Well it seems a fair few of you got in to the Christmas spirit and read my blog post about Shelter Scotland's Blantyre project. Over 20 gifts were received just in time for Christmas, staff at the service had feared they would not be able to provide a gift for every child.

Linda Dickson, Service Manager at Shelter Scotland’s Support Service South Lanarkshire, said:

“We are overwhelmed by the level of support we have received and it just goes to show the positive impact social media can have. Homelessness can have a devastating effect on children’s lives and Christmas can be a particularly difficult time for them and their families.

On behalf of everyone at Shelter Scotland I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to those who donated a gift and made Christmas Day a very special time for the families and children we work with."

I've become slightly addicted to the wonderful If This Then That (ifttt). In essence, ifttt is a way to put the internet to work for you by creating tasks that fit this simple structure: if this then that. For example:

TThere's tons of ifttt Channels (DropBox, Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, YouTube and more) which define Triggers and Actions, the basic building blocks for creating ifttt tasks.

I thought it would be interesting to have a play about with ifttt tasks and I came up with @WeegieWeather - an ifttt powered weather channel for Glasgow. This ifttt powered twitter account tweets when certain parameters are met, utilising the Yahoo Weather Channel as a trigger. So you'll get a tweet to let you know if it's going to be snowing tomorrow, if it's about to turn to rain in the afternoon, if it's bikini weather tomorrow, if it's going to be clear skies and so on. I've added a fair few weather triggers so weegies need never get caught without an umbrella or sun cream again.

I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the tweets as they're powered by Yahoo Weather not me. Don't moan to me that your picnik at Kelvingrove Park got rained upon if the tweets said it was clear skies.

A rather nice ifttt trigger/action I've set up means the @WeatherWeather twitter avatar should always reflect the weather right now in Glasgow. I used Creative Commons images for this:

Cloudy day (Clydeport crane) shot by Kristian Dela Cour.

Rainy day (Gibson St umbrella) shot by Neil H.

Snowy day (Glasgow uni) shot by Ian Dick.

Anyone can create their own weather channel for their city based upon the ifttt recipes I've shared. I'd love feedback on this and I'm especially interested to hear from other people using ifttt.

Click here to download:

The_GCVS_Training_Calendar_January_to_August_2012.pdf (2 MB)

(download)

Click here to download:

The_GCVS_Training_Calendar_January_to_August_2012.pdf (2 MB)

Have a butchers at pages 3 & 4. I've helped GCVS put together a digital media training programme for 2012, aided by various #BeGoodBeSocial regulars:

• 
  Writing for the web - Content strategistic, copywriter and keen cyclist Ann Cook will be hosting this workshop exploring blogs, newsletters, content strategy and more.

• Social media basics - I'll be hosting this one, you'll hear from some people making real headway with social media in the Scottish third sector throughout the day.

• Using Twitter and Facebook for your organisation - I'll be joined by Martin Keane, Social Media Strategist with Third Sector Lab and digital chap for SCIAF for this one.

• Measuring your online success - This workshop will be hosted by Conrad Rossouw of Shelter Scotland. He'll be giving solid practical advice on how you can measure your impact online.

• Online fundraising - This one will be hosted by Sara Thomas, fundraiser with MND Scotland. She'll be haring her experiences of using online fundraising tools  within MND Scotland.

• Video for the web - #BeGoodBeSocial video expert Erin Maguire will take workshop attendees through the process of planning, shooting, editing and uploading a video from scratch.

Booking details are included in the PDF above.

Stuart Glen, Director of Fundraising at OneKind, has written an exclusive guest blog post on using Twitter to broadcast rather than connect with your supporters...

This #CharityTuesday, I tried something different. I asked followers on Twitter not to give.

I remembered the Oakwood School Don’t Give video from the US (see below) and wondered could the messaging be repeated in the UK? Could it be replicated on Twitter? No strategy. No masterplan. Just curious.

Well, after 28 tweets later [great name for a film], what did I learn? Was it successful? Ultimately, no. I didn’t receive one additional donation in support of my fundraising efforts. I lost three followers on the day; goodness knows how many others I annoyed and/or muted my stream.

Reverse psychology is nothing new, so why didn’t it work? Other than the obvious fact I’m not Steve Carell or J.K. Simmons. My view is that somewhere between the medium and the execution it fell down.

Twitter succeeds when users establish relationships and enter into two-way conversations. This exercise highlighted for me the failings of users (many of them charities) that do nothing but broadcast. Throughout the day I didn’t engage with loyal followers that commented on my different approach to Twitter that morning. Even when the negative bombardment abated, the inevitable switch to a more positive ask felt clumsy, cold and corporate – preachy even. Someone with a lot more finesse than I may make this work, and I’d love to know if any UK charities have tried this approach already.

My Don’t Give #CharityTuesday has passed and normal service has resumed. Oh look, dancing cartoon badgers. 

So you're a rich dude who owns a fashion house for people who don't care about fashion. You're at home thinking 'how can I flog more nasty bland shoes?' Do you:
A. Buy some ads in GQ.
B. Hire yourself some kind of social media genius who can sell poorly made clothing to morons.
C. Daub 'buy my shit' on your forehead with a sharpie.

Nah, none of the above. Instead Kenneth Cole decided to tweet:

"Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC"

'Satire' is ok where it is intended to have a positive impact. It is not ok when said 'satire' is designed to sell shiny suits.

Cole followed up the tweet with an apology:

"Re Egypt tweet: we weren't intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC."

Hmmm, clearly you don't. Off the back of his tweet came @KennethColePR, a genuinely satirical twitter account taking Cole's brand of harmless fun to the Nth degree. Be sure to follow #kennethcoletweets

So is this all a little harsh? Did he attempt to exploit a serious political situation to sell clothing or was it simply poor judgement?

Richard Hudson, Digital Media Manager with Meningitis Trust, has written an exclusive guest blog post on how twitter quite possibly saved a young boy's life...

This week, for over 48 hours and counting, Meningitis Trust supporters, Chris and Katy Mann aka @mannix1000, have been on an awareness mission using their Twitter profile.

Chris and Katy tragically lost their three month-old son, Charlie, to meningitis in October 2010 and are so passionate to help save lives from this devastating disease, which took their baby son away.

The husband and wife team took on the challenge of contacting celebrities and well-known tweeters, and asking them to help, just by simply retweeting this message. “Hi please help with a RT. Meningitis awareness, my son died age 3 months. http://charliecheekychops.blogspot.com/ thanks.” Simple, but so effective.

During their mission, they received the tweet they dreamt of. Comic Ed Byrne @MrEdByrne kindly retweeted the couple’s message. Hours later they received a tweet on January 12, 2011 in the early hours which made all of the hard work worthwhile “@mannix1000 @mredbyrne Meningitis tweet prob saved my son today; I got a second opinion and they called the ambulance. Thank you both. X”

Hundreds of people have supported this mission by simply retweeting and reading Charlie’s blog. The blog has received over 36,000 hits since it was created and is now one of the main sources that lead internet users to the Meningitis Trust’s website, where people can get the vital disease information that will save lives.

This year the Trust is celebrating 25 years of supporting people after meningitis. It has come a long way since it started and is using social media and the wonders of digital technology to reach even more people with awareness and support.

The recent YouTube video of “Please ReTweet Me” has seen the Trust really embrace digital and it is not stopping.; certainly not after the success of Chris and Katy’s mission.

Meningitis will never go away; it’s a disease that can strike in minutes and kill within hours, and the Trust will continue to be there for the families who have faced meningitis, just like the Mann’s, for as long as they are needed.

Follow the Trust today @meningitistrust and if you see anything you like, why not give a simple retweet. You never know, it could be you that saves a life.