Monday, 5 January 2009

Tweet tweet! Social entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter

If you make only one resolution for 2009, I'd advise to you do more tweeting!

If you're not aware of the phenomenon that is Twitter, then this video will explain. Basically the microblogging services allow users to share with their 'followers via posts or ' tweets' in just 140 characters their thoughts, experiences, rants and opinions.

Twitter has grown massively in popularity in recent years and social entrepreneurs and those interested in social enterprise are among them.

I've been using Twitter for a few months (you can follow me via @socialbusiness) and have found it hugely beneficial. As well as the selfish reason of promoting this blog I have also learnt lots from some amazing people.

There are thousands of individuals with a liking for social enterprise using Twitter and I couldn't possibly list them all but here are some of favourites:

@socialentrprnr - Nathaniel Whittemore, the founding director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, tweets on behalf of the social entrepreneur channel of the excellent website for non-profits Change.org

@rogerhamilton - Based in Bali, Roger Hamilton updates his 1,000+ followers on his thoughts on social enterprise as chairman of the XL Results Foundation, described as the world's largest network for social entrepreneurs.

@AlbertoNardelli - Alberto Nardelli is CEO of UnltdWorld, the internet social network offshoot of social enterprise funding charity Unltd. Alberto was also key in last month's launch of @tweetminster which encourages MPs to use Twitter to communicate with their consistuents.

@socialactions - The combined feed of several representatives of SocialActions.com, the not-for-profit organisation based in Canada and the US which makes it easy for people to make a difference.

@childsi - Showing that the charity sector is flying in the face of its behind-the-times image, this feed is from new charity Child's i Foundation, set up to build a babies' home in Uganda. And it's not just Twitter; the charity's website is positively bursting with Web 2.0 tools!

@ThirdSectorLab - Ross McCulloch tweets on issues related to the third sector. He recently founded Third Sector Forums, the UK's first internet forums for non-profits, social enterprises and charities where you can also often find me!

@rosettathurman - While growing up in the housing projects of Cleveland, Ohio, Rosetta Thurman and her family were helped by the local community non-profits. Now a writer, fundraiser and leadership development consultant, she uses Twitter to encourage the next generation of individuals who will drive social change.

@endeavor_global - Elmira Bayrasli tweets as she travels around the world in her work for Endeavor which aims to transform the economies of the globe's emerging economies by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs.

7 comments:

Jen Chiu said...

Hi Dan,
Saw this on an RT. Thank for it-- very useful.
Is there an easy way to search for kinds of people on twitter? Or have you just personally run into these folks on Twitter?
Thanks!
Jen

Dan Martin said...

Many thanks for your comment Jen and pleased to hear you found the list useful.

You used to be able to search the keywords of Twitter members' profiles but that function is no longer available. However, you can search people's tweets via http://search.twitter.com which allows you to find those with an interest in particular areas.

NTemple said...

Adding myself in Dan: Nick Temple from the School for Social Entrepreneurs @SchSocEnt

Rosie Sherry said...

You can also use Twellow.com to find people.

Add me to the list too please @rosiesherry

Thanks!

Dan Martin said...

Thanks for your comments Nick and Rosie. You're on the list!

Twellow.com is fantastic. I think I will be using that a lot to track down more social entrepreneurs.

Unknown said...

Like Nick Tmeple above (Hi Nick), I am adding Social Edge, into the Tweet mix - find us at @socialedge. Social Edge is the global online community by social entrepreneurs and for social entrepreneurs. Been around for over 5 years and have been tweeting for just about the past month.
Cheers,
Jill

PS You can also use MrTweet to find kindred spirits. That's how I found you Dan.

Unknown said...

Thanks for this post it allows others like myself to keep upto date with people when we use twitter (DambTechComm)