2009 has seen an amazing explosion in the area of social media. The phenomenon that is Twitter, for instance, has recently had an impact in everything from national politics to international relations. Far from a static tool, social media is constantly evolving, changing and adapting to meet new opportunities and new technologies - particularly in the area of the mobile web (cell phones, etc.).

In many ways, America’s non-profit organizations are leading the charge into the creative use of social media. Here is a recent conference presentation on the use of social media in the non-profit world. Note, however, that as these statistics are already 7 months old, that today’s numbers have risen exponentially.


Preservation and revitalization are, perhaps not surprisingly, lagging behind this trend. Pacesetting organizations such as the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training are attempting to identify and promote the use of social media by preservation organizations through their excellent Voices from the Past website and Preservation Today web casts, however many local, statewide and even national preservation and revitalization organizations seem to be stuck in Web 2.0 - if they have any online presence at all.

Preservation Ohio has been at the forefront of this change since MyHometownOhio, the country’s first self-authored blog on statewide preservation, was launched in July of 2006. We currently have the most followed organizational page on Twitter of any statewide or national preservation organization, and have companion sites on Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube. This Summer we launched the country’s first self-contained social networking site for statewide preservation, The Ohio Preservation Network, and have forayed into the realm of live blogging for the recent announcement of the 2009 List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites.

One thing about social media - the scene can change in just a few months. That’s why we are always looking a year down the road - to identify the social networking and media opportunities of the future that will better enable us to perform our mission.