People like Amy Sample Ward, Britt Bravo, Geoff Livingston, Nancy Schwartz, Stacey Monk and others. And yesterday, my own post from last October on the “Cool Factor About Mobile” was also cross-posted on Beth’s blog. To me, this experiment has blossomed with success. It’s added color to our blogosphere, raised voices and increased the camaraderie of the folks in this space.
So, thank you Beth Kanter, not only for the opportunity to share in your space, but also for trying out this guest posting experiment. Look forward to your shared insights and revelations this series has generated (*Tip: If you haven’t checked out Beth’s blog yet, I highly encourage it.)
What do you think? What are your thoughts about guest posting? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s “Guest Posting Part Duex” as another guest post experiment is revealed.
flickr credit: LeeLeFever
]]>1. @misslacey123: Lacey is the one who got me on Twitter. We are both Mizzou J-School alums who have re-located to the great DC. She mentioned it one day as her and her colleagues at PBS were starting to explore it. At first, I was a little skeptical. But obviously, Twitter’s functionality grew on me!
2. @bbravo: I’ve been a long-time fan of Britt’s Have Fun * Do Good blog and last fall joined in with her on the Changebloggers movement. So, I wasn’t too surprised to see that I started following Britt on Twitter from the get-go.
3. @NetSquared: NetSquared is a great resource for all socially-inclined organizations as they are “remixing the Web for social change through social tools.”
4. @osocio: This blog was the very first blog that I became a fan of and would read just about every day. Mark and his team do an excellent, excellent job at showcasing social advertising from around the world. Upon discovery of this blog, I talked about it all the time, showed it to my graduate classes, recruited others to check it out. And, this is back when Osocio went by Houtlust!
5. @TechSoup: TechSoup is a leader when it comes to non-profits and Technology. They and its members are a wealth of resources. When I first joined Twitter, I wanted to connect with the non-profit community. Since then, its expanded into the social change community, which also umbrellas the non-profit community.
6. @mikekujawski: I saw very early on that Mike was leading the way for social marketing amongst public sector organizations up in Canada and immediately admired his work and became inspired. This is because I could relate. He is a member of the “new wave” of social marketeers who are willing to go the distance for social good. Mike is one of the first, out of many, that I would continue to identify, encourage and admire.
7. @elliotthoffman–Elliot is an acquaintance from way back in high school. We were both in one of my good friends weddings and we both happen to enjoy technology. Reminded me of take-away #4, to follow-up and reconnect with those you haven’t checked in with lately.
8. @_FakeSteveJobs–Not quite sure what made me start following FakeSteveJobs, maybe I was hoping, along with others, that maybe, just maybe, it really was the RealSteveJobs. Having been outed and no updates since August 2007, I have now “unfollowed” this account.
9. @cnnbrk–One of my best friends I made in grad school was a CNN fanatic. She knew any breaking story before the rest of us and in the midst of class would update us with important information. Then, she showed me her secret: CNN email alerts. Becoming quite the fan-atic myself, I found them on Twitter. Given its friendly banter with @aplusk earlier this year, @cnnbrk is continues to stay relevant.
10. @penguinasana–Megan is the online community manager for TechSoup, so it was a natural decision to follow her given my interest in NetSquared and TechSoup. Admitedly though, I haven’t engaged in as much conversation as I’d like. So, Megan, if you’re listening, I look forward to connecting with you and the TechSoup team more. =)
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This exercise provided me with 4 key take-aways:
1. Remind yourself. Make sure you go through who you are following and who is following you to remind you of your friends, potential friends and fellow people who you might have things in common with. Notice I did not say, “Remind yourself of your audience.” Your followers should not be your audience, but more of an active hive that you leave and return to with information, resources, questions, and more.
2. Double check your stream for active participants. Since some people sign up for Twitter and then never use it or use it just to “push out” information, your list might need a slight refresh.
3. Evaluate your own use of Twitter. When you first started, you might have been more in an “experimental” phase or started for a different reason than why you currently use Twitter. Looking back at your intial follows/followers can provide some good reflective insight for thought.
4. Follow-up with people and connect in conversation. At one point you connected. It could be a former colleague, friend or co-worker. If you haven’t chatted it up in a while, get those DM’s and @ replies to work. You never know what new projects they may be working on, new interests you may have in common or opportunities for collaboration that might develop. Plus, life is too short and time is too precious, especially in the social media space.
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What about you? Who were your first First Twitter 10? Did they surprise you? And better yet–do we happen to have any of the same ten in common?
flickr credit: holeymoon
]]>1. Tell me a little about you.
Academics and work aside, my passion is working with and on behalf of nonprofits. My family, myself and a small group of dedicated and committed individuals started a non-profit in Arkansas that benefits multiple sclerosis and works in partnership with the MS Society. In one year, with about eight people, no budget and two main events, we’ve raised over $275k.
When you’re open to learning, you’re open to opportunity.
Next, do a social media scan of your non-profit and/or cause using Technorati or a Google blog search. There are also social media apps that help you track keywords in the blogosphere. How can you know how to help further a cause, meet needs, etc., if you do not know what people are saying or how people currently perceive your organization/message?
In late May, Britt Bravo at Have Fun * Do Good recruited her readers to create a list of Changebloggers – members of the blogging community who:
“…use their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers, listeners, and viewers taking action to make the world better.”
On her blog, Britt developed a working list of 40+ Changebloggers, events and other online lists.
Since then, a Changeblogger facebook group was created. Then, I developed the Changeblogger Wiki that is being used to gather blogs and their author’s names, Twitter contact names, locations, a shared list of Changeblogger meetups and events while also being a live idea-swapping forum.
Then, on a Friday afternoon I had two phone conversations with two truly remarkable people. The first was with Joe Soloman. Joe is at SocialActions, and he helped them develop the Ad-words widget that was launched last week. Joe also created the Twitter box @nptechblogs, which brings together blog posts and news updates from a variety nptech blogs. He also created and maintains the socialmedia4change wiki.
Bascally, Joe is busy. However, he is not just busy – he is effective. Joe, using his creativity and no-limits thinking, contacted me and together we are working on developing a Twitter box for changebloggers.
The next conversation was with Alex Steed. Talking with Steed on a Friday afternoon, both of us exhausted from a long week and feeling a bit overwhelmed could not have been better timing. Alex’s project is exactly what the changeblogger movement needs. And, he needs us.
Alex is planning on traveling to 30+ cities to meet with socially-forward millennials to learn what they are doing, how they are doing int, and more importantly, why they are doing it.
This is our call: If you are a changeblogger or a changemaker, know one, or even if you have an extra couch, contact Alex to connect with him on his tour while he couchsurfs and covers the waves of change.
The changeblogger troops have already put out the roll call, and we’re inviting any and all to join the movement. Here’s a list of how:
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“…use their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers, listeners, and viewers taking action to make the world better.”
On her blog, Britt developed a working list of 40+ Changebloggers, events and other online lists. Then a facebook group was created. Now, we are organizing our list further. I have created a Changeblogger Wiki that is being used to gather blogs and their author’s names, Twitter contact names, locations, create a shared list of Changeblogger meetups and events while also being a live idea-swapping forum.
The first idea pitched is develop a changeblogger logo. Thus, we are launching a Changeblogger logo contest! Check out the wiki for more details.
Currently, Britt is planning a Changeblogger meetup to correspond with the BlogHer conference in San Fransisco. At that conference, Britt is facilitating the Birds of a Feather session for Green, Social Change & NPO/NGO bloggers, Friday, July 18th from 10:30-11:45 AM. And, I plan to add a Changeblogger meetup to correspond with BlogHer’s Reach Out Tour in Washington D.C later this year in October.
So join the wiki and stay tuned for more ways to take online communications –> offline.
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