This is the final installment in a 12-part series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The previous 11 installments can be found here. Thanks for reading!

I had to search through the archives to make sure I hadn’t already written about FriendFeed — I could have sworn I had! If you’re not familiar with FriendFeed, it’s a really cool tool that lets you post status updates, photos and links (and more!) across multiple social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

What makes FriendFeed different, you might ask. It combines feeds from other outposts — such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter — to create one complete stream in one place. And it lets you access that stream in multiple ways.

If you already have a Facebook, Twitter or Google account, you don’t even need to create a separate account for FriendFeed. You can use any of your login information for the previous sites, which is pretty convenient!

When you add fellow FriendFeed users as friends, you receive a customized stream that includes their Twitter updates, Facebook updates, videos and links. You can view your stream directly on FriendFeed’s site, through Facebook, via e-mail or via RSS (in a reader such as Google Reader).

Similar to Facebook, there is a “Like” button for your friends’ items, as well as the option to comment.

There are a few different ways to post something on FriendFeed. You can simply update from FriendFeed.com, and direct your update to whichever outposts you’d like. You can also post via e-mail (which works well for attached photos). And FriendFeed has its own version of Twitter’s “re-tweet,” as well. Each entry has a “Share” link beneath it, and clicking that will bring up a box with a few options for sharing it.

So how can associations use FriendFeed?

The site supports “Groups,” which multiple people can subscribe to and receive information from. For example, if your association began a FriendFeed account for the organization and a corresponding group, members could join the group and receive updates from one another and the association simultaneously. Everyone in the group can share things with one another, and leave comments that all members can see. Groups can be public or private.

FriendFeed could be a great way for members to interact while still experiencing the “stream-style” of information, which is becoming increasingly popular. It even reminds me a little bit of the mobile hub ASAE and The Center created for the Annual Meeting back in August — combining everyone’s comments about #asae09 in one place.

But meetings and events aren’t the only times small-staff associations could potentially use FriendFeed. The site is an ideal way for members to interact and share information about the industry. Imagine a “mini-Twitter,” in which only members’ and the organization’s updates appear and everyone can interact within it. Pretty cool.

Rather than just using FriendFeed during your events, though, members can share information all the time — FriendFeed allows them a central location to collect all status updates and one condensed feed from which to view them.

Check it out and see what you think. How could your organization use FriendFeed?

It’s official: Google has launched its real-time search! What does this mean for your organization?

(Google is rolling the new feature out slowly, so if you don’t have the “Real-Time Results” option yet, don’t worry. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, I didn’t either, but at 5:10, it magically appeared.)

I wrote about this when the deal was initially announced back in October, but I can’t stress the implications for associations and organizations enough.

When everyone has access to Google’s real-time search, the possibilities will be endless.

Now, whenever anyone posts anything — anywhere — with your organization’s name or acronym, it will appear in Google search results instantly. This includes Twitter, Yahoo! Answers, live news and more.

Now, during your conference, the “Latest results” portion of Google will be (hopefully!) bursting with tweets and blog posts about it. But don’t forget that the positives and the negatives will both be included.

Now, your members and non-members (and prospective members!) will have an easier time finding out what current members have to say about the organization. Any semblance of control you might have had is slowly shifting.

But this can be a blessing in disguise! This can encourage association leaders to become even more innovative, to provide even more value and to host absolutely amazing events! If you don’t want members to say anything bad about the organization online, work hard so they don’t have a reason to. Don’t just be complacent to do things the way they’ve always been done.

Even if your members are currently using social media en masse right now, this is still too important for your association to ignore. Don’t forget potential younger members – teens and twenty-somethings – are usually fluent in the social Web and will likely already be using social media tools before they join, or consider joining.

Check out Google’s short demonstration video to see it in action. It’s pretty cool, and I’m glad to see a company as forward-thinking as Google jump on the real-time search bandwagon.

This is the third in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first two installments on Flickr and Delicious can be found here. Stay tuned.

What do you get when you cross Twitter with a traditional blog? One of two sites: Tumblr or Posterous.

Although there are some important differences, Tumblr and Posterous do have a lot in common. Both let you compile all types of media – text, links, photos, videos, audio clips and more – into a virtual scrapbook to share with your members.

First up, Tumblr.

(Don't mind my goofy thumbs up)

Tumblr users can “follow” each other, much like on Twitter. (Following doesn’t have to be reciprocal.) There’s also the option to “like” a post, or “reblog” it and add your own comments if you’d prefer.

As far as mobility goes, there are great BlackBerry and iPhone apps for Tumblr. Personally, I’ve found the BlackBerry one very easy to use. Tumblr allows for Twitter integration, so your posts on Tumblr can be automatically sent to your Twitter stream, and tweets can be sent to Tumblr.

Newsweek magazine has recently started using Tumblr. They posted a great explanation of “Why they Tumbl” on Tuesday. In the post, they fully admit they’re not sure how to monetize Tumblr, but that they hope it creates a dialogue between magazine and readers.

Next up, Posterous:

The great thing about Posterous is that it was designed to be used via e-mail. Simple e-mail anything you want – text, photos, audio, even iPhone videos – to post@posterous.com. Your subject line will become the title and the e-mail’s body will become the post itself. You can even add tags in the subject line by including a double parentheses: ((tag:socialmedia, photos, association)). You don’t have to set up an account before e-mailing — whatever your e-mail address is becomes the URL (http://youremail.posterous.com). (Although if you want a specific URl, I’d recommend signing up for an account first.)

Update Posterous via e-mail

Posterous is handy if you’re on-the-go and attached to your smartphone. Like Tumblr, the site also has a community aspect: users can subscribe to other users and marks posts as “favorites.”

Media Bistro has done an excellent job using Posterous as a community blog. People can submit contributions to a specific e-mail address, and three curators approve and post the content. Granted, Media Bistro isn’t an association, but it is an online community that uses Posterous as a user-generated blog.

The best part about the contributions? People who submit don’t have to have Posterous accounts – just an e-mail address from which to send content!

You can export content from Posterous to any other social sites on which your association has a following – and vice versa. Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – you name it, you can automatically post information across the board with a simple e-mail.

So how can associations use these sites?

Imagine if conference and meeting attendees could easily submit their own videos and photos to one main aggregator. ASAE and The Center had a great online hub for ASAE09, and they also had a Flickr group to aggregate attendees’ photos. I think Posterous would have been a comparable alternative because it lets many people share different types of media in one place. Attendees (real-life and virtual) could contribute their own videos, photos and thoughts to the community to create a great “scrapbook.”

Check out the FAQs for both Posterous and Tumblr, and I also love this Mashable post comparing and constrasting them. Each has its pros and cons (Tumblr allows for more theme customization, Posterous lets people submit contributions more easily), but maybe one of them is right for your association.

If you have any questions about either Posterous or Tumblr, feel free to e-mail me at shannon@memberclicks.com!

(Posterous screencaps via Mashable.)