April 22, 2010
Posted by Jen Reeves
Are we ready?
I am constantly trying to find ways to bring the knowledge I have to my community. Any time I talk to someone who I don’t work or teach with on a regular basis, I end up talking about a little tool or tip that I find is a easy way to use technology in a more efficient way. Twitter lists, little tools like Seesmic or coTweet.
That’s why I tried to launch a Foursquare Day in Columbia last week. It was worth the try to create a “swarm” and get 50 people to gather in one place. It didn’t work – but it was fun to have an excuse to visit spots in my town where I don’t normally hang out. Plus, I had an excuse to bring a bouncy ball and chalk downtown and start a game of foursquare. Silly? Yes. Fun? Certainly. And I hope it shows I really do want to find fun ways to bring the social media community together.
But I’m not sure if my town is comfortable with instant gatherings. We live such a scheduled and busy life juggling work and life (and our kids’ lives). But I’d love to find ways to create social meetings that are fun and I could offer skills and knowledge that I teach daily with my students and employees in my newsroom. The knowledge we have translates on so many professional and personal levels and I want my community to know more. The end result is a bit self-centered. A more savvy community will participate in sharing with the journalists in our community. It would help our changing newsrooms transition into using a more socially-minded and sharing news process. Is that greedy? Or am I just trying to move our town a little closer into a vision of community I expect will happen naturally just in a longer time frame? These are the thoughts that ramble through my head at times.
(Photo courtesy of @justex07)
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5 Comments
April 22, 2010
If I had been in Columbia I would have joined in the fun!
April 22, 2010
I would have done the Foursquare thing but we were out of town. Maybe something not on a Friday would be better?
April 22, 2010
@Rob: Yeah – that’s possible. I’m working on an event that will be on a Tuesday night. Unfortunately, 4/16 happened to be on a Friday!!
@Meghan: Thanks! It would have been great to have you here. But you need to have your adventures so I can continue to hear about them!
April 22, 2010
I think many people who are not into social media need a reason to do something new like Foursquare. One of the swarms on 4sq Day was at a coffee shop and they were giving free coffee to people who checked in. That might prompt someone to try Foursquare, but in the absence of any reward they might not see a reason to sign up.
April 22, 2010
I totally agree… The trick is finding a spot where you can enjoy something free of discounted and have a chance to learn stuff. A Twitter follower of mine says we should launch a BarCamp or some kind of conference for the Mid-MO community.
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