I came across this video late last week and made a mental note to share it with you guys here. Every once in awhile, a designer or blogger puts together a video with stats on the state of the Internet, and this is the latest one. There’s some incredible info here!

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

Still think the Internet isn’t revolutionizing the way we communicate? Your members need your organization’s voice online!

Happy Friday! Who can believe we’re already just about through February? I know it’s a short month, but it really seemed to fly by this year. It was definitely an exciting month in the association community, and to round it out, here are my five favorite posts from this week.

1. Peggy Hoffman wrote a great piece stemming from an association exec’s confession on an ASAE listserv. The association wasn’t sure what to do with a standing PR committee. Peggy focused on three lessons from this confession, and the ensuing discussion. There’s no clear conclusion, but many of the committee’s tasks could become ad hoc tasks for volunteers.

2. At Association Subculture, Shelly Alcorn has started a new series focusing on Jim Collins’ “How the Mighty Fall” and applying it to associations. In part two, she writes about the pursuit of more — more mergers, more chapters, more members, more more more. It’s not always better, and can lead to an organization’s downfall.

3. I’ve been loving Jeffrey Cufaude’s “Wednesday What-If” series. This week, he drew some inspiration from the men’s figure skating in the Winter Olympics and wondered what would happen if associations focused more on consistent, high-quality work rather than tricky, big breakthroughs. One single effort or initiative can use up a lot of resources, so perhaps we should consider how to make every single element of your efforts richer and more valuable.

4. It’s no secret the association community is enthralled with “best practices,” but, as Jamie Notter wrote this week, those practices can be inherently flawed if they don’t change with time. There’s a great discussion in the comments here about how best practices have to be allowed to evolve to stay up-to-date. Does your organization blindly rely on “best practices?”

5. Thinking of incorporating video into your nonprofit’s communication plan? Be sure to check out this awesome post. One organization tried out video, and shared its successes and mistakes so others can learn from them. Some takeaways: keep it short, have a mission and keep your resources in mind.

If you’re getting hit with snow again, stay warm this weekend! Wherever you are, have a great one!

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This is the tenth in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first nine installments can be found here. Stay tuned.

When you click over to UStream.tv, you might be wondering what makes it different from other video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo. The awesome thing about UStream is you can record video live!

(Coincidentally, I began writing this post and saw KiKi L’Italien’s new “Social Media Sweet Spot” show, which she recorded live on UStream last Friday. This is a great example of how live video can be used for communication both at the time of recording and later on.)

On its About page, UStream explains, In less than two minutes, anyone can become a broadcaster by creating their own channel on Ustream or by broadcasting through their own site, empowering them to engage with their audience and further build their brand.

There are so many possibilities for associations who want to use UStream. I’ve written a bit about virtual attendance for conferences and meetings, and UStream could definitely be used to stream keynote speeches or learning sessions.

There is an interactive broadcast functionality, which allows viewers to interact with whoever is broadcasting. If the presenter chooses, virtual attendees could ask the presenter questions rather than just being passive viewers.

For larger events (such as a keynote speech), UStream also offers a one-to-many broadcast feature.

Associations could also use it for various training sessions, speeches or rallies or other events.

You don’t have to have an account to view videos, which is nice for people who just want to watch videos occasionally.

Getting started is very easy – all you need is an Internet connection and webcam.

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How could your association use UStream?

Also, I want to add that association professionals should by no means feel obligated to use all of the social networking sites I’ve highlighted in this series. I’ve always advocated picking and choosing based on which ones are correct fits for your organization, but definitely take the time to explore the ones you’re unfamiliar with.

It’s official: Google has launched its real-time search! What does this mean for your organization?

(Google is rolling the new feature out slowly, so if you don’t have the “Real-Time Results” option yet, don’t worry. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, I didn’t either, but at 5:10, it magically appeared.)

I wrote about this when the deal was initially announced back in October, but I can’t stress the implications for associations and organizations enough.

When everyone has access to Google’s real-time search, the possibilities will be endless.

Now, whenever anyone posts anything — anywhere — with your organization’s name or acronym, it will appear in Google search results instantly. This includes Twitter, Yahoo! Answers, live news and more.

Now, during your conference, the “Latest results” portion of Google will be (hopefully!) bursting with tweets and blog posts about it. But don’t forget that the positives and the negatives will both be included.

Now, your members and non-members (and prospective members!) will have an easier time finding out what current members have to say about the organization. Any semblance of control you might have had is slowly shifting.

But this can be a blessing in disguise! This can encourage association leaders to become even more innovative, to provide even more value and to host absolutely amazing events! If you don’t want members to say anything bad about the organization online, work hard so they don’t have a reason to. Don’t just be complacent to do things the way they’ve always been done.

Even if your members are currently using social media en masse right now, this is still too important for your association to ignore. Don’t forget potential younger members – teens and twenty-somethings – are usually fluent in the social Web and will likely already be using social media tools before they join, or consider joining.

Check out Google’s short demonstration video to see it in action. It’s pretty cool, and I’m glad to see a company as forward-thinking as Google jump on the real-time search bandwagon.

As a follow-up to my post about how associations can use YouTube, I just couldn’t resist sharing this. The employees at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore. put this incredible feel-good video together to promote breast cancer awareness. It’s a great example of an organization letting their personality shine to convey an important message. How can your association creatively get its mission or message out?