Recently the Executive Director, Dr. Samantha Nutt traveled to Darfur and twittered the whole way there. Some tweets are amusing, others alarming and even more so are downright scary. She not only told stories of her surroundings but of the people that she met.

Each of the above connects with you in a different way. I've never donated to War Child but now I find myself intrigued. And that indicates a job well done. A connection has been made and that is ultimately what social media strives to do.

I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Samantha Nutt about War Child's use of Twitter as well as her recent trip. Part One is listed below:

1. Why did you choose to Tweet about your experience?

We wanted to give people a more direct connection with our programs and the experiences of the people we work with. It was an experiment, really. There was no guarantee that the technology would work. When I touched down in Darfur and checked my blackberry I couldn't believe I could still access Twitter. In fact, the only place it didn't work on the whole trip was Beirut airport on the way home! Twitter was one way though ­ I could send but I couldn't see what response it was getting, which was frustrating. That's why we're doing a Live Chat

next week to give people a chance to have some of their questions answered.



2. Has War Child had success garnering donations from Twitter or do you use it primarily for awareness?

We have received around $8000 in donations through Twitter initiatives since January. But we don't use it as a place to ask directly for money. It is a place to build relationships and through that a network of friends who will act, to some extent, as ambassadors for our work. Engaging with people on social media platforms - and especially Twitter ­ humanizes the organization.