In the last year, many people have claimed that email is passe. Often, the main argument is that the use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are growing so fast that eventually everyone will just use those tools and their mobile phones to communicate. Others have argued that email is just an inferior communication protocol. While it’s curious and interesting to entertain such a massive shift in the way the world communicates, I think it’s an outrageous claim. Here are 5 signs email is here to stay for while.

1. Email is Too Ingrained In Our Every Day Life

Email is dead….really?…really? The entire world communicates through email. There is so much business infrastructure around email and years and years of data that it just seems ludicrous to suggest that email is even dying. Did the T.V. kill radio? Has the mobile phone killed the land line? Just because there are new ways to communicate doesn’t mean that the tried and true email is going bye-bye. Email may die one day, but the biggest factor that would contribute to its demise would be time…and a lot of it.

2. Google Failed to Replace It

Last week, Google announced that they “don’t plan to continue Wave as a standalone product”. If you know anything about Google Wave you’ll know that Google had grand plans to create a “better email client”. But that’s just it, it wasn’t email. It was totally different. Kudos to Google for trying to change the world, but if Wave had sent emails (like most other technologies) it would have had a better adoption rate. As it was, it was just another “inbox-thing” people had to check. That brings me to my next point quite nicely.

3. All Applications Use Email

As of this post Facebook is reporting that people spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook a month. That’s a lot. But what happens when you o send someone a private message? It sends them an email. In fact go take another look at your Facebook’s notifications preferences. Almost every single thing the application does can and will by default send you AN EMAIL. Like around 100 different email notifications. This type of notifications preferences isn’t unique to the 2nd most active website in the world; they all depend on email.

4. It’s a Nice Alternate to the CONSTANT Steam

People complain about email all the time. They complain about having to empty their inbox and going through 100s of emails. I’m guilty of this too. But the reality is that email is still a great protocol for messages that need to be delivered, but not consumed immediately. Emails are not as disruptive as text messages, but that’s only because text messaging is a relatively new medium to receive messages on. It used to be that when we got a new email we said “Woohoo” I got electronic mail message! Neat. My point here is that just like wedding invitations will always be delivered via snail mail, email provides a great alternative to drinking from the firehose of communication and data that is social media.

5.  Email is a Protocol, Not an Entity

Recently I’ve heard my wife increasingly say to others, “I’ll facebook you.” What does that mean? It means that Facebook is the protocol. It is the medium by which the communication takes place. As inevitable as it may seem, Facebook could be gone tomorrow. The use of Email is not dependent upon the success of a company. Email remains.

What are some other signs email is NOT dead?

One question that we hear often is:

Do we add member data in directly or do I have my members signup?

Most customers love the current implementation where members signup and manage their own information. Others want complete control and even want to add members manually and start communicating. So the question is: Who owns the data?

Can a system be designed that can be both a membership management system and a self-serve member communication tool? We think so. And we’re taking steps now to be the best of both worlds.

Organization administrators can now manually add person records in their organization’s management console. What this means is that you can now accurately reflect all the people in your organization. You can enter the profile information and upload their picture.

The next step will be to merge any offline person records with a real account should that person create a MemberHub profile. We’ll be speaking with existing customers to gather feedback on how this should work.

If you’re an administrator, check out the New Person button and let us know what you think!

When you adopt a tool like MemberHub as your organization’s primary communication tool you’re essentially telling your members that “this is how we communicate”.  Opening up two-way communication channels and putting your members in touch with each other will result in more informed, more engaged members. This means you get less phone calls and potentially save money on extra staff needed to ensure proper communication is taking place. But “will my members use it”, you ask.

Your members hang out on Facebook all day. You’re likely NOT going to get them to hang out in some other social networking application or communication tool. But that doesn’t mean that you should be using Facebook as your communication tool. And it also doesn’t mean that you need a really cool social tool to enhance communication.

A successful implementation of MemberHub means your members are connected, know how to reach other members, and can take care of the business of being a member (like signing up for an event). There’s no concept of “friends”. It’s not about logging on creating unbelievable online community. Online community doesn’t just happen. Even if you have the best tool in the world, online community only happens will it’s fostered and cultivated by people.

It’s about taking care of the business of being a member so that you can leave time for REAL community when members do gather together; rather than worrying about logistics and planning.

So when you’re considering your communication software needs don’t worry so much about getting members to hang out in the tool all day. Just make sure that you’re using it. Make sure that members know how to reach their group. Make sure that they know where to get the latest information. Make sure that communication can take place. Do these things and you will enhance communication in your organization.

Last week I put up a post on why nonprofit strategies often fail. The message wasn’t ground-breaking or all that entirely original. It was designed to get you asking yourself a lot of questions. My passion for great communication was refueled this morning when John Saddington challenged technology people to put communication first, technology second.

We’ve had a quite a few posts here about “communication”, but they don’t get as much attention as other posts. Why is that?

Why is it that year after year, nonprofit members list “communication” as the number one area that organizations need improvement. Why is it that something so obvious constantly goes overlooked?  Why do your members constantly tell you that “they didn’t know that” or “that wasn’t in the newsletter” or “nobody told me that”?

My challenge here is this: You’ve got talk to your members/employees/constituents. Get a discussion going. Get their feedback. Make them understand what you’re seeing. Work together. Collaborate. THAT’S what social media is all about. It opens up the channel for people to speak about something so that other people can understand it. It’s less about what tools you use and more about making sure that communication is taking plan.

Even with the myriad of social networking tools available, members still feel in the dark? Why?

Last week we received an inquiry from an organization that “…is looking for a way to communicate with its workers throughout the world…”. Throughout the world. That’s awesome. Sure, your church and nonprofit has groups that need to get organized and share documents, calendars and messages, but you’re at least in the same town (usually). These folks are spread throughout the world.

They’re in different countries, with different resources, different timezones and different cultures. Stop and think about the possibility that these folks can easily access a shared calendar and receive automatic event reminders in their respective time zone. No matter where you are, if you have an internet connection, you can collaborate with your team. That sounds so obvious, almost naive. “Duh”, you say, “Welcome to the 21st century”. I know, but only when situations like this come along do I ponder how powerful the internet is and how it enables such awesome feats.

In particular, this organization is trying to spread the Gospel to regions of the world where “sharing one’s faith is illegal.” Their ministry and mission could endanger their ability to live the places they’ve been led. They need to be diligent and organized when it comes to communication and collaboration.

Here are just 5 ways international ministries can benefit from online collaborative tools:

1. Keep everyone informed and ensure this mission’s goals and vision are being shared.
2. Members feel more connected and have a greater sense of togetherness even when spread throughout the world!
3. Encourage each other in their efforts.
4. Allow new members to easily be brought up to speed by joining the online group and reading old messages, downloading forms and viewing member profiles
5. Share files, photos, calendars and member information with each other to keep everyone in sync

What are some others?

I don’t know about you, but I need to work on my listening skills. I love to learn and I learn best by audio. I play the drums by ear. I love to listen to music. I enjoyed school because I liked to listen to professors (well usually). But I cannot for the life of me listen to two things at the same time. It’s physically and literally almost impossible for me to listen to phone call and have my wife talking to me at the same time. It’s amazing to me how well women can multi-task when it comes to listening. She can do it, I cannot. If I have more than one stream of thought or information trying to enter my head it’s bound to fail. Unfortunately this is what Twitter and Facebook have become for me at times.

Lately, I feel like I’m drinking from the fire hose with Twitter. It’s so hard to find the information that’s relevant to me and my business while also keeping track of personal events for friends, family and colleagues. I often feel like I am not communicating through these mediums.

What about you are, are you really communicating with Facebook and Twitter? Do you feel like you’re getting a valuable exchange of information?

If so, leave a comment and share some tips.

Almost everything in your life can be digital now. It’s quite amazing actually. As a family we rarely print pictures any more. Even the ones that we want to share get loaded onto a digital picture frame and proudly displayed in the middle of our house. I figure we’re saving a lot of trees; considering how many pictures we take of our 2 year old.

As true as this is for most folks, there are still a bunch of organizations that haven’t gone “digital”. One of them that is trying is the pre-school that my daughter is in. These teachers and coordinators pour their lives into these children. They teach them to pray before meals, teach them manners, how to act socially around other children, and there are endless games and crafts that help develop our children physically and spiritually. But they definitely go through lots of paper.

Sure craft-time causes them to use construction paper like it’s going out of style, but it’s much more than that. The entire parent directory, which changes drastically every year is printed and bound. There aren’t many days that go by that an announcement is sent home on  pink or green sheet of paper. There is one teacher that even burns cd’s for each parent with pictures of the kids. The photos are named by each kid and sorted appropriately. I’m thinking pre-school programs could be quite the market for MemberHub.

Here are 5 ways that pre-schools and teachers can save money and trees by using online group communication tools:

1. Allow parents to share and maintain their profile information online
2. Send announcements via email and text messaging
3. Upload all files, forms and parent tips into a common area; online
4. Share photos online
5. Encourage parents to share ideas, ask questions and generally connect online

Certainly this is just the beginning of the list. Can you think of any more? If you’re a pre-school or elementary teacher or a parent of young children in these programs I’d love for you to leave a comment and share more ideas below.

Check out the tweets from @milleemassey last week. Whether you’re involved with a church, nonprofit, association or generally looking for valuable information you’re sure to find a link or two in here that you must read!

1. The Value of an Active, Simple To-Do List: http://bit.ly/14WTiJ // great reminder!7:58 AM May 28th from web
2. 5 Best Practices to Maximize Your Participation in a Twitter Chat: http://bit.ly/bj1Ny7:55 AM May 28th from web
3. MemberHub’s Latest Feature Release: Collaborate with Whiteboards!! http://bit.ly/18equN5:50 AM May 28th from web
4. 16 Boring but Important Ways to Make Your Business More Social – http://bit.ly/t28Em8:34 AM May 27th from web
5. Is marketing an art or a science? http://bit.ly/2m3uX8:28 AM May 27th from web
6. Church Layoffs: Reduction in Force, Not Reduction in Faith – http://bit.ly/194ODl8:14 AM May 27th from web
7. How much time is WASTE D on Social Networks? http://bit.ly/vR5Lx – chk out MemberHub, a private place to do business & enhance communication8:06 AM May 27th from web
8. Tribute to Small Group Leaders: http://bit.ly/fTxaG // Small grp leaders, what are you using to keep your group connected & communicating?7:48 AM May 26th from web
9. Changing the Scorecard – “For many churches, it’s time to “redefine the win.” http://bit.ly/15lEnL7:29 AM May 26th from web
10. Share your pictures!! Photo Galleries Come To MemberHub: http://bit.ly/11mH1J5:31 AM May 26th from web
11. Is your church sticky and magnetic? http://bit.ly/eX4Yp7:28 AM May 21st from web
12. Check out latest blog & learn a little about MemberHub and our team!! http://bit.ly/wvaBh7:43 AM May 18th from web

I just read an excellent article on the importance of nonprofits keeping their volunteers engaged. This very factual and informative writeup suggests the following:

“Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers, but most CEOs do a poor job of managing them. As a result, more than one-third of those who volunteer one year do not donate their time the next year—at any nonprofit. That adds up to an estimated $38 billion in lost labor. To remedy this situation, nonprofit leaders must develop a more strategic approach to managing this overlooked and undervalued talent pool.”

$38 billion…wow. I don’t have actual numbers, but I’m willing to bet that this problem exists in all types of organizations. Churches need to keep their ministries and members involved, associations need to keep their members active, and schools need to keep the parents engaged. We’re even learning that fitness and wellness programs are having more success if they provide tools to connect their members better.

Managing members is more than just keeping data about them. Technology can help all types of member-driven organizations in the following ways:

1. It keeps everyone informed and ensures that vision and goals are shared
2. Communication channels are clear and everyone knows how to reach the group and each other
3. Members feel more connected and have a greater sense of community
4. It encourages participation and sharing of ideas, which leads to refinement of objectives
5. Instant communication to users cell phones with text messaging can save much time

These are just a few examples. How is technology helping your nonprofit, church, association or member-driven organization? What can we do to help?

Many of you know @milleemassey. For those of you that follow her on Twitter, you’re already well aware of her knack for sorting through 100′s of  tweets and finding those nuggets of goodness that deserve to be passed on and retweeted. For MemberHub customers you may just know her as the friendly account representative that answers all your questions.

1. “Tinker will show you relevant real-time convos. from social media sources like Facebook and Twitter” Heard of it? http://www.tinker.com/11:23 AM May 15th from TweetDeck
2. ‘As Seen on TV’: Marketing Ideas Gleaned from Infomercials – http://bit.ly/cRImL11:19 AM May 15th from TweetDeck
3. The Next Generation and Changing Suburban Schools: http://bit.ly/10gl2q11:17 AM May 15th from TweetDeck
4. RT @brandonacox: Why Content and Social Media are a Powerful Match http://ff.im/-2Vk3S10:45 AM May 15th from TweetDeck
5. Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions: http://bit.ly/WXJBo // you presenting any time soon? great advice here!8:25 AM May 15th from TweetDeck
6. “… churches are beginning to feel the recession’s squeeze on the offering dollars that people place in the plate.” http://bit.ly/UP34o1:01 PM May 14th from TweetDeck
7. DOG sized or GOD sized Faith? http://bit.ly/144C6t – Love it!!11:53 AM May 14th from TweetDeck
8. Patience and Prayer: “What are you struggling to “take one step at a time” …?” So true…can be applied to life! http://bit.ly/F6AkS8:52 AM May 14th from TweetDeck
9. RT @human3rror: Just Read : Keep it Simple Stupid (and Obvious) : http://churchcrunch.com/?p=… // 8:41 AM May 14th from TweetDeck
10. Churches, Nonprofits & Associations – How many communication tools are you using? http://blog.memberhub.com/7:01 AM May 14th from TweetDeck
11. What Not to Do in Connection Card Ministry: http://bit.ly/18rbj45:59 AM May 14th from TweetDeck
12. Two halves of the value fraction // http://bit.ly/38vbw2:04 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
13. “how often do you repeat your vision to people within your organization?” http://bit.ly/LgLFF1:58 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
14. Is Voicemail Dead? http://bit.ly/18O7gB // Do you agree?1:26 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
15. A29 Bootcamp Sessions: Influence: Multiplying Leaders on Mission for the Gospel // http://bit.ly/Jn2Fw1:24 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
16. Interesting: Coast Guard Commandant Hearts Social Media // http://bit.ly/RfDzG1:05 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
17. “Cool is No Longer Cool” – http://bit.ly/jeUtE – “The American Church is not lacking for “cool” pastors”….12:56 PM May 13th from TweetDeck
18. RT @ifeelgod: Influence: Connecting with People | GiANT Impact http://ff.im/-2OVKk11:46 AM May 12th from TweetDeck
19. “Life is too short to waste. Dreams are fulfilled only through action, not through endless planning to take action.” (via@mikehanes)12:07 PM May 11th from TweetDeck
20. RT @human3rror: Just Read : The ‘Pastor’ Effect in Social Media : http://churchcrunch.com/?p=… // 7:48 AM May 11th from TweetDeck
21. My Church Manifesto … cultural shift in the church? http://bit.ly/J9MUi – good stuff, thoughts?12:43 PM May 8th from TweetDeck