a little social media education

for the past two days i've been at a 'fundraising using social media' conference at the center of philanthropy at IUPUI. we talked about all realms of social media ... facebook, twitter, blogging, youtube, foursquare, linkedin, regular web sites ... i learned a lot. seriously, it was an amazing conference/seminar/whatever you want to call it. (see also: jeff stanger is an amazing instructor on this subject)

but i also ended up contributing a bit, which was a little unexpected. before we went, i wasn't sure of what it was going to be like. i didn't know if it would be a HUGE room filled with hundreds of people, or maybe 50 people ... or would it be small? winner. ten people. it was nice. i liked the small group, i got to know some of the other people and their organizations, and learned new things that i can use at work.

i found myself sharing some knowledge about a few things. people were at different places in their social media lives; at my job, i have already set up a facebook page (as well as my own - and if i don't know you, don't ask me to add you. nothing personal, don't be offended.), and i have a personal twitter account, as well as this little 'ol blog here.

when we got to the topic of blogging, the question asked was: 'who reads a blog on a regular basis? whether it is work-related or not?' i raised my hand. he called on me first. he asked what the blog was. 'well, i read quite a few but it started with sixuntilme.com.' 'what drew you to this blog, and why do you go back?'

i explained that it's something i relate to because i am diabetic. i told him how i was linked with other bloggers and it led me to eventually start up my own blog. it's a big loving circle of diabetes life because i include a blogroll of related blogs that i read on mine (look to the right).

and then he asked me to share my blog site, you all. and please, like i would shy away at a chance to spread the word of awesomeness, glitter and unicorns? (again, look to the yellow button on the right if you are confused). please. although i don't know that anyone really wrote it down. that's okay. :)

later, we talked about twitter. i explained how i didn't used to be 'into' twitter but that blog led me to twitter, and to a whole online community. i explained #dsma, i helped explain hashtags. i felt kinda smart. i felt like i represented my organization well, and i threw in some shoutouts to the DOC as well!! win/win for everyone!


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#ifyoudontunderstandthesetwosentencesimnotsurewhattotellyou