One of the many challenges I am finding in building out our online Fan Community is making people aware of how simple and easy it is to use the community to highlight their own local Special Olympics events and competitions.
I'm working on this, but in the mean time, today I came across a user video that made me raise both my arms in the air at my desk and startle my cubicle mate with a "woo hoo!"
Check out the contribution from Fan Community user 'hobbsv'! It's a fantastic video that highlights the impact of what Special Olympics does for the local athletes in the state of Washington and its definitely a best practice I will use to promote to other programs of how the Fan Community can be a tremendous asset to their program.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Nerd!
So being the social media nerdy geek learning all this stuff, I am sending this via my blackberry as a test post!
My Ah-Ha! Moment
So two guys walk into a bar...
I kid, I kid. Phew, got those first few words out of the way. Staring at the screen in front of me figuring out what those words would be was sort of like standing at the urinal in the men's room next to your CEO - you want to say something witty and impressive but nothing comes to mind except for the mundane or cliché. The difference here being both hands were on my keyboard.
The next challenge of course is, what in the world do you talk about in THE FIRST POST? It can't be too boring, for fear of losing potential readers right off the bat. But it can't be too exciting for the same reason your first wedding anniversary gift can't be too flashy or romantic - you don't want to set the bar too high.
And then just like that, it hit me because today I had a genuine 'ah-ha!' moment that made me realize I'm addicted to social media.
To be fair, I'm actually addicted to the instant gratification provided by certain social media applications and have found that I'm ever so quick to dismiss last year's vintage of 'cool' for today's happy hour special.
The moment was very simple - sitting at my desk eating my lunch (Turkey Frisco sandwich from Corner Bakery and an apple) I hopped on my favorite sports columnist Tom Boswell's online chat. It's something I haven't had time to do for months and with baseball season in full swing I took the opportunity to see what the Boz had to say. A year or two ago I loved these chats. They provide such a great opportunity for readers to connect with journalists in a way that had never been done before and as a former journalist I really enjoyed these opportunities.
Today I found myself reading thru the first few Q&As, then getting to the bottom and refreshing, waiting for the next Q&A in the queue. I hit refresh again. Nothing yet. Rinse, wash, repeat. Arrrghh! Hurry it up! Ah, okay, there we go. Wait, what did this reader just say? No that's not right, let me message him and tell him why he's...oh wait, I can't really do that. I mean, I could, but then I have to wait for the rinse/wash/repeat cycle and hope my response gets picked by the ever mysterious and all powerful producer of the chat (cue the "I am the great all powerful OZ..." smoke and curtain).
So what did I do?
I stepped back and came up with a cool baseball question about whether or not Boz agreed with me that Ryan Zimmerman's swing is too long and until he cuts down on it he'll never be able to catch up to plus-fastballs unless he's guessing fastball and starts his swing early.
Well, the great and all powerful producer turned the chat conversation toward golf and my question never got picked. I was left unfulfilled.
I do not blame Boz, the producer, or WashPost.com for my lack of fulfillment. They are only working within the medium and its limits. I'll probably be back to other online chats (work permitting of course). I'm not even sure yet what this says about my own issues or the expectations I bring to the table now in communicating online. But it seems that in an instant I'm no longer able look upon those chats with the wonderment of a child bounding down the stairs on Christmas morning, but rather with the dutifulness of attending a social function full of your spouse's co-workers, hoping to make the best of it.
That is of course until Boz hops on Twitter.
I kid, I kid. Phew, got those first few words out of the way. Staring at the screen in front of me figuring out what those words would be was sort of like standing at the urinal in the men's room next to your CEO - you want to say something witty and impressive but nothing comes to mind except for the mundane or cliché. The difference here being both hands were on my keyboard.
The next challenge of course is, what in the world do you talk about in THE FIRST POST? It can't be too boring, for fear of losing potential readers right off the bat. But it can't be too exciting for the same reason your first wedding anniversary gift can't be too flashy or romantic - you don't want to set the bar too high.
And then just like that, it hit me because today I had a genuine 'ah-ha!' moment that made me realize I'm addicted to social media.
To be fair, I'm actually addicted to the instant gratification provided by certain social media applications and have found that I'm ever so quick to dismiss last year's vintage of 'cool' for today's happy hour special.
The moment was very simple - sitting at my desk eating my lunch (Turkey Frisco sandwich from Corner Bakery and an apple) I hopped on my favorite sports columnist Tom Boswell's online chat. It's something I haven't had time to do for months and with baseball season in full swing I took the opportunity to see what the Boz had to say. A year or two ago I loved these chats. They provide such a great opportunity for readers to connect with journalists in a way that had never been done before and as a former journalist I really enjoyed these opportunities.
Today I found myself reading thru the first few Q&As, then getting to the bottom and refreshing, waiting for the next Q&A in the queue. I hit refresh again. Nothing yet. Rinse, wash, repeat. Arrrghh! Hurry it up! Ah, okay, there we go. Wait, what did this reader just say? No that's not right, let me message him and tell him why he's...oh wait, I can't really do that. I mean, I could, but then I have to wait for the rinse/wash/repeat cycle and hope my response gets picked by the ever mysterious and all powerful producer of the chat (cue the "I am the great all powerful OZ..." smoke and curtain).
So what did I do?
I stepped back and came up with a cool baseball question about whether or not Boz agreed with me that Ryan Zimmerman's swing is too long and until he cuts down on it he'll never be able to catch up to plus-fastballs unless he's guessing fastball and starts his swing early.
Well, the great and all powerful producer turned the chat conversation toward golf and my question never got picked. I was left unfulfilled.
I do not blame Boz, the producer, or WashPost.com for my lack of fulfillment. They are only working within the medium and its limits. I'll probably be back to other online chats (work permitting of course). I'm not even sure yet what this says about my own issues or the expectations I bring to the table now in communicating online. But it seems that in an instant I'm no longer able look upon those chats with the wonderment of a child bounding down the stairs on Christmas morning, but rather with the dutifulness of attending a social function full of your spouse's co-workers, hoping to make the best of it.
That is of course until Boz hops on Twitter.
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