Highlights from charity Twitter

I don’t know about you, but watching the very speedy ‘developments’ at Twitter over the past few weeks has been very unsettling. My timeline is full of doom about the end of Twitter. News about layoffs (including the accessibility team), verification rule changes, platform instability and high-profile departures has been relentless. It’s only been two and a half weeks.

I have been a heavy Twitter user since 2008. It has been instrumental to my freelance career as a way of keeping an eye on trends in the sector as well as making connections. It has also been a place for information, friendships and silliness.

And so, I watch and wait (along with everyone else – 85% of a recent Charity Comms poll), hoping that the disruption settles and the platform carries on. We’ll see…..

Twitter – what next?

There are some useful articles looking at what’s happened already and what might come.

• Should charities stay on Elon Musk’s Twitter? Helen Olszowska for Charity Digital
• BIRD FLOWN: Is it time for the public sector to follow Stephen Fry off Twitter? Dan Slee (10 Nov)
• Here’s how a Twitter engineer says it will break in the coming weeks – MIT Technology review
• TWITTER SPLITTER: Is paying for a blue tick on Twitter worth it if you’re public sector? Dan Slee (2 Nov)
• The last days of Twitter – Matt Jukes
• The future of Twitter seems to be in doubt – Richard Murphy thread (5 Nov)

A force for good

We have long since moved on from peak Twitter. Day-to-day engagement is not what it used to be. Blame the algorithm or drop in daily users. But it is still the go-to place for breaking news, high-volume comms and for conversation. It is used by journalists and decision-makers. It is still a key part of any channel strategy.

Think about the recent #AttackOnNature response. RSPB’s comms activity was huge on Twitter. The speed and scale of the comms was best suited to the channel and helped to gain lots of momentum for the campaign. This noise got it noticed by the press, hundreds of other organisations who got involved, and thousands of people who took action. Was this the last big hurrah for charity Twitter?

It made me think back to how Twitter has been embraced and experimented with by the charity sector. About the impact it has helped us all make. Here then, is almost a round-up of round-ups, with some highlights.

Fundraising

• #FirstFiver (2016) started late one night on Twitter by John Thompson. 2.5 million people joined in, raising over £12.5m for good causes. Here’s a thread of some of the #FirstFiver donations.
• Shocking events prompted in-memory fundraising like #FinishForMatt in 2018 which raised over £400k for small charity Brathay Trust and the death of Claire Squires which raised over £1m for Samaritans in 2012.
• Big events like #NoMakeUpSelfie (2014) and #ThumbsUpForSteven (2014) started on Facebook but were huge on Twitter too.
• Reactive fundraising – remember #WaistCoatWednesday by Blood Cancer UK in 2018.
• Fans of the Radio 4’s The Archers raised £173k for Refuge following a harrowing storyline in 2016.
• Sue Ryder’s Thorpe Hall Hospice sent an open letter to the thief who stole money on Christmas Day in 2017, generating hundreds of donations.
• Richard Herring patiently responded to all the people tweeting to ask when International Men’s Day was, raising thousands for Refuge.
• #TowelsForOwls appeal from Suffolk Owls (2018)

Making good things happen

• Rowans Hospice asked for help for a patient who loved Star Wars (2019)
• St Giles Hospice got thousands of messages and likes when they asked people to say happy birthday to Fred (2017).
• #FindMike (2014).

Sharing knowledge and insights

Twitter gave us access to people’s activities and thoughts as never before. This wasn’t always a good thing but here are some of the ways it was used for good.

• Rocur accounts – remember the @NHS account where a new person each week talked about their life or @LondonisYours or @FarmersOfTheUk which is still going.
• Account takeovers, like this VIP for Mencap (2019) and Sam for Scope (2018).
• Mascot accounts like @DaveTheWorm from Parkinson’s UK.
• Live tweeting from conferences.
• Live tweeting through TV shows.
• Live chats and Q&As.
• Quizzes and polls, like this from Brixton Food Bank and this dilemma from NW Ambulance (2018).
• #SocialCEOs – we saw personality and passion from some of the sectors leaders. An annual award ceremony led by Zoe Amar and Matt Collins was big news.

Raising awareness

• Gender Pay Gap Bot made a big impact in March when they used data to challenge performative comms for International Women’s Day. It continues to tweet.
• #MentalPatient was a huge response to a supermarket selling a Halloween costume in 2013.
• Leonard Cheshire used a tube strike to raise awareness about the accessibility of the tube network in 2014.
• #DuvetKnowItsChristmas with Shelter (2018)
• GiveBlood called out racism in their mentions (2017).
• RNLI responded to negative press (2019).
• Where was the outrage to the fires in the Amazon asked WWF in 2019. The tweet got 225k likes.
• Thousands of charities used Twitter to raise awareness about the signs of health conditions and domestic violence. How many lives saved? This from Diabetes UK was shared today, generating 1k+ likes and shares.

Innovation

• #RestartAHeart – BHF in 2016 broke new ground using clever fuctionality to share heart attack survival rates.
• Breast Cancer Now generated personalised gifs for Wear It Pink supporters (2017), similar to this from National Trust / National Lottery.
• The @NHS account live tweeted an operation (2017).
• Interactive storytelling in Choose Your Own Adventure style like this one from RNIB and this from Trussell Trust in 2019
• And interactive games like this from Tower of London (2019).
• WWF’s #EndangeredEmoji in 2015 raised donations through emoji.

Fun

• Random awareness day comms. Did you join in with World Carrot Day or Halloween fun?
• There were many April Fools jokes like this gem from the National Trust.
• And so many memes and funny responsive comms such as the #DollyPartonChallenge (2020), #TetrisChallenge (2019), #MuseumMemesDay (2018). Without Twitter, would we have found out about the Absolute Unit?

Cross-sector activity

• Big action events including #GivingTuesday, #TimeToTalkDay, #YouMadeItHappen (2019), #ReclaimSocial (2019) #OurDay, #RememberACharityWeek.
• 15k likes for Sarah Atkinson’s #ThisIsWhatACEOLooksLike in 2020 showing diverse, authentic leadership. Lots of other CEOs joined in.
• Twitter helped us speak up – see @NonGraduatesWelcome, @ShowTheSalary, @CharitySoWhite, @CharitySoStraight, @CharitySoAbled, plus various whistleblowing accounts.

Connection and support

Twitter has been a support channel, helping people connect with each other, discuss issues and form friendships and careers.

• #FollowFriday and #CharityTuesday were busy hashtags back in the day, helping people make new connections.
• #CharityHour has been hosting discussions and connecting people since 2014. They set a weekly theme and pose five questions.
• #CharityJobs has helped people find new roles.
• #FundraisingChat / #FRTweets started on Twitter in 2014 as a Friday discussion about all things fundraising. It then moved to Facebook a year later when the group got big.
• #nfpTweetUp was a regular in-person event in London which connected charity people working in digital media. It started in 2008 when we were all getting started with digital comms and social media. I don’t think I would have become a freelancer without this wonderful network.

Twitter gave us a chance to connect with our peers. Charities connected with theirs too, often talking and supporting each other’s messages.

Your highlights

What do you think about the potential loss of Twitter? Are you sticking around personally or planning to stop your charity using it? Is it time to move on?

Has Twitter been a force for good for you? What’s your highlight? What else good happened on here?

Update

Is it safe to stay here? Come along (for one-night only) to the #NFPTweetUp to discuss what the situation means for your charity and your own use.

Join us on Zoom. Thursday 24 Nov, 7 – 8.30pm. FREE! Book now.

Liz Truss’ to-do list

On Monday Liz Truss was confirmed as the new Prime Minister. Charities quickly responded to the news. Civil Society shared statements from NCVO, NPC, CFG, DSC, Bond and Christian Aid. Charities took to their social media channels.

Here’s a selection of some of the different ways charities shared direct asks on Twitter. Most got really good engagement with supporters as they reacted quickly with strong messages as if they were talking to her directly.

Although some mentioned @TrussLiz (no one accidentally tweeted @LizTruss who is brilliantly having her own John Lewis moment and went from 800 followers to 19k in a few days) and others used #LizTruss, realistically, these messages are aimed at supporters rather than the new PM and her team.

To-do lists

This tweet from Together with Refugees shows a post-it with three tasks: Get keys to No10, set up new email and create fair, kind, effective system for refugees.

Hi @trussliz 👋 The first day of a new job is always stressful – so we've sorted out your to-do list. pic.twitter.com/AMKBOwHGah

— Together With Refugees 🧡 (@RefugeeTogether) September 5, 2022

Age UK shared a to-do list gif.

Now that @trussliz has won the race to become our next Prime Minister, we look forward to working with the new PM and her cabinet on the key topics our campaigners told us matter most to them.

These are the #TripleLock, the #CostOfLiving, #SocialCare & #HealthCare. pic.twitter.com/faizZwDy4D

— Age UK (@age_uk) September 5, 2022

Save the Children UK taped their to-do list to the door of Number 10 in their film.

⏰ A reminder for our new Prime Minister @TrussLiz:

Keep the door open for the poorest children.#PrimeMinister #CostOfLivingCrisis #Number10 @10DowningStreet pic.twitter.com/NZlBhrzj8P

— Save the Children UK (@savechildrenuk) September 5, 2022

A call to action for supporters

Young Lives vs Cancer ran a poll to agree priorities.

Tomorrow is #LizTruss first PMQs. What do you want our new Prime Minister to prioritise for children and young people with cancer and their families?#CCAM

— Young Lives vs Cancer (@YLvsCancer) September 6, 2022

While Crisis asked supporters to choose one of four tweets aimed at the PM.

More than 220,000 in England are living in the worst forms of homelessness, and with spiralling rents & bills, many more will be forced into homelessness this winter.

Tweet the new PM @trussliz to tell her: you must act now to end homelessness.https://t.co/Eq65SOvSN6 pic.twitter.com/V4ZXgiX2UQ

— Crisis (@crisis_uk) September 6, 2022

Stronger words

Shelter called for urgent action.

The new prime minister, @trussliz, must take urgent action to prevent a wave of homelessness this winter.

Renters have nothing left to cut back. #CostOfLivingCrisis pic.twitter.com/Em8y8Dz17k

— Shelter (@Shelter) September 5, 2022

Greenpeace UK listed four actions but highlighted the new PM’s climate record with a screenshot video of sewage in the sea.

Top priorities for Liz Truss:

💷 Freeze energy bills
🏡 Insulate our homes
🛢️ No new oil and gas
⚡ Rapidly expand cheaper renewables

Or, stick with your current legacy 👇 pic.twitter.com/25TJth8hPN

— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) September 5, 2022

Rethink wrote a thread of their priorities, linking to a statement.

🚨 @TrussLiz announced as new prime minister.

At this critical time, it is essential that she makes mental health a priority.

Here's why 👇 pic.twitter.com/5Si0acbGPw

— Rethink Mental Illness (@Rethink_) September 5, 2022

Ismail from Mencap addresses the PM in this video.

Mencap’s Parliamentary Officer Ismail highlights our asks for the new #PrimeMinister, @trussliz. pic.twitter.com/m7Oc6bm6iC

— Mencap (@mencap_charity) September 6, 2022

And Refuge asks her some questions.

Dear Prime Minister, will you protect women and girls? We’re calling on #LizTruss, as the newly appointed PM, to ensure that protecting women and girls is a priority. Together, we have a louder voice, sign the open letter today>> https://t.co/urYupoRfUf pic.twitter.com/vI6kr3fyez

— Refuge (@RefugeCharity) September 5, 2022

What do you think?

The mix of tone of voice and different approaches in these reactive messages is really interesting. Do they work?

There were many charities who didn’t share a message for the PM this week. Did they miss a trick?

There were others who shared more descriptive messages announcing the news and sharing hopes for the future, like this from RSPB and this congratulatory one from Macmillan. Quite a different tone, more conservative than the direct ones above. See more examples in this Charity Comms thread.

What’s your view?

• Waste of time or effective comms?
• Did your organisation join in on Twitter or other social channel or email? Or decide to do nothing?
• Have you seen any other great examples?
• Is there room on your social media strategy for reactive comms?

Messages to Ministers

As the Ministers in the Cabinet are announced, charities have been communicating with them too.

Young Minds are calling on their supporters to sign a ‘congrats on your new job’ card for Theresa Coffey and shared a to-do list.

Record numbers of young people are being referred for emergency mental health support, but you have the power to change that @ThereseCoffey. Here's a quick to do list to help you get started. #EndTheWait pic.twitter.com/irYnJrN0vM

— YoungMinds (@YoungMindsUK) September 7, 2022

Diabetes UK are sending a card to her too.

Thérèse Coffey has just been announced as the new Health Secretary.

To make sure diabetes is at the top of her agenda from her very first week, we’ll be sending her a welcome card filled with messages about what it’s really like to live with diabetes day in, day out. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/UivYW2A95p

— Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) September 7, 2022

And finally ice cream giants (ie not a charity) Ben and Jerry’s have sent Suella Braverman a to-do list. 23k likes and counting….

Congratulations on the new job @SuellaBraverman pic.twitter.com/seLWCGFzbb

— Ben & Jerry's UK 🧡 (@benandjerrysUK) September 6, 2022

Digital round-up – April 2020

Highlights this month: covid content, covid comms, covid language battles, covid fundraising, covid-driven digital services, covid burnout.

Well, March was intense. April was the same, but different. Now we are in May, it feels like a good time to review and reflect on the month just gone. This round-up, like most of the comms this month, is 98% coronavirus. Here are some gems you might have missed. Stay safe everyone.

How to use: Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox.

Content and digital fundraising

At the start of the pandemic in March, comms was focussed around hand washing and protecting vulnerable groups. As we moved into April, fundraising appeals, digital fundraising and lockdown coping strategy content emerged. It has been really inspiring to see so many creative campaigns turned round so quickly and made from home.

• “During the lockdown, mothers in the UK are providing at least 50% more childcare as well as spending around 10% to 30% more time than fathers home schooling their children” – Observer article. The Fawcett Society’s #MakeWomenVisible campaign says that the crisis is having a devastating impact on women and girls and is making nine demands.
• Charity So White report on the impact of covid19 on BAME communities. It establishes five key principles to guide the charity sector’s response.
• The NHS is reporting a big drop in cancer referrals. CEOs of big cancer charities recorded a shared message – #HelpUsHelpYou and some charities shared their symptoms comms (see Pancreatic Cancer UK and Bowel Cancer UK).
• Kindness will keep us together – moving advert from British Red Cross.
• Citizens Advice shared insights into how their advisors are giving #AdviceAtHome.
• Virtual fundraising ideas from Mind.
• There are lots of quizzes. See these from Mayhew, Compton Care, Marie Curie and Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Quizzy – Sooty hosts a quiz for RNIB.
• Age UK are asking supporters to overdress.
• Some great reactive comms from Royal Academy and Wellcome Collection in response to Trump’s thoughts about bleach.
• Doncaster Council are great at using Twitter threads. Here they tell the parable of Back to the Future to teach us lessons about staying safe through a pandemic.
• April Fools from National Trust – how they are helping squirrels to find their nuts.
• Do hashtags and petitions actually work? Nice explainer from Greenpeace UK.
• #NoHookUps during a pandemic say Terence Higgins Trust (“That means w**king has never been more important. So go on – do it for yourself to help protect others). Take the Pleasure Pledge and get your kicks elsewhere.
• Sometimes we just need a hug – WWF.
• Choose your own adventure style thread from RNIB raising awareness of how hard it is for blind and partially sighted people to shop and observe social distancing.
• Domestic abuse isn’t always physical – Refuge
• Worried about your mortgage explainer from Shelter.
• FAQs thread about foodbanks – The Trussell Trust. See also stats on foodbank use in the first two weeks of the pandemic.
• Life under lockdown in a Syrian refugee camp – Oxfam.
• The National Emergency Trust has been showcasing some of the charities it has supported, like Made in Hackney.
• Not a charity, but Hassan Akkad who spoke at Being the Story, is sharing beautiful photos on Twitter of colleagues at the hospital where he is working as a cleaner. This is Sandra.

Most charities have built covid information hubs on their websites, very quickly writing lots of new content to meet the needs of their audience. These hubs are generally prominently linked from homepages and in some cases appear as a new item on top-level navigation. Here’s a selection:

• Full Fact
• NSPCC
• Rethink
• Scope

Comms

• Why we shouldn’t use war metaphors to talk about healthcare – Ruth Hannan for RSA. See also The horror of coronavirus is all too real. Don’t turn it into an imaginary war – Marina Hyde and The case against waging ‘war’ on the coronavirus – Yasmeen Serhan.
• Talking about coronavirus and poverty: a guide to framing your messages – JRF.
• Framing homelessness during coronavirus (PDF) – Crisis.
• More covid framing resources from Frameworks Institute.
• Why the #ClapForMeNow video is unhelpful – a thread by Dr Ameen Kamlana.
• What putting a human face on ‘Stay home, stay safe, protect the NHS’ actually looks like – Dan Slee.
• Engagement strategies for charities: top takeaways from the Charity Comms conference. Are you suffering (or causing) infobesity – digital clutter and information overload. See also: Hearing from the sector: audience engagement during and beyond the pandemic by Sarah Fitzgerald.
• Impact of COVID-19 on charity communications – Media Trust and Charity Comms survey results from 219 responses.
• Helping senior colleagues to get started on social media – timely advice from Alasdair Dick.
• What to do with completed research project webpages – advice for research charities from Richard Berks.
• Carers UK won film of the year at the Charity Film Awards. The CFA awards ceremony was streamed online and brilliantly presented by the CFA team.
• Has your charity made its own Zoom background? This UK Fundraising article explains how. Charities – how to make a Zoom background for your supporters. Missing the tube? Check out these backgrounds from TfL. And these from Fundraising Everywhere. And these gems from BBC empty TV show sets.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• One in three charities has cancelled services due to lack of digital skills or tech – Zoe Amar shares initial results of the Charity Digital Skills Survey. The survey is open until 15 May.
• The top ten digital challenges facing the charity sector – Catalyst.
• How charities are making their services digital in light of Covid19 – Kirsty Marrins for Lightful. Includes lots of examples including NSPCC, The Ramblers and The Bike Project.
• 5 ways coronavirus will change the charity sector – Zoe Amar for Charity Digital.
• How should service design react to COVID-19? NHS Digital.
• Ten content design tips any charity can use to make online services work better – Joe Roberson.
• Fast-track content design for coronavirus – Stephanie Coulshed of Scope.
• Versus Arthritis launches UK’s first condition-specific coronavirus chatbot – Civil Society.
• Citizens Online launched a digital exclusion GP surgery map.
• Citizens Advice have been releasing data from their website showing key topics of concern and how this is changing during the crisis. Might be useful to look at if you are creating your own content or signposting information.
• Interactive Covid-19 data for charities and funders – NPC.
• Top tips about digital advertising during this time from Matt Collins.
• 12 tips on social media advertising for charities during COVID-19 – Matt Howarth.
• The Young Trustees Movement launch their new digital hub in style.
• Monthly accessibility tip: A 10-step guide to make your social media content more accessible – National Lottery Community Fund – Scotland.

It has been really worrying to see the rise of so much inaccessible information during this time from official sources, businesses and some charities. The accessibility of official information provided by No10, DHSC, PHE and even the NHS has been especially poor at a time when it matters most. This was covered on Channel 4 News.

It has been particularly noticeable that so many organic and promoted tweets used images or gifs of text to share statements and complicated information. These generally appear with no alt text or link to an html version of the information, or text version in a thread. The information is therefore inaccessible to anyone who can’t view images. There have also been lots of videos without subtitles and without voice overs.

Clearly this has been a pressured time to release information as quickly as possible. But accessibility matters.

• RNIB asked Number 10 for leadership on accessible coronavirus information.
• @covidaccessinfo was set up to challenge bad practice.
• Press briefings are also broadcast without sign language interpreters. Now lack of sign language interpreters leads to legal case against government – BBC.

Fundraising

• £7m was raised during the #TwoPointSixChallenge (London Marathon) weekend. People did so many exhausting and creative challenges. Here’s a round-up from UK Fundraising – 26 examples of 2.6 Challenge fundraising events. (My 7yo wrote a Roald Dahl quiz – download and donate £2 to play – thanks!)
• £70m raised during the week of the #BigNightIn.
• Captain Tom raised over £32m for NHS Charities. Just Giving shared a list of fundraisers inspired by him. (See also #WalkWithTom – raising money for ‘the NHS’)
• Inspiring virtual charity fundraiser ideas – Charity Comms.
• What charities can learn from the lockdown laps coronacoaster – Richard Sved shares lessons for fundraisers.
• How has the virus affected the nation’s mood? – useful insights from gov.uk. How might this affect your fundraising?
• 5 ways the coronavirus is changing the legacy market and what this means for charities – Rob Cope for IoF.
• You are not alone – how The Samaritans adapted their fundraising and set up a dedicated support service for NHS workers within 10 days. Interview with Sonya Trivedy.
• Webinar on digital fundraising for small charities – Matt Howarth for Lloyds Bank Foundation.
• Richard Sved is a master of conference live-tweeting. This month he has covered Alice Ferris’ Writing a fundraising strategy session and #IWITOT.
• Brevio – new website matching charities with grants.
• There still a chance to book for the Fundraising Everywhere Virtual Conference – 11-15 May.

People and organisations

We’ve all had to rapidly adjust to this new way of working. It has been tough. Not least because of the technological learning curve and the loss of face-to-face contact, but also because we are all dealing with big additional mental loads as we come to terms with the situation we are living and working in. The home schooling, the loneliness, the worries about food and health and the future and our loved ones. There’s lots to deal with.

There was a flood of ‘top tips for working at home’ type-articles at the start. And now, there are more about recognising that wall-to-wall Zoom calls and WFH (especially when your home isn’t set up for this) is very draining. If you are finding it hard, or your team’s motivation is draining, this is normal. Here are some articles which it might be worth sharing internally. You are doing great. It’s ok to have off-days. Working life is likely to be like this for a while.

• 3 tips to avoid WFH burnout – Harvard Business Review.
• New and changing patterns for digital working – Ben Holliday discusses the move from working remotely during a pandemic to digital working.
• The reason Zoom calls drain your energy – BBC.
• Leading your team and communicating through a crisis – Matthew Sherrington for IoF.
• Charity Comms’ wellbeing guide for comms professionals.
• Sound familiar? Fundraising right now from the fundraising frontline – Agents for Good

The current situation has lots of implications for long-term outputs. Organisational strategies have been parked and business as usual pivoted. It’s a challenging time for senior leaders and trustees.

• What should charity trustees be thinking about? NPC
• YHA – what does it mean to be a charity in the decisions that we make? Anita Kerwin-Nye. “From repurposing our hostels to support the most vulnerable in communities, to creating scrubs in YHA green from recycled bed linen”, here’s how the YHA responded.
• How Hospice UK have responded including by running weekly Zoom calls of 300 colleagues across the country. CEO Tracey Bleakley explains in this short video post.
• Virtual Relay: Live panel debate on how charities are adapting to the impact of COVID-19 – Raw.
• The CEO decathlon I didn’t foresee – Menai Owen-Jones for ACEVO.
• The value of extreme crisis planning. How Tesco’s ‘doomsday exercise’ helped it cope with the coronavirus – The Guardian.

Sector

• Lords leap to charities’ aid – DSC report on the House of Lords debate on charities (30 April).
• 9 out of 10 BAME micro and small organisations is set to close if the crisis continues beyond 3 months following the lockdown – report from The Ubele Initiative.
• Medical research charities are facing a significant loss in funding. AMRC have a detailed information hub about the impact. See also Cancer Research UK cuts research funding by £44m, which could set it back ‘for years’ – Civil Society.
• The #NeverMoreNeeded campaign followed on from #EveryDayCounts.
• The Chancellor finally announced some support for the sector. Here are some of the responses – thread by David Ainsworth, NCVO statement. It was disappointing to read the number of ‘what about CEO salaries’ statements under Sky News’ Beth Rigby announcement.
• Karl Wilding of NCVO gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 31 March.

And finally….

I am missing train trips and walks in open countryside. I have been sharing some virtual walks and adventures including Cornwall, a sleeper train to Spain (and back) plus the lavender fields of Kent.

If you want to transport yourself to other places at a deeper level, take a look at Radio Lento podcasts. Get some headphones and listen to 30-minute soundscapes of woods, rivers and birds. Perfect for meditation, some quiet before sleep or just switching off during the day. Subscribe via your podcast provider or get updates via @RadioLento.

• Lots to explore in the BBC’s Museum from home page.
• 1.9m views for this 3year-old sheep handler.
• How to recreate old family photos – this made me cry.
• ‘Useful’ makeup tutorial.
• Boy reads Owl Babies to baby owls.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch? Please share in the comments.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. I can help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection.

——

Did you miss the last round-up? Catch up with more good reads from a time before lockdown.

Digital round-up – March 2019

Highlights this month: innovation, charities doing great at digital, responsible tech, #GBSpringClean, The Samaritans new website, representation in images and comms. 

Don’t let Brexit misery drag you down. Get outside for a nice walk in the sunshine, have an ice cream, then settle back to catch up on this month’s good reads and great content. 

How to use: Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox.

Content

• The Wildlife Trusts update the story of Wind in the Willows with an all-star cast and serious messages. 
• Beautiful photos and stories from War Child for #InternationalDayOfHappiness.
• The Makaton Charity signed Julia Donaldson’s Snail and the Whale for World Book Day.
• Super cool video raising awareness of sugar in sikh communities for Cities Diabetes.
• What do you call yours? Heath campaign from Public Health Wales. See also #Pads4Dads from Hey Girls.
• Blurt Foundation write such good ‘supportive friend’ content like this  ‘‘letter to you, for when life feels pointless.’
• How to tweet about the #GBSpringClean in a non-boring way – see Doncaster Council, Sisters Against Plastic, The Little Collector of Wirral (who is 8 and knows about a good before and after picture) and this nice thank you from Harlow Council. Everyone else is sharing pics of groups of people wearing high vis and piles of bin bags. 

Comms

• There’s lots to get your teeth into in this impressive new guide from Charity Comms about innovation. ‘Innovation is for everyone’. It includes lots of examples and useful resources.  There’s was more in their recent seminar about the innovation mindset. Slides from the event are available, tweets coming soon.
• Website photography: a picture paints a thousand words – I wish I had written this but The Digital Dunk did it. How does the diversity of the photos you use measure up?
• Be thoughtful about the gifs you use. One small step for womankind – support a new movement through your choice of gifs – Josephine Graham for comms2point0
• Audience insights on a budget – Sarah Fitzgerald for Charity Comms.
• I went to Raw London’s event on using customer experience to transform your charity comms. Do read the summary and the slides. 
• Starting a podcast: what’s it all about? Beth Crackles for UK Fundraising. Also How the Guardian is making podcasts pay off. 
• Framing toolkit: Talking about poverty – JRF.
• Writing a report like a pro – DSC
• Catch up with Lightful’s monthly social media round-up.
• New guide from Social Misfits Media – Make it Social (see under publications). 
• What 777,367,063 Facebook posts tell us about successful content in 2019 – buffer.
• What it takes to stay in the spotlight: Life after ‘Love Island’: what happens when the cameras stop rolling – insights into social media HuffPost UK
• Got complex data to present? How about an animated bar chart showing change? I love this example of the changing list of the 10 world cities since 1500.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• New website and brand from Samaritans. The website includes a dynamic homepage with different content after 9pm. This Charity Comms article explores the reason behind the rebrand. And this presentation from Mike Keating explains how they refined their digital purpose as part of the project and (accidentally) produced a content strategy. 
• Can failed prototyping help charities improve digital service design? – Freddie Herzog for Charity Comms.
• Getting technical — starting to develop an architecture and roadmap for NCVO’s future technology – Megan Griffith Gray’s next blog post about NCVO’s digital development.
• Why you only need to test with 5 users – Nielson Norman Group.
• The dangers of overpersonalization – Nielson Norman Group.
• It’s time to think about our data as a common good – Theo Bass of NESTA for British Council. Interesting article looking at the value of personal information in shaping the future.
• Digital freedom: are your rights at risk? – RightsInfo.
• How much of the internet is fake? – New York magazine. Also see a click farm in action and interesting discussions in response. 
• Lots to read in this post sharing discussions and outcomes from DotEveryone’s Responsible Tech 2019 event.
• Britain’s bullied chatbots fight back – BBC News.
• Citizens Advice have built a chatbot for staff.
• CLIC Sargent share the impact of live chat.
• 10 ways to make your charity genuinely digital – NPC.
• Why World Vision is thinking beyond the technology – Martin Campbell for Civil Society.
• Planning in an agile organisation – McKinsey.
• How to get people talking about digital. I like this digital takeaways guide from SCVO. 
• Lessons from the Charity Digital Code: Principle 1 – leadership – Zoe Amar in conversation with Age UK’s Lara Burns in Charity Digital News
• Third Sector Digital Leaders – the future of work webinar. 44min video featuring Rhodri Davies, Head of Policy at CAF.   
• 10 reasons you still need a digital team – Smart Insights.
• Monthly accessibility tip: these name badges from an accessibility conference are a great example of why using meaningful link text is important!
• Plus RNIB got a mention on the Channel4’s Last Leg about capitalising words in hashtags. 
• Interested in digital skills and inclusion? Useful thread of tweets from One Digital’s making digital accessible for everyone event by James Beecher. 
• Free digital skills courses from Future Learn.
• 12 highly effective SEO tips for noprofits – Tom Crowe. 
• 3 real-world SEO examples: the pages, the phrases and the results – Orbit Media Studios.
• Here are the winners of this years DigitalAgenda Impact Awards.
• Philanthropy and digital civil society: blueprint 2019 – a view from Stanford PACS in the US.

The web at 30

The world wide web was 30 this month. I looked at how the charity web has changed through the evolution of the British Red Cross website. 

• A few organisations tweeted about their websites over the years such as the Science Museum,
• The Web Foundation curated a timeline of developments over the 30 years. 
• See also this thread of interesting reads from Rhodri Davies about the impact of the internet on charities and where next. And posts from James Mullarkey about responsible tech at work and home.

Fundraising

• Exploring different ways to give to charity – James Brennan for Civil Society.
• Are you speaking the same language as your donors? Simon Scriver shares tips on using plain English to communicate with the people who support you.
• JustGiving ends platform fees for all UK charities (Fundraising UK)
• But RIP Just Text Giving which closed on 31 March. Charity Digital News have produced this handy guide to alternative text donation services.
• Richard Herring’s International Women’s Day campaign for Refuge this year raised £129k.
• IoF playlist for last minute nominations for the IoFawards.
• DEC appeal hits £29m.
• There was lots written about Comic Relief this month. Here’s a selection – White Saviours Don’t Work (Good Agency) and Mandy Johnson – have Comic Relief got this one wrong?
• After the recent #TowelsForOwls fundraising appeal, see #ShredsForBeds and #WandsForWabbits. 

People and organisations

• Building resilience and sustainability – tips for charity leaders – The Kings Fund.
• 11 practical steps towards healthy power dynamics at work – by Richard D. Bartlett.
• Call out everyday sexism in the workplace with Matthew Sherrington’s handy bingo card.
• Are your recruitment processes accessible? Have you made reasonable adjustments in your workplace to support people with disabilities? As part of the Governments’s Disability Confident Programme, RNIB shared some of their DCP resources for employers.
• Sounddelivery produced a series about leaders with lived experience for Third Sector. The articles are now behind the subscription-wall. But here is a lovely thread profiling them all and linking to their crowdfunder for the Being the Story network.
• Why climate destruction must be a priority for charities – Russell Benson in Civil Society.

And finally….

• Who is the most famous person who went to your school? Some great replies to this Twitter question.
• Have you ever done an audit of the gender bias in the books your children are reading? How gender stereotypes in children’s books shape career choices – RSA.
• Am in awe of these spliced videos by Politics Joe – May Straight Otta the Commons.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please add your links in the comments.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. I can help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection.

——

Did you miss February’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Digital round-up – January 2019

Highlights this month: January#, towels for owls, H-O-M-E, digital trends to avoid / embrace, how to declutter your digital footprint.

Things feel a little gloomy at the moment. So switch the news off and catch up with some creative charity content and recent good reads you might have missed.

How to use: Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox.

Content

• Did you see the nice January hashtag #NationalComplimentDay? This Dogs Trust tweet (Good dog!!!) stood out showing that sometimes simple is best. See more examples in this ZurichVolSec Moment.
• It was good to see charities using the #10YearChallenge to talk about their impact (although the meme itself was dull and there were sinister concerns about its origin).
• Nice gif counting down the days to RSPB’s annual Great Garden Birdwatch. (Here’s more about how they process the data from the 500,000 participants.)
• Changing the language around cancer – great film by Macmillan.
• RNIB transcribed people’s names into braille for #WorldBrailleDay.
• I love ACRE’s Village Halls Week. This year’s poem by Kate Fox celebrated the variety of things happening in halls.
• Did you see Refuge’s powerful reversible poems?
• Lots of creative comms for #NationalStorytellingWeek, examples in this ZurichVolSec Moment.
• Great impact board from Headway East London. Would have been even better if they had linked to a web page for more information.
• Full Fact fact checked headlines about government spending. How to pack lots of information into one tweet. (Conversely, how to use a long thread to explain a complicated subject – why we don’t need a wall.)
• What we all need now is more fun + silliness. Did you see this thread of unsolicited duck pics from museums?
• Great work from Shelter who tweeted a still from the Bros documentary aired on TV over Christmas.

It can be difficult to remember all the good stuff from last year. Take a look back in these review from 2018:

• Dan Papworth-Smyth’s charity digital round-up of 2018.
• Charity video roundup – highlights from 2018 curated by Magneto Films.
• The CharityComms team’s personal campaign picks of 2018.
• Did you do your own round-up? It can be a nice antidote to all the Christmas fun. See CRUK’s top 5 cancer research stories from 2018.

Coming soon….

• Lightful are spearheading #ReclaimSocial on Wednesday 6 February. Join in!
• Thursday 7 February is Time to Talk Day. Get talking about mental health.
• Social Media Exchange 2019 is on Monday 11 February. Follow #SMEX19 if you can’t be there.

Comms

• How to deal with difficult social media shifts – useful post from Montfort.
• How to write a social media policy for your company – tips from Hootsuite.
• No time for that? Take a look at Time to Change’s social media principles.
• Slides from Charity Comms’s seminar, Unlocking the power of social influencers.
• The story behind Stories and our journalistic approach to digital content – Wellcome’s change in editorial strategy.
• Why CEO letters suck (and how to make them better) – Matt Chittock for CharityComms.
• Do you still believe in social media? asks Bertie Bosredon on CharityComms. See also How much longer can your brand stay on Facebook by James Mullarkey.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Digital transformation is a risky business – lessons from NSPCC’s Digital Dunk.
• Ten ways to make your charity genuinely digital – NPC.
• Why do digital? Matt Collins for Charity Comms gives persuasive arguments if you still need to convince colleagues.
• Is your organisation making the most of digital technologies? Take SCVO’s digital check-up.
• Then avoid these 5 digital trends – Matt Collins for JustGiving.
• But keep ahead of these – 5 Charity Digital Trends for 2019 by Montfort.
• What can we learn about information giving from The Weather Channel who use AR to bring extreme weather to life.
• And The Big Issue goes AR!
• AI is changing the world; who will change AI?  NESTA
• The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors – Search Engine Land.
• I analysed the searches people used to read my blog and it’s not good news for women – Jessica Eaton.
• The service design story at Reach Volunteering.
• Assumptions, assumptions — how NCVO started talking about what we know (and what we think we know) – Megan Griffith Gray.
• Service Design Fringe Festival: Lessons from creating digital services within a charity – CAST.
• Where should UX sit in an organisation? Centralised vs embedded asks webcredible.
• Keep On, Keep Up: Collaboration in older person tech – great case study from Reason Digital.
• Monthly accessibility tip: don’t use special characters that look like letters.
• We need to talk about accessibility on chatbots – UX Design.
• I used the web for a day using a screen reader – Smashing Magazine.
• KonMari For Digital Clutter – CodesLikeAGirl – not just for clearing out the clutter in your home.
• CRUK’s tech team have tidied their digital up and moved their blog to Medium.

Fundraising

Still think you can’t ask for donations on Twitter? Be authentic / fun like these examples:

• Excellent responses to this request for donations of towels for owls.
• Eye-catching requests for toy donations to Little Village as part of their Think Small promotion.
• And lovely responses to this request for knitted blankets for a hospice.
• Cycle from Scratchy Bottom to Broadbottom for Toilet Twinning. Creative promo for their fundraising package.

See also:

• A golden formula for generating trust – important read by Kate Lee, CEO of CLIC Sargent.
• BT’s MyDonate fundraising platform will close in June particularly hitting small charities. White Fuse compiled alternatives to BT MyDonate for donations and fundraising.
• Seven common ‘funding headaches’ for charities – and what you can do about it – DSC.
• What does digital fundraising really mean? CRUK’s Rob Green.
• Charities try new tactics to be remembered in wills – view from The Economist (subscribe to read).
• Five strategies for motivating supporters – nfpSynergy.
• Charities: we need to start with why! Richard Sved.
• Tales from the Secret Giver #1: opening some Christmas crackers: a review of three Christmas campaigns – UK Fundraising.
• Martin Lewis: What happened to my pledge to give £10m to charity in 2012? Insights from a major giver.
• Making your Thank You’s SUPER – by David Burgess.

People

• Why I am recruiting more remote workers – call to action by Emily Casson for IoF.
• Matt Haworth: the digital entrepreneur who does good – profile article in UK Fundraising.
• 12 things you need to understand if you want your team to perform consistently well – Halo Psychology.
• How we transformed Happy from a £180k loss to a £165k profit in one year – good read from Happy Ltd.
• What do you have on the back of the toilet doors in your office? These posters from Monzo were widely shared this month.
• The rise and fall of the Chief Digital Officer – useful insights from webcredible
• Meet Oxfam’s new CEO Danny Sriskandarajah (and volunteer Pat and volunteer Sam).
• Have you read NCVO’s new volunteering research Time Well Spent?

And finally….

• Download British Red Cross’ power of kindness calendar.
• Cheer yourself up with TheMERL’s helpful cheat for #MuseumSelfieDay.
• Or this dad and baby chatting via Best Beginnings.
• A young boy joins in with the drumming at Welcome to the Forest.
• I love Olivia Colman screeching at her subjects in The Favourite.
• Hypnotise yourself with these polygonal sine waves.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please add your links in the comments.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. I can help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection.

——

Did you miss the last round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Great #IWD2018 content

More than ever today, my timeline is wonderfully filled with messages celebrating brilliant women and highlighting women’s projects and causes.  It is International Women’s Day (#IWD2018) so here’s my pick of the top content around.

Fundraising for women’s charities

Bloody Good Period encouraged us to give a sister a leg-up by donating to their Amazon wishlist.

Richard Herring did his annual ‘Why isn’t there an International Men’s Day?’ response marathon to raise money for Refuge. At one stage during the day, new donations were being every added every ten seconds. The £50k target was hit around lunchtime, and £100,000 by the early evening. The final total is now almost £150k + Gift Aid!

There were lots of fundraising activities on the day. This reproduction of this suffragette poster from 1906 is being sold to support the campaign for a statue of Mary Woolstonecraft.

The Huffington Post ran an article about donating to women’s charities.

Celebrating brilliant women

There are thousands of tweets giving shout-outs to fabulous women. Imandeep Kaur’s thread, showcasing women in her life stood out. Using one tweet per person and a stonking photograph, she explains what the woman has achieved and why they are amazing.

Lots of charities celebrated their women founders and / or the stories of prominent women. For example, see Sue Ryder, The Woodland Trust, Leonard Cheshire, RSPCA, Maggie’s Centres, Battersea Dogs and Cats and British Red Cross.

And there were a number of posts introducing some of the women I admire working in the sector today. See CharityJob’s Sheroes, Kirsty Marrins’ post from last year and Lightful’s 6 phenomenal women leading the way.

Fighting for equality

City, University of London asked why there aren’t more expert women featured on the news with this nifty animation they shared on Twitter sharing research from Professor Lis Howell.

The NY Times admitted that its obituaries have been dominated by white men. They have responded with a series called Overlooked.

UNICEF produced this simple animation calling on a world where every woman and girl feels safe.

It’s worth watching the #FreedomForGirls video produced by Global Goals if you haven’t seen it already.

This interactive timeline of women’s rights and gender equality over the past 100 years from Southbank Centre has been released as part of their WOW festival.

Women’s projects

Great coverage for this Women in Sheds Age UK project in Loughborough.

Some charities you wouldn’t particularly expect to have an story for IWD, used the opportunity to share stories about their work. For example Dog’s Trust shared information about their Freedom Project.

And Crisis shared research about the impact of homelessness on women in a short video.

Inspiring messages

‘Be a role model for the sort of woman you want your children to be’. Wise words in this video from Age UK showing a discussion between Shirley Meredeen and Lynne Ruth Miller.

Grow old disgracefully – I love this from the Campaign to End Loneliness.

What did you spot?

This was just a small fraction of all the tweets, videos, campaigns shared for IWD18. What did you see or produce which particularly stood out? Do share your highlights in the comments.

See also:

• UK Fundraising’s #IWD18 round-up
• Lightful’s Twitter Moment packed with loads of examples
• Mandy Johnson made a Twitter Moment of Richard Herring’s International Men’s Day reply tweets.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with digital copywriting, content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. Can I help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection?

 

#GivingTuesday 2017

Now in its fourth year in the UK, #GivingTuesday is a chance for charities large and small to ask, thank and share news of the difference they make. It is the antidote to #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday (all of which seem to last much longer than a single day).

Here are some great Twitter examples from this year’s day.

Short and simple

#GivingTuesday is a hugely busy hashtag (trending across the world on the day) so there is a lot of competition. On all channels, a simple, eye-catching ask stands out.

The standard digital fundraising rules apply – cater to short attention spans, make donating time or money easy to do and pleasurable and give a reward.

This tweet from Dogs Trust ticks all the boxes. It clearly lists four ways to give support, it uses eye-catching emojis and readable / edited bit.ly links plus a bonus video of a dog rolling in the grass!

Similarly, LSE student volunteer centre shared four images on Twitter along with four actions.

• Independent Age clearly listed their text giving options
• Crisis showed what someone who attends Crisis at Christmas receives
• Lumos produced a simple animation of five words which explain what they do
• Refuge were asking people to buy a Christmas dinner parcel for £5
• Breakfast in a Bag simply asked for £3 donations.

Giving thanks

#GivingTuesday is as much a chance to say thank you as it is to ask. It is an opportunity to celebrate all your amazing fundraisers, donors, campaigners and volunteers. Personal thanks or general thanks work well.

Help for Heroes produced this lovely video to thank their fundraisers, volunteers, supporters and partners. It means more as it is a face-to-face thanks from the people whose lives have been helped by the charity.

The British Heart Foundation are expert producers of thank you gifs and images. Their feed is full of great thank you images like this one.

Marie Curie produced hand-drawn doodles for a selection of their supporters to say thank you.

There are lots more examples of how large and small charities used #GivingTuesday to say thank you (ZurichVolSec)

Taking full advantage

For one day only, Facebook matched donations made via their native giving tool (not those made by clicking a donation button on the platform which links elsewhere).

This tweet from Winston’s Wish explains the ask. A link to the Facebook page would have helped to encourage supporters to shift platform.

Selected Big Give charities are part of their Christmas Challenge which launched at midday on #GivingTuesday. The 500 organisations lucky enough to be included are benefitting from doubled-donations to their listed projects. In the first five minutes, half a million pounds were raised!

Eye-catching campaigns like Cats Vs Kids from The Childhood Trust, aim to inspire new supporters as well as current ones through #GivingTuesday and the #ChristmasChallenge17.

CAF were offering to add a bonus £100 to a £10 donation for individuals opening a new account before 30 November.

Action on Hearing Loss Scotland devoted the whole day to share stories of amazing fundraisers, achievements, future events and their #earringforhearing campaign.

Using targets

The Myton Hospices were aiming for a Christmas miracle, raising £3220 in 24 hours, enough to pay for an inpatient bed for one week. Through persistent tweeting, a thunderclap and rallying of their supporters, they smashed their target! Throughout the day, they updated supporters with a total. (Read more about their campaign in my JustGiving post on #GivingTuesday highlights.)

Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust‘s campaign aimed to raise enough money to plant 100 trees.

(NB Toilet Twinning are really good at sharing regular News Flush updates with a running total on World Toilet Day, pinning the latest total as a top tweet on the day.)

Being creative

#GivingTuesday is a great opportunity to break all the rules, produce something special and have fun.

Southmead Hospital Charity produced a charming video which explained how a £5 donation would help.

• The Parkinson’s UK please donate video is all the more charming as it has outtakes.
• Breast Cancer Now asked supporters to send messages to their researchers. And then showed some of the results.
• Aardman Animations chose #GivingTuesday to launch their Turkey Dash featuring 8 UK charities.

Didn’t get involved this year?

UK Fundraising reported that almost 2000 partner charities and businesses joined in with #GivingTuesday this year. CAF shared stats on the reach of the day, including an impressive 383million impressions on Twitter. And CAF’s press release said that the hashtag was trending on Twitter in the UK from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Blackbaud shared data too including that 26% of online donations were made via mobile.

The #GivingTuesday hashtag was used in over 150 countries on the day.

If you didn’t get involved this year, make sure it is on your calendar for 2018 – 27 November. And think about how you can make your comms stand out from the crowd.

What did you spot?

Share your favourite #GivingTuesday examples from Twitter or other channels here. I’d love to see them.

I also shared my top three highlights from the day in this JustGiving post.

It’s interesting to see how the comms have evolved since #GivingTuesday launched in the UK in 2014. Here’s my storify with examples from the first year.

 

See also: 10 tips for great online legacy fundraising

How to make the new Twitter profile work for your charity

The new Twitter layout brings new opportunities for using images. But the size and shape of images required, especially for the header, is tricky to get right. Should you stretch your logo (er, no), use a generic photo library background or search for a single picture which tells your story? There are still lots of organisations and people who haven’t made the switch yet, let’s look at some who have.

Using the profile for an appeal or campaign

This example from @OxfamGB uses one very powerful image (of a person looking directly at us) alongside a red banner about the appeal and JustText Giving details underneath. As Twitter is not traditionally used for fundraising (see previous post on donating in 140 characters), the header presents a brilliant opportunity. Oxfam could reinforce the header by pinning a tweet about the appeal so it appears at the top of the page. This would drive more traffic as nothing in the profile space is clickable.

Child’s i Foundation are using their profile to promote their latest fundraising campaign. The pinned tweet works well here especially as it uses a different but similar picture.

Alzheimer’s Society are using their header to promote their latest campaign, Don’t bottle it up. They have included their #hashtag and link.

Other examples organisations using the header for fundraising or to give information:

• Beat Bullying
• Kid’s Company
• Teenage Cancer Trust
• Prisoner’s Abroad

One strong image

It can be difficult to find one strong image, especially one which tells a story, is easy for everyone to understand and works in the letterbox shape (1500 x 500 pixels).

Mencap use one strong positive image of a man and boy, both smiling. This complements their friendly bio (‘Hi, we are Mencap. Everything we do is about valuing & supporting people with a learning disability, their family and carers’).

What does your picture say about you? A photo of a single person works well as a fundraising persuasion tool but this is social media so maybe your image should be a reflection of your inclusion? There are a few examples of this such as this one from Parkinson’s UK and The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Play to your strengths. What images do you have which you know work well? For example Guide Dogs use puppies.

Other examples of one strong image:

• Shelter
• Leonard Cheshire
• RNLI
• Water Aid UK
• St John Ambulance

But what if you don’t have a stock of strong pictures or your cause doesn’t lend itself to a photo? A graphic can work. Refuge here uses a repeated image from their logo. Lighthouse, a suicide prevention charity in Belfast use a google map showing their location. Headway East London use a painting.

Your strong image doesn’t have to be serious, it can be cheeky like Beating Bowel Cancer‘s.

Finally, museums, galleries and heritage organisations have an amazing opportunity to showcase their collections as this example from the Imperial War Museum shows.

If you are using one strong picture, think about how often you will change it and where else it appears. Will people get tired of it after a while? How many other places it is appearing? It may be useful to use one image across your social media channels and change them to something else all at the same time. Or have one strong image per channel and use this permanently.

Checklist

• Check that your header image works well at 1500×500 pixels. Does it tell a story? Is it cropped in the right way and uncluttered?
• Make sure that the image and / or text is not blurry or pixelated. Start with a big picture and reduce. You can’t make small pictures bigger – you’ll lose definition.
• Check that your logo / profile photo doesn’t obscure anything important in the header. (For example in the Guide Dogs example above, the logo slightly obscures a puppy’s nose.)
• Is your logo / avatar clear at 400 x 400? Does it still work when reduced to tweet size?
• Check how your image appears using different browsers / devices etc. You don’t want to do a Good Morning Britain. Images can look subtly different but enough to stop them making sense / working as well. For example, look at Samaritans’ profile – in the web version, the woman’s eyes are oddly cropped out but in a list of profiles, they appear!

Useful links

• how to customise your profile (Twitter)
• Twitter’s new look to switch for all on 28 May (Carvill Creative)
• create a Twitter header in three easy steps (Big Brand System).

Share your favourite examples

What examples have you come across which have inspired you (in a good or bad way?) What have you learnt about using the new-look Twitter? Please share your comments here.

Can I help you?

Please also get in touch if you’d like me to help you with social media. I am a freelance web editor and trainer and can help give your digital communications a healthcheck and ideas injection.