As 2009 comes to an end, I wanted to thank you for your support this year! It has been a challenging time professionally and personally, as we have all had to adjust to the new economic reality. Unwavering is this profession’s growth and the passion and dedication we feel for it.

 

Deborah_Mueller

Welcome to the winter issue of Connections. The editorial committee and our guest writers assembled what we believe to be a timely and strategically important issue devoted to social networking. We hope the issue addresses questions you’ve long wanted to ask about the use of these tools, who’s using them and how they impact our jobs and roles as researchers, analysts, fundraisers, colleagues and individuals.

 

Sharon_McAndrews

You know who you are. Yes, you. It was you who thought the Internet was filled with unqualified information — and so much worse. And, of course, you were right, but that caused you to miss out, in those early days, on the wealth of information that could have advanced countless relationships for your organization.

 

David_M._Lawson

Lori_Hood_Lawson

Because there is so much buzz these days about social networking tools and trends, every profession and industry is trying to figure out how to approach these tools. Opinions abound, though there is no authoritative voice or industry standard that one can reference. For those of us who regularly use these tools, we are literally making up the rules as we go along.

 

Sarah_Conner_Smith

“Millennial Makeover” is about political realignment theory, which posits that in the U.S., generational changes cause critical political realignments in predictable 40-year cycles. The authors predicted that 2008 would be a realigning election and, if the theory holds true, the coalition responsible for the Democrats’ electoral success in that election will continue to put more Democrats than Republicans into office for about the next four decades.

 

Andrea_Balzano