Do you feel that Facebook and Twitter have become crowded? It’s true the number of users on these networks is growing by the day – a fact which usually has us singing their praises. However, this week, we’re reminded that some niche networks deliver big results for brands.

This week we look at a global crowd-sourcing project, how mobile wallets will change fundraising and getting ready for the final release of tickets for NFPtweetup’s third birthday.

This week, Google have released Real-Time, an immediate analytics tool that shows you how many people are engaging with your content at any one time. Facebook push us to make better Pages and ReTargeter follows your followers.

This week we focus on three of our favourite talking points: Google+, Twitter and Facebook and think about how their changes will affect what we do with them in the charity sector. We also get excited about tonight’s NFPtweetup!

Highlights from the live question and answer panel for Guardian voluntary sector network. Topics included internal challenges with social media, asking for celebrity tweets, getting started with social media and integrating social media into other areas of work.

Facebook nears the 700 million user mark, Twitter launches Follow button and adds extra email notifications, new donating platform Givey is launched and a quick look at mobile usage figures among social networks.

As her time at beautiful world draws to a close Lucy looks back on her eight weeks as an intern.

Facebook introduces a new version of Questions, Google takes on competition with NFC payments and Plus one Service and LinkedIn reaches 100 million members

We are marking Twitter’s game-changing micro-blogging service’s fifth birthday by highlighting five significant charity landmarks that have transpired in 140 characters

Facebook baby, Twitter translation and Google Social Search. Yep, another busy week!

Amid the doom and gloom of spending cuts and rising unemployment, I want to focus this week’s beautiful bytes on reasons to be optimistic for the charity sector in 2011:

With the seventh NFPtweetup upon us, you should be well on your way to knowing what to expect. But how did it come about, and what are the highlights you may have missed?

YouthNet’s online guide to life, TheSite.org, is a trusted source of information, advice and guidance on whole plethora of issues, ranging from relationships and sex, to the law and health.

Who do you go to when your PC or printer stops working? If you’re lucky, it’s the tech person in your office, whether that’s their job title or they just seem to know lots more about tech than you do. If not, it’s your tech friend or neighbour.

At youth mobility charity Whizz-Kidz we’ve been steadily increasing our social media and real-time web use over the last 18 months; trying and testing different platforms for different communications with our supporters and users.

This coming Thursday is the next NFPtweetup, taking place at JustGiving’s new offices. As part of a blog series leading up to the event, I was asked to share some thoughts on the event, especially for those coming along for the first time that may not know what to expect.

Dogs Trust, as most of you know, are sometimes heralded as the ‘best practice’ for NFP social media, and while we love that tag there was always a missing element for us that niggled – we never raised any money.