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Blogging fatigue set in during the second half of the summer. There’s something ancient, seasonal and even spiritual about this contemporary phenomenon, which has been amplified this year by the recession. The sages of Chinese medicine identified late summer’s heat as a real drag on activity and dispositions. In the modern era, Europeans in droves vacate their homes and countries for somewhere else in August. Here at home, Congress acknowledges its lethargy, gives up and disappears for a few weeks, or tries to… 

But it’s difficult to be purely philosophical about such cycles in 2009 when the Internet seems to have become everyone’s professional and personal salvation — and there is today no escape from the online heat, whatever the season.

Experiencing blogging and social media angst, I turned to the masters of the craft for guidance and found it, happily rather quickly, from Beth Kanter, the high-octane blogger who always says something worth reading. Sure enough, in the dog days of August, she counseled about Information Overload Awareness Day. The bullet point that really hit home was the New York Times’ article, Blogging at a Snail’s Pace.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of research lately on changes in the workforce due to the recession — facts like these, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report this week:

• 14.9 million people out of work in the U.S. since the recession began in December 2007 (and still growing)
• A tripling of temporary workers since 1990 — from 1 to 3 million — and a pattern expected to reach 12 million in the next decade

It’s not hard to do the math through simple observation. People have more time on their hands, and the Internet, as we all know, has given everyone a vehicle for business and personal marketing. Yet the statistics are even more startling, as listed in a few mind-blowing nuggets: there are more than 133 million indexed blogs in Technorati, and Twitter has grown 1000% in the past year. Want more data?

Which leads back to the question at hand: What’s your Internet voice? It’s an age-old marketing challenge, traditional, social, or otherwise — what do you have to say, what’s distinctive about it, and, what’s more, when, how and to what audiences are you going to say it?

So as we regroup for the post-recession and perhaps apply some useful marketing lessons from today’s online frenzy, let’s refocus on strategy.

Why are you online? Know your strategy so you can choose the best tactics from the abundance of Internet tools:

• To engage customers? Build a relationship by listening and acting.
• Be a thought leader? Have something to say that sets you apart.
• Express yourself? Enjoy and create. (I’ve had a travel blog, www.womantraveler.info, for years and post entries only when I’ve had a terrific trip, discovered a fabulous tip, or need to register an opinion that might be helpful to helping others “travel on their own terms.” Nonetheless, I have regular unsolicited followers of my current as well as archived articles.)
• Fill up time? Use the Internet to learn something new and inform yourself.
• See and be seen? Go work out at the health club (another scene that is busier than ever these days)…

I’ve used this pause from blogging to get my business ready for the post-recession. Stay tuned.

Mobile technologies are the next-wave tool to create supporter-centric nonprofit organizations — from text messaging across generations from AARP members to youth and the solid 40 percent of US adults who use the mobile Internet. In 30 countries, there are as many mobile phones in use as people — and one-seventh of the world’s population will have a “smart phone” by 2012. So what’s in all this for nonprofits? Plenty, reported a panel moderated by mobile technology pioneer Benjamin Rigby at Fundraising Day 2009 sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Golden Gate Chapter on May 5.

Rigby’s latest venture, The Extraordinaries, delivers on-demand micro-volunteer opportunities to mobile phones.

The Mobile Giving Foundation certifies 501c3 organizations to conduct fundraising via text messaging in $5 and $10 increments. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently piloted this tool by using announcements at basketball games to encourage audiences to “text to give” for its annual “Relay for Life” fundraiser. Lessons learned? According to Miles Orkin, national director of E-Revenue and Mobile Innovation for the ACS, it’s important integrate mobile giving options with existing campaigns using print and new media.

Cell phone giving in other countries is more active than in the US, so US nonprofits can now help constituents get comfortable with the medium. Mobile phone lists have to be built according to opt-in and non-spam standards just as email lists have been for online fundraising in recent years. The Obama campaign, of course, is the poster child for effectively harnessing mobile technology. According to the panelists, among the ways the campaign collected cell phone numbers was to invite supporters to send in their cell phone numbers to be notified by text message as soon as the Vice Presidential choice was announced. The campaign continued the dialogue through other opt-in messages, then incorporated these numbers into a customer relationship management database. 

There are many ways to build lists, said Matt Wilson, director of partnerships at Mobile Commons, one of the new crop of vendors for mobile advocacy and fundraising. For example, asking people to opt-in via Facebook and other social network sites. Because mobile giving technology is still fairly “byzantine,” however, a vendor can save an organization time and money in the long run, Wilson noted. The Mobile Marketing Association provides standards and best practices.

The first comprehensive study of 33 donor management systems was released today by the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference – with comparative ratings for the top 10, detailed analysis of the top 12 and useful summaries of the rest. “Low-cost” means under $4,250 for the first year.

Funded by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), the two-part report is just the research that nonprofits desperately need, especially in this economy, to sort through and compare features of multiple software and web-hosted customer relationship management (CRM) options for fundraising management, including tools to streamline events, online giving and volunteers. Be sure to download both parts. The report gives recommendations about how to choose depending on an organization’s specific needs.

The CRM fundamentals and scenarios offered in the report — and some of the products — can also be used by small businesses building their brands and customers.

The NTEN study with the nonprofit Idealware first found out what nonprofits are looking for and then connected with the technology firms to get insider information that the typical customer can’t find so easily or thoroughly in a web search. Increasingly, they found that nonprofits are opting for hosted systems so that they don’t have to buy, install and manage software systems on their own servers. You can hear an interview with the executive director of Idealware on the Chronicle of Philanthropy conference notebook.

Although the NTEN conference in San Francisco sold out early, you can follow it live through Tuesday.