tagged 
work, social media, success, non-profit, puppy
work, social media, success, non-profit, puppy Entries in social media (2)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
6:37PM
6:37 PM Odd bedfellows of the month: social media and non-profits
So this week has been rather crazy. I have worked under deadlines before academically (tell that to my still unfinished masters paper) and done just fine under normal circumstances, even working three jobs my senior year. Hell, I've taught high school students about history without dying. But this thing is just...insane. So I'm going to apologize now for that, and admit that posting will probably continue to be sporadic until I get the rhythm of this thing down. But enough with the sorry ass brigade. I'll just give you this instead:
That's Buster, Josh's dad's dog. He is almost as awesome as Josh is.
But that's beside the point. When I was revamping my site over last weekend, I was having some issues with the SquareSpace UI (user interface). This was, I admit, mostly my fault, because I, the user, wasn't interfacing with the site properly. That's my fault. It's always hard to learn a new system, and I know just enough HTML to have posed a danger to myself. So what did I do when I encountered difficulties? I bitched about it on Twitter. And within three minutes of my spastic, self-serving complaint, I had a response from @acasalena, the founder and lead programmer behind SquareSpace. He was just chilling out on a Sunday night, and asked me if he could do anything to help with my issue. Turns out, he could, and he helped me fix what I was having problems with. Turned out to be my own stupidity I was struggling with.
The fact of the matter is, though, that Anthony Casalena didn't have to answer my Tweet. He (or maybe his rep, I don't know...I still chose to give him credit because he seems like a cool guy) didn't have to spend his time searching to see if he could help someone out. But now, because of that one action, I'm hoping to get my dad, my roommate, and my potential webcomic and/or craft store up on SS. Because if tech support is half as good as Casalena is, it's four times better than any other site I've encountered, including...*gasp* .Mac, now MobileMe. I know, I know...a self-professed Mac cult member saying that.
That's not all though, kids. A few weeks ago, standing waiting for the L to come and take me home after a long day at work, I found a small button waiting for me on the phone booth next to my right hand. It was just a picture of a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, and on the back was a website and email address, asking you to contact the creator with where you found the button. Now, me being me, and easily distracted, I forgot about it until I found it in my bag today at work. And it got me thinking: is that what we're doing with social media? Reach out to strangers, leave little links and pictures and tidbits around for them to find and follow back to us at the source. We just don't always get to do it in such a beautiful and simple way. If you're curious, the site on the back of the pin is deepblueskies.com.
But wait, there's even more! The last post I put up here, the one about Decibelle and the poetry reading, got some attention. Last Friday, I got an email from T. Khyentse James Executive Director, telling me that she'd stumbled across my post. My immediate reaction was, of course, AH DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M SORRY. But then I realized that, if I spent a little time and effort on it, I could do some great work for them. And maybe it's the repressed angry feminist, maybe the repressed rocker chick, maybe it's the repressed Girl Scout...but I really want to. So I've begun doodling on napkins again, trying to figure out how to do more for non-profits in particular. Beyond what I mentioned in my last post about Facebook and teaming up with other non-profits, what resources are there?
And so I went poking around. I found Change.org (doesn't fit the needs of all non-profits, but it's a good place to start). Skimming through Decibelle's (really awesome) site, I looked at all the traditional media attention they've gotten in the past few years. It's great that they can get the articles written when they have events, but usually it's published after events have already happened, a sum-up of what went on and who was there. They even have some great, big to medium sponsors. They're definitely better off than most non-profits I've seen or worked with. Then it hit me. One of the places that they don't seem to be taking advantage of their diverse and wondrous talents is with small, local, regular events. At least, not in Chicago.
Here is where I think social media can really shine. I can get them in contact with weekly or monthly open mics that can not only funnel new listeners to them by announcing their events live or online, but also help them find new talent, new venues, new donors, and maybe even get some cash and support for themselves.
Here's my question for all of you, my loyal readers (for all that I may force most of you to read or run the risk of losing my friendship): what else can I do for Decibelle that will help them out? How can I get people to respond to them with the same excitement and conviction that I did to SquareSpace and my nifty Blue Skies Button?
Comments are ready and waiting people...let's help out a great cause.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
9:05PM
9:05 PM Everything I need to know about social media I learned from lesbians.
No, really. I went out this Friday night with my beloved friend and sister-in-arms Megan, and I discovered, yet again, that there opportunities for learning about this stuff in unexpected places. We went to Women and Children First up in Andersonville (Chicago) for a book reading of a writer I’d never heard of before. But I trust Megan’s taste, and all she told me was that Michelle Tea was a lesbian, former sex worker, and talented. So I assumed angry lesbian poetry.
A) I was wrong. And B) there was a cool display of social media that took me by surprise. First of all, both of the writers who read that night were talented, gregarious women with a very loyal following, not only in Chicago. The second writer, Christy C. Road, was also immensely funny and talented. But again, I had heard of neither of them, despite being fully invested in the indy writing scene, particularly where it overlaps the GLBTQ community (excluding the jerks I met in Sautgatuck, Michigan last weekend on the boat with my cousin, her fiance, and the boyfriend of awesomeness) but I didn't even know that the event was happening. So, without Megan, I would not have known about it at all.
So now, how did Megan find out about Tea and Road (that needs to be a band name, methinks)? She heard of Tea from a former-ish friend of hers (oh complicated social lives of girls) years ago, when been going to Women and Children First with her mother, as she has been since she was a wee little lassie. (Sorry Megan for the inaccuracy...thanks for the heads up!) And clearly, given the responses and familiarity with both writers and their work that the rest of the crowd had, Megan wasn't the only one that had heard of them. They had gathered around for the Decibelle-sponsored event, a group that appears to have a pre-existing relationship with WaCF, and with a non-for-profit group that was allowed to make an announcement at the beginning of the show about meetings they were having and a petition they wanted us to sign. That stuff doesn't matter.
What does is that I had never heard of any of these groups, or even this store before, regardless of the fact that I've spent entire weekends at the Swedish-American Museum and Center just down Clark Street. It boggled my mind a little, and while I am aware of the fact that I cannot possibly know about everything going on everywhere, in Chicago and out, it bugs me that I didn't know about this sooner. So I figured I'd try to figure out why. Of all of the social spaces I occupy, both virtually and literally, there are several where I should have found out about this show and didn't. No Twitter, no Facebook, no Blogger/spot, Google, or event emails (I get several). Nothing in the Tribune, Red Eye, or either of their respective websites, even their gay and lesbian writers/"bloggers" (they don't seem to recognize the distinction, and I'm too tired to type it out right now). Nothing from friends that live in Andersonville, gay or straight, nothing from local writers. It was a complete dearth of information.
So, what could Decibelle, WaCF, Tea, or Road have done to make sure that I, the non-lesbian, potential reader and consumer knew about this event? Well, everything that I listed above would work. And potentially work very well. Especially Facebook, with announcing new events and being able to send out invitations. Upon investigation, neither the bookstore nor Decibelle have an organized Facebook group...free solution. And it wouldn't need to be overly complicated. Just updated as often as their website could be. Simple.
Next question: why haven't they done it? I know that some people are genuinely lo-tech, even against social media. But when the purpose of your organization is to unite a community that is at least partially online with ANY of these outlets, there is a responsibility to serve them there...and to thus expand your organization in the process. And if you are a business providing a physical community with a service that helps to bind it and make it more cohesive, inclusive, and more relevant to that community's needs.
My brain, and my ego, are tired of arguing with people about this stuff. At least for the moment. But it would be a weekend's work for anyone on any one of their staffs to sort all this out. And while I love Road's website, I'm not really sure it's publicizing her book the way it could...even though it is pretty and engaging. Michelle Tea, who has published several books, needs more than a MySpace page, with or without her publisher's help.
My brain has given up officially, and I'm going to bed. Hopefully I will dream of social media and pretty lesbians.
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Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
tagged marketing, lesbians, social media, writing
marketing, lesbians, social media, writing