To start off with, Twitter is a micro blog. It's similar to a blog in that you can update information frequenlty. I like to liken the community to a chat room, however you select the conversations, and users that you receive messages from. The limit to these messages or "tweets" is 140 characters.
Twitter is a valuable tool for news because it allows you to easily monitor what other news organizations are covering 24/7 (as long as they are actively on Twitter), engage in conversations with the community, identify news sources, brand your content and drive traffic to your content.
Twitter can be effective when you "tweet" regularly, have two-way conversations with your followers, re-tweet (quote) tweets from other users who are sharing interesting content, and use hash-tags to aggregate news.
In developing your Twitter strategy try to share information that adds value to the community and can establish you as the source of quality information about niche topics. Below are some general communications methods:
Engage in two-way conversations: Use @username to send a publicly visible tweet to another user. For example: "@charlesedwards1 What are you working on today?" All of your followers will see that you are asking Charles a question.
Direct Messages: Twitter allows you to send private tweets similar to e-mail. This is called a Direct Message or DM. DMs are limited to 140 characters
Re-tweet: A re-tweet (RT) is the highest compliment on Twitter; it means that someone finds so much value in your tweet that they want to share it with their followers. For example: RT @charlesedwards1 (followed by the original tweet). You should always give RT credit when sharing a tweet that originated from another community member.
Hashtags: Hashtags are used to aggregate tweets from the community. Twitter users usually assign a hashtag which becomes adopted and used by the greater community. During the Atlanta Mayoral election, users used #atlmayor for Tweets related to the Mayor's race. During the runoff #atlpolitics was used. By following a hashtag, a user can follow all tweets related to a certain topic. Note: Due to the limits in character length, a hashtag should be no longer than ten characters.
Hashtags seem to work best during big news events. When I was working for HD News and covered the 2008 Hurricane season, #Ike, and #Gustav were the hashtags used to share information during the storms. I was able to have direct conversations with people on the ground, learn about areas that were being threatened, and share what I was seeing from the field.
Getting started: Once you establish your Twitter account, start by looking for other news organizations that are on Twitter. You follow them by clicking "Follow." You should also look for elected officials, local public figures and other newsmakers. The beauty with Twitter is that anyone can be a newsmaker, a fan of a reporter, news brand, or "citizen journalist." Try to follow civic minded individuals. If you like someone's tweets follow them. They will usually reciprocate and follow you back. You can start building a rapport by sending a tweet thanking the follower for their interest.
News organizations should carefully consider the Twitter policy regarding re-tweeting information from other news sources. A news organization wants to establish its credibility as being the source of breaking news, and important information. Re-tweeting news from other credible sources could undermine these efforts.
If you have any other thoughts, ideas or questions, please leave a comment.
What exactly is LENS on Atlanta? How does it work? How will you benefit? These are questions that all of the community leaders, residents, activists, and organizations will who gather here will answer. This site has been built for you to learn, engage, and most importantly act.
I'm Amani Channel, and I currently serve as the Content Manager for LENS on Atlanta. I hope you will use this site to engage in meaningful conversations, that will facilitate positive community change. It may seem like a tall order, but I'm sure there are issues you are passionate about.
Building this community will be a work in progress, but we want this to be a destination for the people of Atlanta region to learn, engage, and most importantly act. If there's a cause you support, or want to get involved in making your street, neighborhood, or city a better place, you can. That process can start right here.
It begins with a thought, which can lead to conversation, and action. What do you want to focus on your action on? We're reaching out to friends, neighbors, community groups, grassroots organizations, nonprofits, local government, neighborhood associations, who did I miss? What would be your first task if you wanted to help change your community? Then let's get it done.
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by Amani Channel - LENS CONTENT MANAGER
One of my responsibilities as the LENS on Atlanta Content Manager is to learn the ins and outs of the site. I've spend the first few days on the job reading and learning about the overall mission of the community, and understanding the different partnerships.
LENS Director Jeannie Ericson has done a great job documenting the process of how the community will be developed, but I'll be the primary person responsible for developing the moderation strategy, writing the copy for the site, and working with our partners who'll be creating content.
What I like about LENS is that it is a community that will hopefully lead to action. People will be able to gather here to discuss issues that are important to their neighborhoods, counties, cities, and schools. Yes, there are other places online where people are socializing, but this site is primarilly focused on the greater Atlanta area, and that makes it unique.
If you're one of our partners working on your social media strategy, think about the reason why you should to participate. How will LENS add value to your organization's mission? Think about your audience, and information that can benefit them the most. Perhaps you will have staff members who will be blogging regularly. You can create a group on LENS, and then ask members of your organization to sign up to LENS, join the group, and then share information, and have group discussions that include the public. These are just some ideas. I don't have all the answers, but I believe that each individual, group, or organization should have a voice, and through LENS you'll be able to focus on what's important to you.
Please let me know if there is anything we can do to improve this community.
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Part of the work that goes into launching and developing a social community is implementing a strategy to engage the public to contribute and participate. For the past several months, the Lens on Atlanta team has been working spread the word about the site by inviting institutions in metro Atlanta to participate in the launch.
The Atlanta Development Authority, Atlanta Education Fund, Atlanta Regional Commission, BeltLine, Georgia Center for Nonprofits, and the Green Chamber of the South have agreed to partner with Lens on Atlanta. Officially they have entered into a strategic partnership with Lens on Atlanta. What that means is that these organizations will be part of the ground floor development of Lens.
Our strategic partners are now developing individual social media campaigns through a pilot test to determine the usability of the site. The pilot doesn't have to be anything complicated. It's just way to use the tools on Lens to engage people in conversations surrounding a specific issue or concern.
Lens on Atlanta is all about bringing together our diverse Atlanta community for the common good of everyone. We know there are many important issues and problems that need attention. The pilot tests are a great way to not only become familiar with Lens on Atlanta, but also learn how to develop a communications plan that includes social media.
If you have any questions about your pilot, please feel free to ask either Jeannie Ericson (jericson) or myself. I'm looking forward to learning what you like about Lens, and what we can do better to help you achieve your goals.
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You've created a Lens on Atlanta account, uploaded a photo, updated your profile, visited a few of the groups, but now what?
A social network is all about engaging in conversations and building relationships. How can it work here on Lens on Atlanta? Many of the members are active in their communities and are involved in community work through their employment or volunteer work.
Some of our strategic partners include the Atlanta Development Authority, BeltLine, and the Green Chamber of the South. Whether the issues are sustainability, transportation, or education, Lens on Atlanta was created to bring community planners, neighborhood groups, and leaders together.
How do you benefit from the network? It starts with one person at a time. If you see a member you'd like to connect with, send them a friendly e-mail. Ask a question. Invite them to be friends. Share some information about your hobbies, passions, and community work. Write interesting headlines, link to your official website, provide timely interesting information. Engage in conversations, and build relationships.
Social media is about collaboration, sharing, and building.
So what do you want to focus on?
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Lens on Atlanta is a social network, a community where you can engage in conversations, meet people virtually, and nurture relationships. Much is possible when we collaborate with others who share common goals and interests.
Some people understand the power of social networks, for others it's a new space, and can seem overwhelming. I want to take this moment to share some information about how you can create, and engage in beneficial conversations here on Lens on Atlanta.
1. Introduce yourself to new members: Send a quick greeting and say "hello." This is a new home, and we want all of our residents and visitors to feel welcome.
2. Share information: It can be hard sometimes to figure your strategy in a new community, but Lens on Atlanta gives you the opportunity to inform the public about the great things you're doing to improve the community. There are events, and activities going on all the time. If you happen to be at an event and take some photos, upload them. If you have some great thoughts, write them down. You never know who you're going to reach if you simply participate.
3. Tag your content: This should be number one. Everytime you add content, you'll be asked to give it tags. Tags help search engines find what you've posted, so it's always good to write a few tags. When a visitor is either on Lens on Atlanta searching for content, or using a search engine like Google, they might be led to your information by your tags.
4. Come back frequently: Try to make visiting Lens on Atlanta a part of your weekly routine. Try to set aside some time in your day to write a blog. Think about how you can use Lens on Atlanta to share information about your event. If you're on Twitter, send out a tweet to your network, or you can use the share button at the top of the page to send your content to your favorite network.
These are just a few suggestions, I've thought of, if you have any additional thoughts, please share them!
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You may be wondering why does the Internet need another social network? What makes Lens on Atlanta different? How can I benefit?
Though Lens on Atlanta is a social networking community, but it is more than that. Lens on Atlanta was designed to give you a voice and a way to communicate with like minded individuals who share your passions and interests to create change in the community.
If you browse some of the profiles, you'll see that many of the members are invovled in community intiatives, nonprofits, or civic groups. It only takes a moment to connect with someone, and Lens on Atlanta is building a community of like minded individuals who are passionate about creating change in metro Atlanta.
Here are some ways you can connect with others in this community:
- Visit a profile, and send an email
- Befriend a member
- Write a blog (comment on a blog)
- Ask a question in the Forums section
It doesn't take much time, and Lens on Atlanta makes it easy to connect with like minded individuals.
Give it a try.
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Personally, what I enjoyed most about 2009 was watching my son Devin grow from little helpless being, to a walking, babbling little boy. Friends and family told me to enjoy these precious moments and time has flown by as predicted.
Professionally, I embarked on a new social media venture at Public Broadcasting Atlanta. You're looking at the labor of my work, Lens on Atlanta. It has been an exciting and innovative project for PBA, and though the community is very much in its infancy, overall we're pleased with the progress.
The greatest challenge has been getting people to contribute and participate in the conversations, but that is expected with a new venture like this. Lens on Atlanta represents a paradigm shift in the way that Public Broadcasting does business. PBA is a traditional broadcasting organization in every sense of the word, and a learning curve is required as people become aware and learn how social media can be beneficial.
What I do know is that social media enables people to share their experiences, observations, and even break news. We all have stories to tell and share. It's important that we do so because it can help us understand our neighbors, community, and world better.
Have a safe and happy new year, and we'll talk some more in 2010.
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Over the weekend I had the chance to speak about social media at an event organized by the State Humanities Council. I was the speaker by default when Atlanta social media strategist Sherry Heyl was unavailable and asked my to fill in.
I've been really working to make presentations like this as interactive as possible. Since social media is all about engaging in thoughtful conversations, I wanted the discussion to be just that.
I prepared a slide show to accompany the conversation, and also selected a few key websites to visit. The meat of the presentation focused on the idea that organizations should develop a social strategy plan before diving in. This includes researching the niche communities where their prospective audience, or supporters may gather. Individuals should identify the reasons and goals for engaging in social media, identify key communities, key influencers, and also have a way to measure results.
From the begining, the audience was very engaged, and everyone had great questions. I showed them Twitter and FriendFeed. Audience memnbers were soon piping in with examples of how they use social media, and shared their success stories with the group.
As more and more organizations and individuals consider the value of social media, remember: social media is just an extension of what we do in real life; We meet people, have conversations, build relationships, explore business opportunities, socialize, and have fun. The same things happen online via social networks, message boards, forums, and niche communities.
Here at Lens on Atlanta, we want you to think about how we can work together to improve community. We've made it easy for you to connect with individuals who are working to improve Metro Atlanta. As great as it is to talk about these things, if we don't organize and act, the conversations will have minimal impact. So the question then becomes how we use social media to create positive change? Do you have any thoughts? Please share.
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If you didn't know, social media can powerful for fundraising. Take a look at this local example of 33-year old Jonathan Acuff from Alpharetta. He raised $30,000.00 in 18 hours to build a kindergarten in Vietnam.
From the AJC:
Using his blog, Facebook and Twitter, Acuff and his readers got the word out and the money poured into Samaritan's Purse, the faith based development organization in North Carolina run by the Rev. Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham. It will build the kindergartens.
I have personal experience using social media to raise money for the March of Dimes. The combination of Facebook, Twitter, and a blog seemed to be effective tool to spread the word and motivate people to give.
Here's a summary of what I learned from my fundraising drive from my blog:
Twitter seemed to be the most effective way to gain support during the effort. I Twittered about the fundraiser each day (Friday, Sat., and Sun.), giving updates about how much money was raised, and our overall goals. That generated a fair amount of conversations from people who both donated and wanted to help spread the word. It also seemed that donors would make contributions during my tweet-sprees.
To add to this conversation, the Nonprofit Technology Network provides some insights into the dynamics of fundraising and social media adding that, "social media doesn't raise money, people raise money."
Social media, however, can help you spread your message virally when the message and cause resonates with the audience.
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from MyUrbanReport
What started as a vague concept four years ago has developed into an emerging industry in the Southeast according to some. The leading thinkers in the Southeast’s social media scene gathered in Atlanta over the weekend to network, share strategies, and ways technology is changing the way we communicate at Socon10.
This was my fourth SoCon, and the best yet. I’ve been there from day one, and like many of the originals, I had no idea what social media was back in 2007. I had this blog, a few videos on YouTube, and a passion for video production, news, and an interest in learning more about how new media was impacting our lives.
Fast forward to 2010. Twitter and Facebook are household names, just about everyone is a SM expert, but still many are trying to figure how to use SM to maximize its benefit.
Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall attended for the second time and presented a proclamation from the city of Atlanta during the opening session. Hall believes that SM is an emerging industry in this region and said that he wants to support the community and businesses.
My question is this: Do you think that social media is an industry of its own, or does it fall under other industry like tech?
I'm thinking out load here. Any thoughts?
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