Thanks to @nonprofitorgs for tweeting this video link. Great stats that make you think and Fatboy Slim went well with my morning coffee.
“Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Welcome to the World of Socialnomics.”
If you Twitter, you might be interested in this. I came across this thanks to Steve Anderson (formerly @steveinfos, now @Steve_Media) at the Campaign for Democratic Media (now OpenMedia.ca). They have a fantastic site and are a great resource for media democracy. They always have something to take action on that affects the lives of everyday people, and they make it pretty easy. So check them out. In the meantime, here is their TweetCommons post. (By the way, you can follow me on Twitter too: @melissahk)
Media, Re-invented
A new website called TweetCommons has just launched:
“TweetCommons is a new web-based initiative to connect Canadians with their elected representatives in government using Twitter.“
The TweetCommons press release notes that a similar initiative in the US helped push more government officials to Tweet more often. Perhaps more importantly, TweetCommons will facilitate a more multi-directional relationship between people and government. In the press release, TweetCommons stated:
“We are also focused on smoothly expanding functionality so Canadians can look forward to interacting with their government in new ways.“
In my most recent Column, I discuss how the division between government and people is breaking down and how online social media tools are enabling this process.
The most exciting section of the TweetCommons website is “The People”, although the tag line “talk back” seems like it might miss the point. This section, and Twitter conversations in general, are more about new forms of networked, widely distributed discussions, rather than about “talking back” to politicians. Online participatory media practices differ from traditional media relations in that they produce a citizen-powered dialogue that includes, but is not driven by, those in government, or the select few working for big media outlets.
Exciting projects like this reinforce the importance of the Open Internet.
TweetCommons is an entry point for people to join in on conversations about key issues and create a path forward that benefits all Canadians – yet another example of how media is being reinvented before our eyes.
(Links updated November 2013)
I recently attended the annual National Campus and Community Radio Conference (which was great!). There were a few discussions and sessions dealing with marketing, new media, and online social spaces. I just now came across this article which may be useful for a few folks.
Resources to Help Your Nonprofit Group Navigate Online Social Media – Philanthropy.com.
ReadWriteWeb is one of my favourite blogs. This post really makes me think about the community stations I love dearly, and gives me some things to think about in any upcoming brainstorming sessions on new ways to stay relevant online in the future. Presumptuous of me, perhaps.
10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009
Written by Ravit Lichtenberg / January 27, 2009
“Social media” was the term du jour in 2008. Consumers, companies, and marketers were all talking about it. We have social media gurus, social media startups, social media books, and social media firms. It is now common practice among corporations to hire social media strategists, assign community managers, and launch social media campaigns, all designed to tap into the power of social media.” Read the full post and comments.
From the fine folks at Radio 2.0 for development (Local & community broadcasting and new ICTs), a repost of a story about radio foraging into the social networking space. And in case you are into community-oriented media, you might want to check out this blog on a regular basis. With posts like “Community media in a digital age”, it’s a great place to help those brains of yours thinking about what community media might look like in the coming years.
The BBC’s radio programme Digital Planet did a story recently about Radio Cultura, a not-for-profit station owned by a Catholic foundation in Brazil that uses a radio programme and a website to create multimedia social networks. Listeners to the programme, RadarCultura, can propose songs and discussion topics on the programme’s website and the ones that receive the most votes get played or discussed on the radio.
BBC Digital Planet story How the web makes radio reactive
(Links updated November 2013)
Destination: Journey 