Social Media Breakfast Boston Fights Hunger, Virtually: Even a Kool-Aid swilling social media enthusiast like me was impressed at the power of a small act multiplied. The breakfast, themed “Social Media for Social Change,” featured speakers Beth Kanter of Beth’s Blog and many endeavors such as Cambodia4Kids, Gradon Tripp of SM4SC (Social Media for Social Change), and Frank Day of Firstgiving. What was remarkable, though, was not the presentations or Q&A, but the food drive. Yes, people brought in canned goods for the Boston food Bank. But also, Tyson Foods promised to fill a truck with 100 pounds of food for every comment left on their Hunger Relief blog that day. The result? More than 700- comments in less than four hours, and two full trucks of food on its way to Boston.
Next? We don’t have to be Beth or Gradon to do something, and we don’t have to be public about it either. This reminds us we can use our personal brands for more than polishing our egos or profiles, but to help others. Ok, that sounds gushy, but as far as I’m concerned you can interpret “help others” any way you want.
Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Guide: To be honest, this list of social media etiquette “rules” is well thought-out, but too long for me to read and absorb, as it separates out the different types of popular social networks. I would just boil it down to this: a sensible, ethical approach to any social network is the only simple rule for me. How would you want to be treated on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? that’s how you should act. Sure, people will have different ideas that butt up against each other, but then those discussions are always a part of the fun, aren’t they?
For PR folks like me: a great reminder that it’s stressful to be a journalist (OK, an awkward, embarrassing yet still hilarious reminder):
More Principles of Social Media: Not to encourage jargony corporate-speak, but maybe someone should write these in a way that they can present to company brass, while selling social media. Not that this was An Bui’s intent for the blog, but I have trouble imagining saying “Karma is Real” when trying to ask the Big Boss for more social media budget.
The Facebook Principle Hits the New Administration: I won’t even repost the picture here because it’s silly. But a Facebook photo of an Obama staffer doing, well, impolite things to a Hillary Clinton cardboard cutout got a bit of reaction, including a humorous public response from Senator Clinton. The private response? Hmmm… Just another lesson that all our lives are melding together. As the first post-YouTube/Facebook administration prepares to take office, we will get a lokk at how online content enters into the vetting process. Will Facebook “red cup” photos be the new “Nannygate?”
Technorati Tags: smb11, sm4sc, bethkanter, tyson, hungerrelief, facebook, clinton, socialmedia, publicrelations
Great write up Doug! It’s fun to do charity work actually, isn’t it? The challenge is to do it year round, not just during the holidays ..
First off, Doug, so pleased your Social Media Top 5 didn’t flame out after just a few weeks like my SM Top 10, did.
You’ve got a couple of good ones, this week. Nice that the SMB Boston group contributed to the donation of two truckloads worth of meals for the city’s hungry. Good we got to say hello at the event, too — albeit briefly.
As for that MSNBC clip? Priceless.
Bryan Person | @BryanPerson
Thanks for the comments, both of you!
Beth– agreed on the year-round challenge– I didn’t say it as explicitly, but that is what i meant.
Bryan- the MSNBC clip? I’ve been there (though we didn’t swear so much at the Christian Science monitor. My rants and those of my colleagues tended not to go over the air, however.
Oh no! That clip is second only to the video of Bill O’Reilly flipping out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJjNVVwRCY
I have no problem pasting that video directly into comments- thanks for the great reminder, Christina!
Doug, thanks for your feedback regarding my formulation of 10 Principles of Social Media. I’m interested to see if anyone does write it in a way that’s presentable to decision makers. If not, I’d enjoy collaborating with you to do so!