A New Way to Do Old Business

Organizations can become educational resources on Twitter, keeping in mind the need for authenticity over institutional-speak. This later point tops the list of Brigida's tips for organizations when getting involved in social networks:

1. Have an authentic message.
2. Go where you constituents are.
3. Respect them. Don't be an ad. Allow constituents to have a relationship with you.
4. Know they are connected to a whole network of people.
5. Involve their friends.
6. Combine old and new techniques. For example, a press release can be repurposed into a blog post and then shortened to 140 characters and put on Twitter.

Brigida recommended picking social-networking sites that involve something you like doing or sites that will make your life easier. Empower staff members who are on these sites already on their own. If you're worried about the lines between their personal lives and work lives blurring too much, add social-networking guidelines to your computer-use policy.