This is worth forwarding. Nice tools for 'listening" to the web.

As organizers, many nonprofits are focused on getting the message "out" but very few have a listening strategy.

Why listen?

• Listening helps you become a better organizer.
• Listening is part of your brand offline. It should be a part of your brand online.
• It helps you communicate more effectively.
• You can learn things that reshape your strategy.
• It is fun.  

1. Addictomatic: This is by far the easiest way to create a listening dashboard for free. Type in a search term and it will generate the latest news, blog posts, videos and even images around the keyword. After it generates results (using a variety of search engines, news sites and social networks) you can personalize the dashboard. Bookmark it and check it daily. 

2. Topsy: Part search engine, part social web connector. When you search for something on Topsy, such as “climate change”, Topsy finds daily conversations that match the search term. The results are the items people link to, when discussing your search term via a social network, news website, blog, etc. Topsy ranks results based on how well they match your search terms, and the “influence” of the people tweeting or writing about your issue. Bonus: It links to the conversationalists twitter profiles so you can follow them and engage with them on Twitter.

via www.frogloop.com