Hey there awesome AidSource members (you!):

We know it's been a slow summer. We (the admins) have been super busy, and we know that you have too. But we'd like to pick the pace back up, here at The Humanitarian Social Network.

So, to sort of get things rolling again, here are four things you can do right now to get the most out of your AidSource experience:

1. Check in every day. Yep, we know that you've got 7 or 8 or 9 different social media accounts, and that everyone is "just too busy" for one more. But make AidSource part of your daily routine. Check in here first thing or last thing every day. Take five minutes to browse the Top Content on the front page (automatically generated by your clicks). Maybe update your status. Maybe add a comment in a discussion that interests you...

2. Don't try to do it all. There's a lot here, and if you're not super familiar with Ning networks (AidSource is a Ning network) it can be difficult to find your way around. Of course all of the working groups and pages are excellent :) But just pick two or three that particularly interest you. Add discussions or reply to discussions there, rather than trying to stay on top of every discussion everywhere on this network.

3. "Friend" somebody. Yep - we know that most of you use Facebook and have your friends there. But think about using AidSource like Facebook. Use it as a space to hang out socially with others specifically in the humanitarian aid and development industry. From there you can comment on your friends' pages and photos, maybe post some photos of your own, update your status, trick out your page... But start by "friending" others.

4. Integrate and cross-post with your other social media accounts. For those who are really into AidSource and want to take it all to the next level, we suggest that you begin simply by maximizing integration with your other accounts. Be sure to "like" the things that you like, both inside AidSource itself, as well as on Facebook...

Use tags correctly, and cross-tweet from your AidSource account to Twitter. And of course, if you blog be sure to make the most of the blog function built in here.

See you online in AidSource: The Humanitarian Social Network!