Category Archives: Living Online

All good things must come to an end.

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The following is a entry for the Mabel’s Labels BlogHer’10 Contest.  Enjoy (and fret not – the internet is not going to be wiped out – at least, not to my knowledge).

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I’ve just been informed that the world is ending electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet.

In light of this imminent catastrophic event, I want to leave you with some insight into what makes me get up in the morning.

It’s you.  Yes, you.

I am passionate about people, human nature, social constructs, human interactions… everything you do fascinates me!   You leave me wondering what your motives are, what your expectations are, and what makes you tick.

I like to sit warming my legs with my laptop and discuss with you what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, and what influences your daily lives.  I love to share with you the same about me.  It’s been a long, strange, entertaining 15 years of interacting with you through my fingertips.  For those of you whom I have met in person, count yourselves lucky, I feel honoured to have had the opportunity.  I hope that we can stay in touch.

For the rest of you, I would like you to know that you have enriched my life and increased its quality beyond measure.  I guess now I will see you in the airport while I wait at the gate.  Or, I will see you at the coffee shop while we both drink coffee wondering if we should say something.  I will see you at red lights, or look at you as you pass me on the highway.  I will see you on the sidewalk and hopefully we can exchange a smile.  I might even see you at the library as we both try to figure out how to get instant information without a wireless connection to the world.

My passion won’t die with the internet; I will continue to wonder what makes you tick and you will continue to fascinate me.

Listed!

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The other day while scanning some of the lists I have been included in on Twitter, a realization struck me… I was getting a small glimpse into how virtual strangers perceive me.   I had been given labels and placed in categories that I wouldn’t have necessarily chosen for myself – not that they are bad categories, I just never would have considered them… like, funny!

It fascinated me.  Based on a series of 140-character glimpses into who I am and what my life is like, people got impressions of me and grouped me into lists based on them!  I think that is really cool.

Here is a sampling of some of the best and surprising lists I have been added to:

  • ethical
  • wordcrafters
  • social-media
  • conversationalists
  • publishing
  • comics-and-humor
  • politics-justice-advocacy
  • funniest-ever
  • just-nice-people
  • givers
  • toronto-gta-awesomesauce
  • racial-justice
  • people-i-love
  • peeps-invited-to-my-sleepover
  • blogs-i-love

How awesome are those!?  If these lists are any indication, I must be putting out something of value… good to know.

TGI#FF

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… or not so much.

Follow Friday.  Every Friday morning I open my twitter feed and it’s flooded with #ff, #FF, #followfriday, etc (ad infinitum).  Now, for as long as I’ve been on Twitter, I have never understood the trend.  I mean, I get the idea, but to me it kinda smacks of a forced commercial holiday that makes you feel obligated to buy a card and ‘celebrate’ some arbitrarily designated special day ’cause everyone else is doing it… Valentine’s day comes to mind (so does Mothers’ Day. Don’t hate.)

Why do we need to dedicate a day to recommendations?  Can’t that happen all week long – as you discover interesting people, you pass them along to your friends?  Try “Check out @example. We just had a really interesting convo about xyz.”  If  your followers are interested, they will check it out.  Otherwise, it’s just a popularity contest.

I find it interesting that very few (if any) of the social media peeps I follow on Twitter participate in #ff.  There’s probably a reason for that…

The currency of Twitter is not ‘Followers’

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Recently, I have read countless blog posts and tweets about Twitter followings.  I’ve read about how to get followers, how to lose followers, how to get 10 000 followers overnight, and the debate on whether I should or not.  I have read  so many references to Twitter following, that I can’t remember where I read anything.

Who is with me on it doesn’t matter!?  Twitter is not a numbers game.  It is not a popularity contest for which the number of followers is what matters.  Followers are not the currency of Twitter.  10 000 passive recipients of a tweet is not productive or meaningful.  Quality over quantity.

The currency of Twitter is RT – 2 letters.  Retweeting, not your following, is what gets your message out to people.  An RT gets your message out to people who don’t follow you and, thus, leverages other peoples’ networks.  If you tweet value, people will share your message (some might say that value is the currency of Twitter, but value is subjective, so I’m sticking to RT).

“But, Sarah, you need followers to get RTd!”  That is true (well, not always,  but I’ll run with it).  How many followers you have is not as important as what kind of followers you have.  If you have 10 000 followers who couldn’t care less, what good does that do you? I could tweet some keywords and get some bots to follow me to raise my following.  Good for me.  Not only does that not get me anywhere, it does nothing for my legitimacy or authenticity.

Now, I know this isn’t a new concept. Tweeps know the value of RT.   So with that said, let’s stop obsessing about following and focus on what really helps get the word out (whatever the word may be – Perez is currently one of choice.  Like I said, value is subjective).

Social Media Strategy

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Today, I presented the social media strategy that I had developed for my current employer.  During the developmental process, I realized  how much I already know that I had not given myself credit for!  Quickly, I became the resident social media ‘expert.’

I really enjoyed the entire developmental process.  I successfully integrated my personal passion for social media with my job!  Now, I know what it feels like to get paid to do what I love instead of doing what I do to get paid.

I am proud of this strategy,  though I will not be implementing it.  When it comes to social media strategies, I would rather ‘teach to fish’ than ‘give a fish,’ whether it be for marketing/promotion, fundraising, or advocacy.  I think that it is so important to build capacity and share the knowledge and skills.

I look forward to more opportunities in social media strategizing and coaching!

I am social media.

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Today, I wrote a Social Media 101 presentation for the staff at my work.  It was a great way to spend my day, actually.  While I was writing, I realized just how many social media applications I’ve used over the past 15 years!

I may not have called it social media, but I’ve been connecting with people online in a variety of ways since the early 90s.  I remember when ICQ was revolutionary and chat rooms were accessible, free, and a bit scary!  It wasn’t even that long ago that Facebook had a drop-down menu for status updates and MySpace wasn’t for musicians.

As I developed my Social Media 101, I realized that I have basically been doing social media from the beginning (or at least since it was widely accessible).  I have met people online, forged friendships & relationships, and found invaluable information!

Someone told me the other day that anyone claiming to be a social media expert is lying.  Interesting.  Social media and its applications are in constant flux.  The next big thing is soon to be so last year. No one can ever know everything, but some do know more than others.

A wise man once told me that “you don’t do social media, you are social media.”  That means that I am social media, and chances are that if you are reading this, you are too.

My Charity Connects

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I spent today at NetChange, specifically MyCharityConnects.  Although it wasn’t exactly what I anticipated, today was really valuable.  I was expecting a Social Media conference more than a Charity conference, but that is probably a result of my own assumptions (the name kinda spells it out.  Oh well).  I was nervous because I was expecting more Social Media experts, but was right at home with my fellow non-profit people.

Nonetheless, I received some really valuable information on e-advocacy from a session by Eric Squair that will help me expand my advocacy skills into social media, effectively!  Some of what @ericsquair had to say really resonated with what I already know (which means I’m not totally in left field), but some other stuff made me think about messaging and campaigns in different ways and got me thinking about different approaches.  Awesome inspiration.

The challenge now will be to retain the ideas that were generated, which are now slowly percolating in my head.

Back at it tomorrow!  I will be attending a session on how to generate a following on Twitter (might come in handy considering my 65 followers, many of whom are likely bots!)