Tag Archives: Social Media

Five Ways to Create Social Change This Easter With Heifer

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This Easter, create social change with Heifer International to help end hunger and poverty with these simple actions:

1. Switch your Facebook cover profile to support Heifer this Easter.

2. Switch your Twitter background to show how this Easter you will be putting an #AltGift in someone’s basket.

3. Switch your Google+ cover profile to show how Heifer is making a difference this Easter.

4. Tweet your support for Heifer by using the handle @Heifer and hashtag #AltGift.

5. Share our Easter video on Facebook and tag us by adding @Heifer International.

Every new voice adds to the joy and hope of the Easter season. Together, we can make a difference.

Heifer’s Got Klout

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Heifer International TwitterAre you following Heifer on Twitter? If not, you sure should! Just to toot Heifer’s horn a little, here’s an article in a local (central Arkansas, that is) weekly publication that highlights @Heifer as one of the most influential social media accounts, according to the analytics site Klout.com.

What will you find on Heifer’s Twitter stream? Brief updates about what’s going on here at Headquarters and in the field, fun animal facts (one chicken can lay an average of 257 eggs a year), ideas for supporting Heifer’s work, new job listings and much more!

So join the fun and engage in the dialogue.

How To Keep Up with Important Issues

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There are several different ways you can begin to keep up with important issues by using online tools and social media. Interested in hunger, poverty, or sustainable agriculture? Then check out these three easy ways you can follow the trends you find most valuable:

1. Google Alerts

Google Alerts are one of the easiest ways to have information sent straight to your email about the topics you care most about. Simply enter the topic query you’d like to learn more about, maybe ‘food security in the United States,’ or ‘sustainable agriculture.’

You can choose what type of information you receive, how often and which email address. Soon, you’ll have information at your fingertips.

2. Blogs

Follow the blogs that follow the issues you care about. Do you read the Heifer blog a lot? Then consider following other blogs such as: www.NourishingthePlanet.com, www.GatesFoundation.com and Food and Agriculture Spotlight.

3. Social Media

Use your Twitter and Facebook pages to keep up with other organizations. Heifer is on Facebook and Twitter, but you may also consider: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and The World Food Prize.

Not sure what you want to begin to search? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What issues am I interested in?

2. What issues do I tend to discuss?

3. What do I want to learn more about?

What issues do you or will you begin to follow?



How To Use Your Social Media for Social Good

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Americans spend around 23% of their online time on social media sites with two of the most popular sites being Facebook and Twitter. With the majority of our time spent online on social networking sites, why not use that time to share with our family and friends the issues we find interesting and concerning?

Here is how you can use your social media platforms for social good:

  • Follow organizations that you like on your favorite social sites.
  • Follow topics and conversations that are important to you with hashtags on Twitter. (Try #poverty or #hunger.)
  • ‘Share’ posts that you want others to know about on Facebook. 
  • RT (re-tweet) important information you see on Twitter that you want others to know about. 
  • Start your own conversation on your blog, Facebook page or Twitter hashtag. 
  • Join in on another conversation happening about the topics you’re interested in. 
  • Follow other blogs with topics that you’re interested in. (www.heifer.org/blog is a great way to start though!)
  • Share videos that you have seen from organizations with your personal social sites. 
  • Tell others what you are interested in to see what information they might have on the topic. 
  • Believe that if we all join in to keep the discussions about hunger and poverty going, that it will make a difference. 

If you haven’t already, check out Heifer on: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, and Flickr.

Celebrities Choosing Heifer for Their Holiday Gifts

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As a member of the Social Media Team at Heifer I have a fun task of reading tweets from our wonderful donors and supporters who help spread the word about our mission, especially during the holiday season. This holiday season, it’s been extremely fun watching all of the actors and celebrities join in on the Heifer holiday spirit. (This could be because I’m a closet celebrity lover. I’m guilty of choosing the longest line at the supermarket just so I have time to read a gossip magazine … or two.)

So far our list of celebrities who have tweeted us include: Patricia Heaton, Adrian Grenier, Ed Asner, Lauren Bush, Mia Farrow, Ashley Judd, Joe Mantegna, Eva Amurri, Janie Bryant and Serinda Swan. 

Each celebrity has picked their favorite Heifer gift for the holidays. Ashley Judd loves bees, Patricia Heaton has chosen sheep, and Adrian Grenier has trees at the top of his list.

Even though Ed Asner is pictured to the right with a goat, his animal of choice this year is water buffalo.

Celeb Tweets We Love:

@PatriciaHeaton  
Almost forgot! It’s #CyberMonday, I’m giving sheep through@Heifer! hefr.in/utglcl One of many gift ideas I’ll be tweeting!

@JanieBryant
Llamas rarely make it on top 10 gift lists–but they make mine! @Heiferhefr.in/vVERlC


@JoeMantegna
It’s #CyberMonday, I’m giving goats through @Heifer! hefr.in/umK73T

@SwanSerinda

I love this!! End hunger this #BlackFriday and give the gift of hope from @Heifer hefr.in/vlsicl

@TheOnlyEdAsner
I’m skipping the #BlackFriday shopping this year – I’m giving through @Heifer instead: hefr.in/rDK83N

@adriangrenier 
I’m doing all my #BlackFriday shopping from home this year by giving through@Heifer – the gift that keeps on giving.hefr.in/vwHOLn


@4EvaMartino

Who needs #BlackFriday shopping lines? I’m giving pigs through @Heifer this holiday season! hefr.in/tmpnOe

It’s been a lot of fun so far watching all the celebs share their support to our organization. I think I’m going to join Patricia this year with sheep. Which celebrity will you team up with?

Show Us Your Worst Gift and Win a Goat

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Do you “Like” us on Facebook? If not, take a second and do it! 

Now that we’re Officially Friends (since nothing is real until it’s on Facebook, right?), go enter our Worst Gift Photo Contest.
Everyone knows holiday gift giving can be a challenge, and this year we want to see your worst gift. Let’s have some fun and help others in the process. Go to our Facebook page and upload a photo of a gift you’ve received (or given) that’s odd, outlandish, funny or just-plain weird. 
You’ve got to submit your entry by December 22, and voting will last from December 23-January 6.
The prizes? More than a pat on the back, that’s for sure. The Grand Prize winner will have a goat donated in his or her name, supplying a family with up to several quarts of nutritious milk a day. The Runner Up will be honored with a trio of rabbits, and two Honorable Mention winners will each receive a donation of honeybees in their names.
I’m not eligible to win, as a Heifer employee, but I’ll inspire you with the worst gift my kid received last year (from the perspective of her parents, of course). It looks like a cute stuffed dog. You’d think that by pushing the paw it would bark or pant or something dog-like. Nope. It loudly bursts into the song “Only You” by The Platters. 

Goat Power: Heifer CEO Tweets Live from the Field

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Heifer CEO Pierre Ferrari in Padampur, Nepal with a family that belongs to the Heifer project cooperative and are beneficiaries of a goat project there. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee.
Our new CEO, Pierre Ferrari, recently visited Heifer projects in Nepal to see the progress that families have made through implementing Heifer’s 12 cornerstones of development.
Throughout his travels, Pierre tweeted  about the ways goats can greatly improve the lives of  Heifer project participants. We thought you might enjoy this list of his tweets:

@HeiferCEO’s 18 Ways Goats Change Lives

Nepal: Goat power: placing this amazing small ruminant in well prepared farming families can produce startling results. Know why?
1-Goat programs set a rapid and meaningful stage for the deepening of community bonds through Passing on the Gift. Marvelous
2-Eliminating imports will improve animal health, improve humane treatment of animals
3-Nepal imports close to a million goats a year! Major import substitution oppty for farmers
4-Goat marketing /selling much simpler and quicker than vegetable selling.
5-Goats on the hoof are non-perishable unlike fruits and vegetable reducing marketing risks
6-Breeds have been optimized over years limiting losses and improved conversion rate of fodder to weight
7-Goats r savings available for immediate cash in an emergency
8-Goat farming can be managed collectively improving efficiency
9-Goat waste useful as fertilizer and soil improver
10-Rupee return per hr work is much higher than veggie farming
11-Animal based foods excellent nutrition very compete and bio available
12-Water usage is moderate
13-Oppressed groups, displaced ethnic groups find quick lifts and pride
14-Taking care of goats is a gateway to establishing gender equity in couples
15-Cultural acceptability of goat raising
16-Fodder can be grown in marginal pieces of land not displacing food for humans
17-They thrive in pens which is ideal for very small holder farmers
18-They multiply up to 6 kids a year!

If you’re on Twitter, follow @HeiferCEO or @Heifer.

Finally, Playing with Your Food is Rewarded!

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As Christmas day draws closer, the Foodspotting Holiday Spotathon challenge draws to an end. With only one item left to find, Foodspotting will be donating a heifer, garden basket, pig, flock of chickens, hive of honeybees and (hopefully) a sheep this year.

The Foodspotting team challenged you with the first ever Holiday Spotathon. Find the food items mentioned in each Spotathon category and the team would gift a Heifer gift. The three initial challenges included: milk products, vegetables and a pig (suggested for the ‘meatitarians’). The response was so quick and overwhelming the challenges were completed in a matter of days.
The Foodspotting team created three additional Spotathons, and each of these were more difficult to find than the previous. Egg dishes, fruits and cheeses have proved to be challenge for those playing along.
“The Foodspotting community is pulling together and giving back to a great cause – one that especially hits home to all of us who are all super lucky to eat as well as we do daily. We’re absolutely blown away by how receptive our community has been to this campaign. It’s entirely relying on what our users do best – going out and taking photos of foods, and this collaborative scavenger hunt is such a great interactive experience that we’re getting some really positive feedback from everyone about it,” said Fiona Tang, Community Lead at Foodspotting.

We are extremely grateful that Foodspotting selected us as their non-profit of choice for this year’s challenge and would like to thank everyone who participated in finding all of the items on the various lists.

Help Heifer by Taking Pictures of Your Food

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Want to help Heifer by eating? It’s easy when you play the Holiday Spotathon with Foodspotting.

Footspotting is a visual guide to good food and where to find it. It’s an easy way to find the food you love. This year they have chosen Heifer as their recipient of the Holiday Spotathon 2010.

How does this work?

  1. Visit http://www.foodspotting.com/spotathon to view the three Spotathon challenges.
  2. Spot one of the challenges and take a picture of your food.
  3. Upload the picture via online or iPhone.

What’s the best part about this challange? You are doing it with other Foodspotters!

Work with other Foodspotters to complete this challenge by December 25, and they’ll give a plant or animal gift to a family in need through Heifer!

Shopping for the Person Who Has Everything?

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Having a hard time deciding what to buy that person who already has everything? Breaking news social and media website, Mashable, listed Heifer in its top online charities to use for finding the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person.

Describing Heifer as the perfect gift for the foodie on your list, or the person who loves to cook for a crowd, Mashable explains how Heifer is a charity dedicated to ending world hunger. Are you the person who already has everything? Consider asking for a gift from Heifer.