Perri Blake Gorman aka @bethebutterfly is an expat living in Hong Kong, connector of experts, Twitter passionista, social media trainer and consultant, blogger, reformed headhunter, environmentalist, lover of children & animals, & citizen of the world.
People who aren’t on Twitter ask me all the time why I love it so much. There are a million and one reasons really, but one in particular is the unbelievable global community I have seen grow around doing good for good’s sake.
The campaigns, the retweeting, the fundraising, the Twestivals, the #LOVE. The good news is it isn’t all virtual. Lives are actually being changed. Not all through Twitter alone clearly, but awareness and spreading the word is a huge part of what many organizations need to achieve their goals.
Every action each person takes helps.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” – Helen Keller
1. Make a List for Charity
There are a number of exceptional lists to follow out there. You can check out the directory of charity lists on Listorious and search through them for inspiration to customize your own list.
A couple of notable lists are:
• Mashable
2. Donate Your Background to a Cause
Your Twitter background is valuable real-estate. If you don’t have a background, or you would like to share it with charity, there are some you can download for free.
Charity Water has some really gorgeous ones.
3. Tweet, ReTweet or Join a Team for a Good Cause
A notable example of this is Jonathan Wilson from @OperationSafe. He has worked enormously hard to build a team of Tweeters that actively ReTweet on behalf of the charity to help spread the word.
He has also created a list to bring the team together.
Larger organizations may have their own Tweeters, but don’t make assumptions. Tweeting on behalf of an organization takes a greater time commitment, but some people have time to give and not money. If you are a tweeter and have a cause that you care about, contact them and volunteer to tweet on their behalf. Depending on the size of the organization they may be very happy to have the help, or suggest a way for you to be involved like a Retweet Team Member.
Platforms like CoTweet can make it easier for organizations to manage multiple tweeters.
4. Wear the badge
We all know and love those cute little stickima-jiggys on people’s avatars, but they actually mean something! You can change them up or wear a few at a time! Go nuts!
The Twibbon site has something for everyone.
5. Organize Your Own Charity Tweetup
Tweetups are a really fun way to meet your Twitter friends in person and take the online relationships offline. Why not do something in true Twitter spirit and pick a charity to support when you Tweetup. Big or small, every little bit counts.
