5 Ways to Extend the Conversation
Yesterday, I talked about extending the conversation, jumping out of our social media fishbowl and swimming among the people. How can we reach more of the “mainstream,” share what we’re doing with them, and empower them to participate? Today, I want to offer five ways we might be able to bring about some change. Much as I love all my fellow goldfish, I want to swim with the humans.
Build A Local Community Blog
Yesterday, in the comments section, Doug Haslam mentioned that he started a few community blogs. I think this is a great way to demonstrate the power of social media. Are you a parent? Start a community blog about activities for kids. Are you into cycling or running? Use a blog to discuss interesting routes, tips you’ve learned, and keep the local flavor.
ACTION:Invite your fellow community members to post on the blog. Most blog software now permits email-based submissions. Build an account. Get them set up to post via email.
Empower Photoblogging
I’m forever excited when I read about a Thomas Hawk or Steve Garfield photowalk. The premise is simple: get a bunch of people together, snap photos, post them online for everyone to share. Setting up a photoblog is simple. Simple for YOU, at least. Why not set up a photoblog, and empower people to email photos to it from their cameraphone? Give them a shared Flickr account and then post the feed directly into a blog. It’s a quick way to get people’s work together out into the open, and lets people feel a pride of ownership. Extra points for encouraging them to blog a bit about the photos, techniques, and more while they post photos.
Make a TalkShoe Show
Using TalkShoe is a good “gateway drug” to audio podcasting and building a radio show. They make it easy for one person to administer all the bells and whistles, but for others just to be able to call into the show and participate. When I first used it, I dialed in from my cell phone, pushed in a PIN like you do for a conference call, and I was part of the conversation. Talk about easy. An audio podcast that starts as a live on-air, scheduled radio show is a GREAT analogy to get people podcasting, because they understand the format: live talk show, phones, everyone gets a chance. See? Easy-cheesy. And you can repost the downloads (TiVo for Radio, I’ve heard people say to explain podcasts with no jargon).
Teach Videoblogging
Go the local library, request the use of one of their rooms to teach people how to do videoblogging, and then just schedule and promote it. Put up little posters (make them colorful!) at the local grocery store, the schools, the watering holes. See who might come in to learn about it. But here’s the trick: call it “Getting More out of Your Camcorder: Beyond Birthday Videos.” That’ll drag in would-be videographers in hiding, and then, you can trick them into videoblogging. Yes, that’s right. Trick them. Set up a blog and a Blip.tv or a Vimeo account, and show them how to post the first few. Start with very little editing, maybe just adding titles, and offer a follow-on course for the rest.
Host a PodCamp or Join a Social Media Club
Or some other kind of “new media” sharing event. Sure, I’m the co-founder of PodCamp, so I’m biased, but basically: invite your local community (look for the media types, the tech types, art students, film students, PR, marketers, small businesses), find a venue where everyone can share what they know, and make it free, open, and uncomplicated. Invite the community to suggest topics they want covered, but warm up the conversation by asking your local social media friends to come up with topics that will be useful for the newcomers as well as tracks for the experienced. Check out Social Media Club as well. This is a great organization started and run by some great people.
There are just five suggestions. You probably have some great ideas I haven’t considered. Notice in all cases, I focused on how to reach out to people who aren’t already in the fishbowl. In all cases, I sprinkled in some pointers for how such products could actually even be funded or sponsored. But you decide how you want to manage that. My goal is the conversation overall.
What could you do in YOUR community to get this going?
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Comments
Chris your timing is impeccable - I’ve just started taking baby steps to creating an online community for Greyhound owners and all of this info is perfect! Thank you very much!
I’ve been building up to this for a long time. Not sure quite what’s taken me so long - time management, I think ;)
Last night we had our first videoblogging meetup in London with the Social Media Club. Seems insane that it’s the first, given how long vlogger meetups have been happening in the States. We got a good mix of people. I got ideas about how to take it much further, and go out across London and the UK.
F2F is the new SL :)
I’m good at talking, and am available to talk about video blogging and video podcasting ( see http://ericrochow.com/?p=140 ). Plus this makes me think to go out and just do it - talk, that is.
I’m right there with you on this. I’m admin for our school PTO site. It’s been functioning as an online bulletin board, but I’ve been talking to a few people about making it more interactive in the upcoming school year. I’m going to port it into WordPress and encourage the committee members to set up accounts to start. It’s a small town and a lot of community activity centers around the schools, so I think this is a good place to start.
I should make a correction — I did not start http://thegardencity.net community blog. A friend, Chuck Tanowitz, and an accomplice, Kristine Munroe, did. I was an early contributor and remain on the blog. Though I have been neglectful lately, the site has built up enough community involvement to live without my feeble utterances for extended periods of time.
I talked to Chuck T. this morning, coincidentally, about this very subject– getting people who don’t normally blog into the conversations. It’s just another social network, like meeting people at the Y or the playground or town meeting, but with further potential reach. The Garden Blog I hold up as a successful example of this, but I can’t take credit for starting it.
Oh, and beside the point- why do i need to link bait Jason Calacanis when I have Brogan to pimp for me? ;)
[…] Brogan came back with a post based on feedback, called “5 Ways to Extend the Conversation.” Please read this one […]
One other new social media tool to tout- http://kyte.tv Great for doing slide shows, videos,etc. and embedding them on your blog with live chat feature too.
[…] in a blog, but wasn’t sure if people around here would understand it. But after reading Chris’ post, I’m going to do it. And create a flicker page for people to post pictures […]
Chris has also caused me to create a new community blog with flickr posts for my town. http://ericrochow.com/?p=154
Bringing Social Media to the Masses– or Vice-Versa…
To elaborate on something I talked about in the latest PRobecast podcast; heavy social media users are starting to realize that there is so far a finite audience for blogs, podcasts, and other social media, and that the next step is to expand the audie…
[…] by the postings of Chris Brogan social media guru and inspiring person, and the moderators of a community blog in Newton MA, […]
I know this post is like 2-3 old but I ‘m just now getting around to reading it. This is another example of your divine wisdom. I am going to take this with me and try my best to do at least 2 of these. Thank you sir.
[…] I really liked the fact that he brought up the fact that we need to get out of the bubble. I believe Chris Brogan put it: “get out of the fishbowl.” You can read his first posts about this topic here Extend the conversation and 5 ways to extend the conversation. […]
How about talk with your neighbors over the back fence about the great podcast you found?
Last week, at the local computer center, the guy at the register asked for an email [yeah, I know…mailinglist hell… but keep reading], so I gave him the one I have at Podcast User Magazine. He had to type it in again to confirm, and it opened up a discussion. I found out what sort of music he liked, and I pointed his hip-hop-loving eyes to Julien’s show, and I gave him the short ‘you don’t need an iPod’ explanation of on-site players, and I gave him my PUM card.
All in 30 seconds. (there was no line at the register, which was a help)
So let’s get out there and talk, with mouths and breath and not just typing fingers. It won’t kill us.
-LEMills