2010 NonProfit PR Awards: Use of Twitter

Winner: The New York Public Library - Twitter Success Through a Coordinated Staffing Model

The New York Public Library increased its online presence and website visits through its @nypl Twitter handle. NYPL ran Twitter campaigns, such as a six-week advocacy campaign with the hashtag #SaveNYPL. The library developed a team of contributors, a social media policy to guide staff engagement and an editorial calendar of timely content about historic events. Further, NYPL maintained a daily tweet series with a book quote and link to the library catalog using the #reading hashtag, and live tweeted library events and openings. As a result, @nypl’s following increased by 765% between January 1 and August 1, 2010. And the #SaveNYPL advocacy campaign increased NYPL’s following by more than 28%. —Melissa Tinklepaugh

Honorable Mentions:

Kaiser Permanente - Raising Visibility of Kaiser Permanente Innovation through Media Tours, Pitching & Events

Kaiser Permanente promoted the Sidney R. Garfield Innovation Center to demonstrate how its innovations are shaping the future of healthcare. KP live-tweeted during media tours and events and while attending innovation conferences. The campaign generated 6,000 positive stories between October 2008 and April 2010.

Malaria No More - #TwitterNets

The #TwitterNets campaign sought to deliver the 89,724 anti-malaria mosquito nets raised through the 2009 World Malaria Day Twitter Race between Ashton Kutcher and CNN, and show how a simple action on Twitter can translate into real-life impact in Africa. Though an earthquake hit Haiti the day before the planned campaign launch in Senegal, delaying the launch by weeks, the campaign still garnered more than 15 million Twitter impressions, 45 million media impressions, 8,000 new followers to the @MalariaNoMore Twitter handle and 500 tweets with the #TwitterNets hashtag.

Fast Fact:

• @nypl has more than 75,000 followers, making it the #1 public library in the world on Twitter.