Join us at the first of our Net Tuesday Summer Ales, where we'll sit back, relax and explore ways social technology can help organizations and individuals advance social change in Philadelphia.

Next Tuesday, July 7: Communi-Lager! Chris Bartlett will present Activist Communities in the Midst of Social Media. He'll share how he has used the tools of the trade -- social networks Twitter, Facebook, Stickam, and Ning -- to create a series of communities that support his community organizing. He'll engage Net Tuesday participants in an inquiry about how we can use these tools to build community, strengthen social networks, and bring about powerful change in our communities. Key ideas for the night:

• The importance of connecting others -- and not only yourself to others -- as a strategy for social network organizing.
• The timeline for face-to-face -- how to bring about in-person connections that strengthen online ones.
• Pitfalls of online organizing-- fitting your strategies into your overall plan for getting things done.

Most importantly, Bartlett will facilitate a conversation among participants to hear what is working for all of us. If Twitter (and other social media tools) are in fact transformative, we'll hope to hear some stories of those transformations.

Chris Bartlett is a gay men's health community organizer from Philadelphia. He directed the SafeGuards Gay Men's Health Project in Philadelphia for ten years, and has acted as lead consultant to the LGBT Community Assessment in Philadelphia, a project that gathers data about LGBT communities in order to make recommendations regarding community organizing, health, housing, and economic development. He co-facilitates the Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy, a national meeting of leaders in the field of gay men's health and wellness, and has helped to convene the Gay Men's Health and LGBTI Summits. Most recently, he has received support from the Arcus Foundation to develop a strategic plan for LGBT leadership development in the United States. Community organizing through social media is his greatest current passion and commitment.

Make sure to put the other two Summer Ales on your calendar now:

• August 4: Homebrewed Rumination. We’ll be using a modified version of our Extreme Makeover: Web Strategy Edition format with Philly NetSquared’s own website: phillynetsquared.org. Together, we'll identify specific steps we can take to enable the growing Philly NetSquared community to use our website as a place to connect with, learn from and inspire one another to realize each person's dreams and each organization's objectives.
• September 1: Portal Pilsner. Change.org. Network for Good. Razoo. And many other sites are out there, committed to using social tools help nonprofits achieve their mission. How do you sort through the clutter and use these sites to advance your own cause?