Answer: It depends.

On what, you say?

Well, for starters, the type of non­profit. Social wel­fare orga­ni­za­tions, grass­roots polit­i­cal activists—anyone with a mes­sage or a cause—can poten­tially har­ness the power of Twit­ter to spread the word like wild­fire. Case in point: #iran­elec­tion. When used wisely, it could be mind-bogglingly effective.

How­ever, I’ve noticed a trend among other nonprofits—arts orga­ni­za­tions, in particular—to use Twit­ter, frankly, wrong. The dif­fer­ence seems to be a drive to sell v. rais­ing awareness.