I attended an excellent event last night at the HDB Service Group, Inc. in LaGrange, a Metro United Way- funded agency that provides non-emergency medical transportation and runs a free health clinic. It was a volunteer appreciation event, thanking the dozens of volunteer drivers, interpreters, clinic administrators, physicians and nurses who make HDB and the clinic possible.
The director of HDB also took the opportunity to thank the folks at Makespace! Media + Design Lab for donating their time to create a revamped website for HDB, as well as getting them plugged into Facebook and Twitter. As the representative from Makespace! Media walked the audience through the new website and gave a tutorial on using Twitter and Facebook, I could see heads nodding around me. There weren’t actually that many laughs when he said “No one uses email anymore!”
I, myself, was impressed- although not really surprised- at the capabilities of HDB’s new website. More and more non-profits are using social media to fundraise, recruit volunteers, organize events, provide services, and reach the community with news and information. Check out HDB’s new website and social network: http://www.hdbservicegroup.com/ and encourage others to get connected!
General, Volunteering
HDB, social media, social network
By Jan Sherrell
Again I’m throwing myself under the bus and exposing my fuddy duddiness. The term Social Media is everywhere. There are books and webinars and consultants for Social Media. I’m trying to jump on that band wagon. I’m working to stay informed of what social media entails and why I need to use it. But the term Social Media keeps flashing me to 1977 when my best friend and I would sit in her dad’s company truck and talk on the CB radio to boys. CB radio was early social media. We had secret “handles” – (that’s the old term for screen names or Login) that made us anonymous on the airwaves as we talked inanely about life as a 14 year old. Wow, maybe I’m a trendsetter and I was hip to social media before the term was even coined?
What I struggle with is how does all this Social Media apply to work? Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flicker…..Sure if I’m a liquor salesman or a photographer or website designer – I see how having tons of “friends” and tweeting quick little ditties might prove beneficial to business. Posting cool photos I’ve taken or sharing a to die for drink recipe. But recruiting Facebook friends and reading postings while at work just doesn’t feel like it is going to help me do a better job – then again I am looking for some volunteers. But do people really want to hear about that on Facebook or Twitter?
I’ve made the plunge – I have a Facebook page. But sadly, after a couple of weeks a swarm of folks have not searched me out and invited me onto their friend’s list. I have eight friends. Okay, in my defense I’ve only been on the site twice and I have a fear of posting something embarrassing for the world to see – I’ve been warned this is how employers and banks research you. It doesn’t feel natural to invite people I haven’t talked to in years to be my friend. Perhaps I fear the rejection – or don’t know what to do with them after they are my friend?
I’m starting to see the social aspect of it – you can know things about people without really investing much time or using all those social skills like phone calls or cocktail party etiquette. But that feels so anonymous. And truly my life is okay without knowing every move, every sandwich ate, every cd purchased, every random thought. Maybe what is lacking for me is the “social” part of Social Media. Perhaps I have enough social in my life? A good time to me is reading the paper on my back patio or a lone motorcycle ride on a country road.
How is Social Media helping you work better?
So do I rally my interest and go recruit some friends and get a little more embedded in this social media hype? How about you good buddy, you got yer ears on? Over.
General
social media