Friday August 7, 2009
Acorns & oaks
Last night we had our first Social Media Mob meetup. Colin, Fred and Aylsa are members of local groups like University of the Third Age, Probus and Rostrum. We were very lucky to have a fantastic social media champion join us. Mandi works for a digital agency, has a passion for social media and a talent for explaining it in clear language.
I liked her Jurassic Park analogy. if you don’t move, you can’t be seen … good if there’s a T-Rex about, not so good if you’re an organisation online!
Colin spoke of the difficulty service groups had attracting new members. At the Mosman Festival, many of these organisations will have stalls to promote their activities, and Colin felt the web should be a part of this initiative. It can also help to link the various groups.
Aylsa, who ran a business for many years, said what she and many others of her generation had was too much time. She’s looking to keep active – mentally and physically. Her idea is to gather a group for regular meals at local restaurants and cafes. A win for them, and for local businesses. Mandi mentioned the success of the North Side Coffee Mornings (#nscm), loosely organised via Twitter, that meets in Mosman on Thursday mornings. By going online, you can meet interesting, enthusiastic people outside of your normal social network.
Fred asked if something similar could happen at North Sydney’s Stanton Library. In the spirit of the web, the ‘Social Media Mob’ name and concept is freely available to any who wants to run with it. We nicked the idea from Birmingham!
It was a stimulating discussion – as Mandi posted after the meetup, “such lovely, passionate, enthusiastic people!” – and we concluded with a plan to put some of the ideas in action. Fred will be looking at recording a video for YouTube and – as a champion of the cunning couplet – coming up with a name for a network that could benefit all the voluntary organisations in Mosman.
The next meetup is Thursday 3 September in the Library, and you can sign up here. All are welcome.
Free tools to publish & share
- Set up a blog or website – WordPress, Blogger, TypePad
- Join a social network – Twitter, Facebook
- Share photos – Flickr, SmugMug
- Share video – YouTube, Vimeo
- Share documents & presentations – Google Docs, Scribd, SlideShare
- Start your own social network – Grou.ps, Ning, CrowdVine
Online networks and blogs in Mosman
- Mosmums.com
- Mosman Readers
- Mosman Memories of Your Street
- Mosman Daily blogs
- Councillor Warren Yates’ blog
- Mosman Library Flickr groups: Mosman Festival, Eco-living in Mosman
Good examples of locally-focused online networks and blogs elsewhere
- Life in Chippendale
- Harringay, Borough of Haringey, London
- Kings Cross, London
- MONTV – not-for-profit local community TV channel for Monmouthshire
Lots more UK examples and resources at talkaboutlocal.org.
Comments
Sounds good. I’d like to be involved.
