Technology

Social Media Roundup: Flip the Switch

How one startup is the spiritual manifestation of a key takeaway from the ASAE Technology Conference & Expo. Also: Why innovators fail, and why that's good.

Being on all the time isn’t easy. Some will tell you it’s too much work. Some will suggest your time is better spent other ways.

But when you see someone who’s always on, you have to stand in awe.

An example of an always-on company, and more, in today’s Social Media Roundup:

What “Always On” Looks Like

As you may know, I’m a Buffer fan. So much so that I’m covering the company two days in a row—in part because it has a redesign that’s out today, which I didn’t know about Monday. But the redesign is besides the point here. Recently, Associations Now’s Mark Athitakis noted a line from last week’s ASAE Technology Conference & Expo that came from Spark Consulting’s Elizabeth Weaver Engel, MA, CAE: “What we’re switching to is more like a hospital mindset. We’ve got to have somebody available to help all the time.” As it turns out, Buffer has a great example of this going on its Twitter feed, where it individually responds to dozens of fans each hour, and staff members are signing each post. Now, whether you agree with Engel’s “hospital mindset” quote, Buffer, which has fewer than 10 employees, is showing that you don’t need a huge staff to do it well.

Don’t be afraid to innovate

That Seth Godin sure is something, isn’t he? Godin is so well known that if you search for the word “blog,” he shows up on the first page of your Google search, with such luminaries as Twitter and the White House. (Try it, we’re not kidding.) There’s a reason for that: He nails the smart points and then some. For example, here’s Godin talking innovation for nonprofits: “Nonprofit failure is too rare, which means that nonprofit innovation is too rare as well,” he says. “Innovators understand that their job is to fail, repeatedly, until they don’t.” Do you take a lot of risks at your nonprofit? (ht @sliceworks)

What cool stuff have you seen online today? Let us know in the comments.

(iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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