

You can't really control who joins your community. Lots of folks will say things you don't like and you may even find your friends write things that don't line up with your own views. Still, if you set up community rules, in general the members will police themselves.

Telling your stories using social media isn't easy. Be prepared to make an investment and to continue making that investment. Listen to others' stories and participate in commentary on those stories.

Find out who you know on various social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Join their networks and ask them to join yours.

Embrace opensource solutions like the Drupal CMS for blogs, forums, and other community sites. Join and participate in the community for the opensource projects you leverage. You'll find significant traction amongst those communities if you are willing to give. Your base may be larger than you originally expected.

Know what others are saying about your organization--use tools like Google Alerts to keep tabs on the "dirt".

Above all have fun. Social media is a great way to collaborate with others. Enjoy telling your stories, let people contribute, and do the same in other communities.