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