Many charities across the globe have signed up to the micro blogging site Twitter. Founded in San Francisco back in 2006, the web service is fast becoming a global phenomenon with 55 million visitors a month and (at time of writing this post) a staggering monthly growth of 1382% – that’s a lot of Twittering! The service is not only great for keeping people in touch with each other but also for charities as it’s a fantastic way to keep supporters in touch with all the latest developments and news that can be posted globally with a touch of a button.
The user / charity can post a micro blog or ‘Tweet’, a text based, 140 character description of what they are doing or thinking about at that precise moment. Twitter account holders can ‘follow’ other members who interest them, and receive ‘followers’ themselves, who will be able to read and comment on every ‘tweet’ posted. This is great for charities as it not only informs people who are interested in their activities, it guarantees a captive audience as people have to opt in to follow their updates. Links can also be added to the ‘tweet’ to direct ‘followers’ to news stories with more information on the given subject if they choose to.
Celebrities and politicians have embraced the Twitter technology to such an extent that usage increased by 43% during the USA national elections, with campaigns and ballot updates being posted in ‘real time’ to keep voters up to date on all the latest news. Though with goofy actor Ashton Kutcher being the most followed Twitter user on the planet with over 1 million subscribers, you can’t account for taste!
More and more charities are signing up to Twitter as a fresh and innovative way to keep followers up to date with news articles and their ongoing work. We at donation4charity and charity gifts have also embraced the world of Twitter and you can follow us here :
http://twitter.com/charity_gifts
Every blog post that is added on this website is instantly linked to our Twitter feed, so as soon as we add an article you will be informed instantly. So if you like reading our blog and would like to receive instant notification of when a new post is added, then simply follow us on Twitter for all the latest charity news and views straight to your account.
Our team has also signed up to run / jog / wheeze our way round the Cancer Research 10K Run at Althorp Park in Northampton, so you can also be kept abreast of all our the latest training regimes and strict dietary requirement, or the lack of them. Don’t expect shares in Subway to fall too rapidly though!
Below is a list of other charities that have Twitter accounts and their address so you can follow them (original source : Econsultancy charity twitter list).
- ActionAid UK: @ActionAidUK
- AICR (International Cancer Research): @AICR
- Amnesty UK: @AmnestyUK
- AsthmaUK: @AsthmaUK
- AIDG – @aidg
- Alliance for Climate – @ClimateEd
- Alliance to Save Energy – @ToSaveEnergy
- Amazon Watch – @AmazonWatch
- Animal Aid – @AnimalAid
- Barnardos: @Barnardos
- Beatbullying: @Beatbullying
- Bletchley Park Trust: @bletchleypark
- British Red Cross: @BritishRedCross
- Bullying UK: @bullyinguk
- Bikes for the World – @bikesftworld
- Blue Planet Society – @Seasaver
- CAFOD: @CAFOD
- Campaign to Protect Rural England: @CPRE
- Cancernursing: @cancernursing
- Child’s i Foundation: @childsi
- Citizenship Foundation: @citizenship
- Compassion in World Farming: @ciwf
- Computer Aid: @Computer_Aid
- Contact a Family: @contactafamily
- Camp for Climate Action – @ClimateCampLdn
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network – @CCAN
- Clean Air Conservancy – @CleanAirConserv
- Climate Cycle Africa – @ClimateCycle
- Climate Rescue – @ClimateRescue
- Conservation NW – @ConservationNW
- Diabetes UK: @DiabetesUK
- Dog’s Trust: @dogstrust
- Defenders of Wildlife – @Defenders
- Earth Hour – @earthhour
- Earth Institute – @earthinstitute
- Earth Island Institute – @EarthIsland
- Earthjustice – @Earthjustice
- Earth Share – @EarthShare
- Ecojustice – @Ecojustice_ca
- Eco Preservation Society – @EcoPreservation @EcoInteractive
- Elephant Family – @elephantfamily
- Endangered Species Coalition – @stopextinction
- Environmental Defense Fund – @EnvDefenseFund
- Fairtrade UK: @FairtradeUK
- Family Holiday Association: @famholidayassoc
- Farm Animal Rights Movement – @FARMUSA
- FarmForward – @FarmForward
- Farm Sanctuary – @FarmSanctuary
- Food & Water Watch – @Foodandwater
- Forest Ethics – @ForestEthics
- Friends of the Earth – @wwwfoecouk @foe_us
- Gambian Enterprise: @gambian_charity
- Greenpeace: @greenpeaceuk
- Go Sustainable – @gosustainable
- Greener Leith – @greenerleith
- Green For All – @GreenForAll
- Greenpeace – @Greenpeace @Greenpeace_Intl
- Hearing Dogs: @HearingDogs
- Healthy Child Healthy World – @healthy_child
- Hawk Conservancy – @HawkConservancy
- Heal the Bay – @HealtheBay
- Independence First @Independence1st
- Institute for Sustainable Communities- @SustainableComm
- International Elephant Foundation – @IEF_elephants
- Just Green – @Just_Green
- Kiva – @Kiva
- Learn As One: @LearnAsOne
- Lesbian & Gay Foundation: @lgfoundation
- LCA Trust – @preserveland
- Liberation BC – @liberationbc
- Live Earth – @LiveEarth
- Macmillan Cancer Support: @macmillancancer
- MS Society: @mssocietyuk
- National Autistic Society: @thinkdifferent
- National Trust: @nationaltrust
- National Park Foundation – @GoParks
- National Wildlife Federation – @NWF
- Nature Conservancy – @nature_org
- Nature New South Whales – @naturensw
- Ovacome: @ovacome
- Oxfam (UK): @oxfamgb
- Ohio Wildlife Rehab – @OWRA
- Oregon Wild – @OregonWild
- Pacific Forest Trust – @PacificForest
- Plan UK – @planuk
- Project Africa Wilderness – @pawvolunteer
- RNIB: @rnib
- RSPB: @Natures_Voice
- RSPCA: @RSPCAbuzz
- Rainforest Action Network – @RAN
- Rainforest Alliance – @RnfrstAlliance
- Rainforest Rescue – @SaveRainforests
- Royal Society for Protecting Birds – @Natures_Voice
- RSPCA – @RSPCA_official
- Shelter Cymru – @shelter_cymru
- StandUp Campaign – @standupcampaign
- St. Mungo’s – @stmungos
- Student Conservation Association – @the_sca
- Save Our Rivers – @SaveOurRivers
- Save the Frogs – @savethefrogs
- Sierra Club – @Sierra_Magazine
- TimeBank: @timebank
- The Climate Project – @ClimateProject
- The Model Forest Policy Program – @MFPP
- The Wilderness Society – @Wilderness
- The Wild Foundation – @WILDfoundation
- Trees, Water & People – @treeswater
- UCare: – @UCAREoxford
- UNICEF: @unicef_uk
- Urban Land Institute – @UrbanLandInst
- Vegan Outreach – @VeganOutreach
- WA Wilderness – @Wa_Wilderness
- Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust – @wwtlondon
- World Wildlife Fund – @World_Wildlife
- War Child: @warchild
- WaterAid: @wateraid
- Weldmar Hospice Care: @weldmar
- WhizzKidz: @WhizzKidz
- Women’s Resource Centre: @whywomen
- WWF: @WWF_UK_web
- Yorkshire Cancer Research: @yorkshirecancer
- Young Jains UK: @YoungJains
- YouthAct: @Youth_Act
- YouthNet: @YouthNetUK
- 1planet1ocean – @OceanDoctor
- 1Sky – @1Sky
