if you blog it, will they come?

April 12, 2009 in blogference with 7 Comments

I wanted to initiate a first post to explain a little bit about who I am, and why I’m participating in such shaningans.

But, first, I must share with you this video that my church made to give people tours around our building today.

Easter Sunday “Informational Rap Video” from PC3 on Vimeo.
Okay, now that you’ve had a good laugh – or two, I’ll let you know who I am and why I’m here.

I’ve been blogging for a few years now (about 3) and things have changed a lot in those 3 years. I started out in blogger, even tried tumblr, but have landed on this wordpress blog for the past year or so.

I remember when facebook started, I hopped on twitter as soon as it was announced in an rss feed, and I just initiated myself into the world of LinkedIn. But these, just scratch the surface…there are so many others out there…

My senior year in college I wrote my thesis on “the internet and how it affects interpersonal relationships among college students” and that was a few years before facebook. It seems like since that time facebook, myspace,  ichat, skype, texting, blogging, twitter, youtube. vimeo and others have swept us all up into a whirlwind of fury. And if you look around, it’s not just for college students any more, it seems as if “everyone is doing it” these days.

Truth be told, social media is just starting, I think we’re just breaking through on applications and websites that will connect us, that is to say, we’re more connected than ever and yet, more disconnected than ever – and this is my topic for the next few days; How to utilize social media to bridge the gap, create a buzz, and basically make it work in your favor.

But, the way blogference works is not like a conference in that you go to a talk, listen to it and leave. Nor do we want you to come here and read a post – and then you’re done. Oh no, this requires your participation for it to work! So, everybody now – let us know who is reading, and who will be tracking over the next few days. Mention us on your blog, blog about the topic yourself, put us on your rss feed, twitter us, and let’s get this thing going in a true viral marketing way.

So I’ll start us off with a question, how have you seen social media work to virally (to spread like a virus) market something? anything? This could be for you personally, or for anyone that you’ve seen market an event, a band, a cause, etc… Tell us what they used, how the used it, and why you think it was effective (show us links). All forms of feedback are appreciated and welcomed – I urge you to be creative.

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facebook comments:

  • http://benandjacq.com Ben of BenandJacq

    No real answer to the question, because I’m responding from my phone and can’t post links. But I absolutely love the concept of leveraging new social networking technology to reach folks with the gospel. I am loving using twitter to monitor and respond to folks with spiritual intrest. I’ll post more tomorrow.

    Ps. How does a FORMER staff person get to be a facilitator? You must know people.

  • Lisa Harmon

    I love the PC3 rap! We are going to be at the beach one week in May and we were hoping to come to PC3 that Sunday morning on our way home. I’ll look up the date and email you. We’d love to see you! As for the internet, the first example that comes to my mind is Rhett & Link. They use the internet to virally spread videos all the time – it is their job! http://www.rhettnandlink.com

  • Lisa Harmon

    :) I spelled it wrong in the link. Here it is: http://www.rhettandlink.com

  • http://spurgeondreamer.blogspot.com Alex Costa

    Alex Costa
    CCC Staff
    Ohio State University

    I’m partially tech-savvy, so I don’t have any major success stories, but Facebook’s event application has improved attendance at events dramatically. Three years ago, when that application started, it took me a while to get that message across to the staff team here, but now it is just assumed that you make an event on Facebook.

  • http://www.brianbarela.typepad.com Brian Barela

    so glad you’re hosting kelly! great first post to kick things off.

    i realize that i spend a disproportionate time reading/viewing but not participating and adding to the various conversations happening online.

    at a winter conference seminar i hosted this year i challenged the attendees to listen, engage, and share. my goal has been to focus on developing my capacity in one of these at a time.

    i just reorganized my rss feeds and began actively listening to them on a regular basis. i’ve also set up google alerts for various key words that are hot topics for me and began to chase down some of those leads.

    i’m sure all of us have plenty of room to grow in our use of social media, but the bottom line for me is to start commenting on other’s blogs. the comments add so much value to the post and extend beyond the interaction to all those who read the post.

  • Ken C

    Kelly, I appreciate your insights and would LOVE to see your thesis. Where could I find a soft copy? My team is pursuing every avenue we can to help students as digital natives be more aware of the opportunities to live out their faith in relevant ways through social networking.

    Curious how you would respond to Gary Hamel’s insights related to leading Gen F here:
    http://onleadingwell.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-do-we-lead-gen-f.html

    Shoulder to shoulder, Ken

  • admin

    Ben: what do you mean you respond to spiritual interests of others through twitter? How does that work?
    Lisa: How do you think Rhett and Link do a good job of using social media to advertise who they are?
    Alex: Facebook events are seemingly the way to go – and way cheaper and less leg work than fliers.
    brian: first props for using all lowercase in your commenting. (i notice these things). and i agree with the commenting stigma. i, too, need to learn to participate more in these conversations happening all around me; all the time. Maybe you’ve seen this, maybe not – a commenting system designed for discussion called disqus: http://disqus.com/
    Ken: I don’t know that I do have a copy of that thesis – but man, some of it is way outdated (6 years old) But PROPS to you and your team for looking for ways to use social media to expand your scope and influence. I saw the Gen F post – but will reread it more closely.