I recently took a long weekend trip to New York, and when I returned to the office, I had more than 1,000 items to read in my Google Reader.

Slowly, I’ve made my way through them and in the process, I stumbled upon a few links that can really benefit small-staff associations.

A guest on post on Mashable discussed how to deal with negative feedback in social media. This article is full of practical tips and strategic advice for damage control. Social media is, first and foremost, a conversation, so your association should make an effort to join it.  If a negative sentiment about your organization pops up on a social network, do you know how to respond? Do you know who will respond?

This post from Converstations offers a new perspective on Facebook Pages. Would you ever let your members take control and ownership of one of your organization’s social media outposts, such as Facebook? By making the goal of the Facebook Fan page to be a section for and by the community (with the business or brand being the “Fan of the Community”), now we may have something.

I wouldn’t be surprised if your organization’s members created a Facebook Page or Group “unofficially,” before the association got on board. If members already have accounts created at Facebook, it’s only natural for them to want to gather there, making it a “one-stop shop” for all their communication needs.

Rather than reprimanding or ignoring the “unofficial” gathering, try embracing it. Over the last few weeks, the association community has seen what volunteers and members can do, and it’s truly extraordinary. Communities can thrive (or fail) with or without an association backing it up. Your organization should try to help its communities prosper in the cloud (i.e. online spaces) rather than tearing them down.

And if the conversation grows negative, remember to evaluate the offending comment and see if there’s any truth to it. Use it as an opportunity to grow.

Image credit: Flickr

For part two of my UnTech10 reflections, I want to focus on Jeff De Cagna and Chris Bonney’s “Mobile Matters.” I think the information provided can be extremely valuable to small-staff association professionals.

As someone who’s attached to her BlackBerry and MacBook, I’ve come to accept that mobile is just a way of life. And I love when a Web site translates easily to my mobile device, and that’s what associations should be focusing on.

By 2016, smartphones will comprise 66 percent of the market share. Traditional flip phones are on their way out as people are communicating nonstop and sharing information they collect on their phones (photos, etc…).

Mobile is inherently social. So are associations. So it only makes sense that associations should start thinking about what their Web sites look like on a mobile device, be it BlackBerry, iPhone or Android. These platforms can help associations nurture social relationships.

I remember when Facebook first introduced the status update. It was around 2006, and I was pretty horrified. “Facebook stalking just reached a whole new level,” my friends and I thought. “Why would anyone care what I’m doing at all times?”

Of course, the beauty in the status update is that we can share photos, links, videos and more. Sure, some people abuse it and update eleventy million times a day. But many people use it for exactly its purpose — sharing information they find interesting, funny and/or relevant.

If members are accessing your organization’s Web site on their smartphone, it’s important to consider how it appears. Should you create an app? Perhaps. The three main platforms are the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android.

If you choose not to create an app, be aware of how your actual site translates to a smaller screen. Not every aspect of your Web site needs to be available on the mobile platform. Create a user-friendly mobile version with larger text, fewer photos and only the most important parts.

Consider this: 25 percent of Facebook users access the site on a mobile device – whether it’s a mobile Web site or the Facebook application. That statistic will only grow as Facebook itself continues to grow. (The site recently announced it hit 400 million active users.)

This has moved past a trend for Gen-Y and Gen-X. Mobile devices are the future of communication.

How will your association get more people involved in mobile activities?

Image credit: Flickr

Over at PR Squared, there’s a great post about why some public relations professionals haven’t been too quick to adopt social media practices. Many claim their clients aren’t ready, so there’s no need for them to have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking Web sites.

“Newsflash: it does not matter if your clients aren’t ready.  The mainstream media are ready,” wrote PR-Squared’s Todd Defren.

When’s the last time you watched a sporting event or the nightly news without a mention of Twitter? Countless athletes and reporters are immersed in the site and the so-called “mainstream media” have embraced it. (For the record, I hate the term “mainstream media” becuase I think it’s basically lost all meaning. But that’s another post for another day.)

Are your members on Twitter? Are they on Facebook? With each day that passes, there’s a greater likelihood that they’re active on one, the other or both. So why shouldn’t the organization itself have a presence? It’s easy to create a fan page on Facebook and allow members to interact there. A Facebook group is also an option — check out this great post for the pros and cons of each.

The Lupus Foundation of America, for example, was recently featured on Smart Blog for Social Media for its success generating donations via the Internet. Using Facebook, the LFA increased its donations by 790 percent. It requires constant engagement with users and members, but it’s absolutely possible to achieve results using social media.

Find out where your members predominantely are and create a profile for the organization. Personally, I prefer Twitter simply for its real-time search features and ability to quickly share information and links — things become viral very quickly thanks to “retweeting” and also due to how rapidly Twitter itself has grown.

Going back to the PR-Squared post, does it matter if your members already active online? It makes establishing a Web presence for the organization a little easier, but it could also make those late majority adopters (and laggards!) more amenable to using Facebook or Twitter.

There’s a wealth of information out there for association members, and it’s up to the organization leaders to share it all with their members in the most effective way possible — social media isn’t going away any time soon.

“May we live in interesting times.” I don’t think that saying has ever been more true than today, in 2009.

My “aha!” moment came on November 4, 2008, the day Barack Obama was elected president of the U.S. Obama focused his campaign not on the color of his skin but on a grassroots effort that used Facebook, Twitter and his Web site to a great advantage. He mobilized a huge percentage of young Americans to campaign and raise money and his behalf, and his efforts resulted in the greatest fundraising success a presidential candidate has ever known. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Obama’s politics, there’s no denying the man and his staff ran an amazing campaign. Social media played a key part in his success.

Thanks to my journalism background, I’m especially interested in how we communicate. I’ve worked for a newspaper, and, although it saddens me that so many are in financial tatters, I’m excited to see where the next decade takes us.

However, I often feel like I’m hyperconnected — I’m running on information overload and can’t close the laptop or set down the BlackBerry for fear of something happening in the world without my knowing. I’m certain I’m not alone.

Although we all need a balance between our online lives and our offline ones, it’s still important for your organization to have an online presence. If you ignore tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you may find your organization becomes ignored itself.

Social media can help or hinder all organizations and companies — it depends on how you use the available tools. You can be shouting to an empty room on Twitter or using it to engage your members, cultivate relationships and share information.