blogging or not blogging?

1. ScribeMedia.Org: Good video site covering the Business, Technology and Culture of Digital Media: http://bit.ly/2fCz66
2. Hurston/Wright Writer’s Workshop call for submissions http://bit.ly/45e3fk
3. Berkeley J-School and the Knight Digital Media Center launch the new Bay News Network: http://bit.ly/3KMYjy
4. A Public Can Talk To Itself: Why The Future of News is Actually Pretty Clear: http://bit.ly/3BZAJN
5. Organized Chaos: Viral Marketing, Meet Social Media: http://bit.ly/3zUzAe
6. Discipline and the Bloggers Opportunity: http://bit.ly/12vObJ
7. Resources for Building Your Social Media Marketing plan: http://bit.ly/2D4Ae8
8. 10 popular Twitter tools: http://bit.ly/3MgNtN
9. What the new Facebook News Feed Means: http://bit.ly/2M875k
10. Social media goes corporate: http://bit.ly/3XjJpN

*Blogging image courtesy of cambodia4kidsorg. Used under a Creative Commons licence.

While the ability to brand and manage your own online community offers a lot of possibility, it also provides considerable challenges. To cut to the chase: chances are that no matter what your niche, there are probably already a host of sites vying for attention and eyeballs. And like we always tell clients, just because you build it, doesn’t mean that they’ll come.

Building an audience for your own network takes not only a great idea, but a dedicated growth plan and strategy for interacting with your users.

But with that said, having your own thriving online community offers an excellent opportunity to build your audience, gain their trust and learn more about the people you want to do business with.

And when done right they can be a thing of beauty. Check out theOakland Museum’s new Dia de Los Muertos online exhibit as an example of the right way to build your own social network.

The California museum hosts a yearly Dia de los Muertos celebration that draws a huge crowd from Oakland’s diverse population. With their doors closed for renovation until next year, the museum decided to take their community online and created this social network/multimedia travelogue as a way to stay connected and to show how the tradition is celebrated around the state and in Mexico.

The site is based around the travels of 3 museum staffers and features a full library of their adventures including video interviews, over 200 photos and even a few reality TV style personal diaries.

Members are encouraged to join in the conversation by sharing their own content and participating in regular projects like listing your ideal last meal or uploading the song you’d like played as you take your final bow.

The museum’s Senior Curator Rene de Guzman said the site took about a month to create and load with content and they’ve been sending out invitations to join to their members and subscribers since last week.

So far the site has 156 registered members and Adam Rozan, the museum’s Marketing Manager, says that they’ve been surprised by the level of interaction they’ve seen as people have posted personal stories, photos and information on celebrations happening around the country.

But it goes to show that if you do have a great idea, and the patience and resources to pull it off, building your social network can be a great community builder and open new avenues of communication between your business and your clients.

Contact us if you’d like to learn more about creating your own network or getting the most out of one you’ve already set up.

And to read more about the piece read this blog post from Oakland Local.

There’s been a lot made of the rapidly changing media landscape, particularly as it relates to the newspaper business. Often hesitant to move online and unsure of the exact strategy for online success and profit, the large news chains have seen their advertising dry up over the last couple of years and their readers migrate to smaller, more nimble news outlets that operate solely on the internet.

Last week we threw our hat into this ring of new media entrepreneurs with the hopes of better serving the Oakland public, promoting a broader community dialog and moving closer to establishing tangible next steps for the media and a sustainable journalism model.

This past Monday we launched Oakland Local, a new hyperlocal news site thats an innovative blend of traditional journalism, multimedia, user generated content and citizen journalism.

While we worked hard to be innovative, being inclusive was just as important. The site features reporting on crucial but often overlooked issues in and around Oakland along with a full stock of forums, blogs, community updates and directories featuring 320 Oakland nonprofits and 180 active Oakland bloggers.

The team core team is made up of myself, media maven and editorial genius Susan Mernit, and Amy Gahran a well known and highly respected mobile reporting, environmental and tech know it all.

There’s often a lot of discussion on the hard results of social media and online community building and I think that in our first week we’ve provided a pretty impressive case study. We have been “priming the pump” online for about a month before launch, sending out semi regular updates on Twitter, spreading the word through PR and Media and in general being very strategic about our online marketing.

So far we’ve been successful in turning buzz into readers and while we’re not doing New York Times numbers (yet) I think the results are pretty impressive and speak for themselves.

Here’s an updated assessment of our 1st week’s stats, from Susan Mernit’s end of the week update:

We had 4,432 visits from 2,958 unique users.
The average time spent on the site was 3.93 minutes; average pages viewed per visit, 3.2.

Where did our traffic come from?
46% came right from the web; 12% came from Facebook and another 12% from Twitter. 7% came from Google, 4% each from Stumbleupon and SF Gate, 2% from the NYTimes and from Berkelyside.

Our Facebook page went from 3 fans to 512 fans in a week, we signed up 50 new members, and we gained roughly 200 new followers on Twitter.

Out on the Net–what folks said
There were dozens of blog posts about the launch, most from media bloggers and folks outside of Oakland proper, though Zennie62 gave us a welcome shout out. Among the blogs and media sites that posted were the following, whom we wlil dub Friends of OL:

• Ext 337, Marnie Webb: – “Congrats to the Oakland Local team for this launch. It’s wonderful to see new models for sharing local news emerge.”
• Economy Beat: (Great post about OL’s blog directory)
• Berkleyside
• Zennie Abraham
• CBS5 Eye on Blogs,Brittney Gilbert
• The greater good blog
• Silicon Moon
• SocialBrite
• Kelsey Group blog
• NAA Blog: Alt.Civic-Minded: Oakland Local Gives Voice to Social Activists
• Amy Ward Sample

Go to the site and have a look around, register and participate in the discussion. While we still have a ways to go with building a readership and sustaining an online community, our 1st week stats prove that it is possible to run a successful online marketing campaign and start seeing your results almost immediately.

Contact me if you’d like to know more about Oakland Local or need a consultant for your own online marketing efforts.

With over 1200 publications under it’s umbrella, NAM is the largest collaboration of ethnic and community newspapers in the country. They’re youth program is known for producing quality multimedia teams and reporters with not just the hard skills to step into any newsroom but also a community first, grassroots media outlook that’s crucial in today’s new media landscape.

Youth will get the chance to pitch and cover stories, attend editorial meetings, gain valuable contacts in the worlds of media and community justice and receive training from some of the best reporters in the business.

The deadline for applications is October 5th and the internships begin Oct. 19.

Pass the news on to any you think would be interested. To apply download the application here and for any questions contact:

Albert Felipe - Back On Track Graduate Services Coordinator
New America Media
275 Ninth St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 503-4170×405
Fax: (415) 503-0970

Attention all you indie authors, publishers and literary types. The Annual DIY Book fair is on it’s way and the deadline for early registration is rolling around in a few weeks. The DIY fair is the largest independent publishing event in the country and it’s author’s regularly go on to huge things after winning, including somewhat ironically, major book publishing deals. Check out the details below and go to www.diyconvention.com for the whole scoop.

Good Luck!

2009 DIY BOOK FESTIVAL

The early entry deadline is approaching for the 2009 DIY Book Festival, the eighth annual program celebrating the success of independent authors and publishers arrives. The early entry deadline, which guarantees a spot at our annual event, is October 25.

The DIY Book Festival will consider self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, teenage, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, audio/spoken word, photography, art, comics, ‘zines, fan fiction, poetry and e-books published on or after Jan. 1, 2006. All entries must be in English and have been self-published or issued by an independent publishing house.

*** Please note that print-on-demand (POD) authors with iUniverse, PublishAmerica, Infinity Publishing and other outlets are eligible for the competition.

Our grand prize for the 2009 DIYBF Book of the Year is $1500 cash and a flight to the awards ceremony, held in February, 2010 as part of the annual DIY Convention in Los Angeles.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel using the following criteria:

1) General excellence and the author’s passion for telling a good story.

2) The unique use of guerilla marketing tactics to reach a wider audience. This includes innovative marketing, merchandising, publicity tactics and other innovative methods of reaching an independent audience..

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories.Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.

1) General Non-fiction

2) General Fiction

3) Children’s books

4) How-to

5) E-books (word or .pdf file acceptable)

6) Comics

7) ‘zines

Photography

9) Fan Fiction

10) Poetry

11) Art

12) Teenage

13) Biography/Autobiography

14) Audio/spoken word

15) Compilations/Anthologies

16) Best Unpublished Short Story

17) Cookbooks

18) Science Fiction

In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The DIY Book Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:

1) DIY Author of the Year-Honors the outstanding book of the competition.

2) DIY Book Design of the Year — Honors outstanding and innovative design.

3) DIY Independent Publisher of the Year-Honors the top publisher based on materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as determined by our judges.

FESTIVAL RULES: DIY Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.

NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site (www.diyconvention.com). Because of the anticipated high volume of entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.

Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on November 25, 2009. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at www.diyconvention.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you. Please contact our office for fax requests. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee of $10-$50 (see entry form drop-down menu for specific category prices) in the form of a check, money order or PayPal online payment in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.

You can also enter the contest by phone by calling 323-665-8080 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time.

Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We’re sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.

Entry packages should include:

1) One copy of the book;

2) Your official entry form or a copy;

3) The entry fee or receipt for online payment;

4) Any marketing materials you wish to send. Marketing is used as a tie-breaking consideration by our judges.

Entries should be mailed to:
JM Northern Media LLC
attn: DIY Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard
Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
Phone: 323-665-8080

AWARDS: The DIY Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any project.

The 2009 DIY Book Festival is part of the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, which also produces the DIY Film Festival and the DIY Music Festival. The 2009 DIY Book Festival is sponsored by the Larimar St. Croix Writer’s Retreat, eDivvy, Shopanista, Westside Websites and The DIY Reporter.com.

So the trainings we’ve been doing over the last few months with the Public Media Collaborative have become increasingly popular with area nonprofits and media organizations. Attendees have stated how much they enjoyed the sessions and how important these low cost trainings are for organizations doing important work but without the funding to hire full time social medial staff.

So we’re happy to announce the next round of trainings will be taking place Oct 23 & 24, 2009 at Tech/Liminal, 268 14th Street, Oakland, CA.

The 1st day is reserved for community and nonprofit organizations and will provide high-quality, low-cost, hands-on training designed to improve understanding and use of social media and blogging tools.

The focus will be on quick, practical strategies that help non-profits use social media effectively to increase their visibility & presence on search engines, reach new audiences, deepen engagement with current users and fund micro-donations. The workshops will help participants use social media to plan and execute campaigns and programs then measure and evaluate the results.

Our team of experienced facilitators will offer workshops including:

• Effective Blogging for Non-Profits
• Building a social media strategy with Twitter, Facebook & Your Blog
• Using Multimedia & Video to get our your message (on a budget)
• Micro-donations: Online Best Practices

The 2nd day is open for all local bloggers and media enthusiasts and will include many of the same topics essentialized for individuals. Check the website in the coming weeks for a detailed workshop schedule.

Beast Bay/Social Media for Social Change workshops
Oct 23 & 24, 2009
$10.00 Pre-registration required.
8:30am – 6:00pm
Tech/Liminal
268 14th Street, Oakland, CA 94612
phone: 659.814.9303
email: publicmediacollaborative@gmail.com
http://socialmedia4socialaction.eventbrite.com/

Seize the Moment

This is an unprecedented time—and opportunity—for the ethnic and community news media.

Your combined audiences now reach well over 60 million Americans nationwide, a clear indication that you are indispensable to the communities you cover. At the same time, you have never faced such huge challenges: adapting to rapidly changing new media technologies, often on a shoestring budget; revamping business operations in the face of plummeting small business ad dollars; and remaining a vibrant and relevant voice for the diverse communities you serve.

Now is the time to seize the moment!

• Dive into learning cutting-edge multimedia journalism skills.
• Expand your networks by collaborating with colleagues and meeting experts in
multimedia journalism.
• Learn about innovative solutions to better serve your community and build your business.

We’ve designed this hands-on multimedia training conference with the ethnic and community news media’s needs in mind. Intensive boot camps and a diverse selection of in-depth workshops will teach you new media skills and social networking strategies; show you how to grow and “control” your Web site—and stop letting it control you; and introduce you to innovative business strategies to help your news outlet navigate through and even thrive in this tough economy.

This conference is the first in a series of affordable classes, workshops, and training conferences the Renaissance Journalism Center and ZeroDivide will be cosponsoring over the next several years in its efforts to bridge the digital divide and drive innovation.

For more information and to sign up go to the main conference page.

The Bay’s been bubbling about this conference for the last few weeks and now it’s finally here!

The Seize the Moment Media training is two days of budget conscious media trainings focused on community and ethnic media (but all are welcome).

There’s a long list of training sessions, including one on using online tools to promote your brand, which, ahem, I’m leading the with most fabulous Sarah Dopp.

The trainings are bring together some serious using media muscle with sessions being led by the likes of Susan Mernit, David Cohn, JD Lasica, Kara Andrade and a lot of other internet famous smart as hell new media types.

The event is in conjuction with the opening of The Renaissance Journalism Center, SF State’s new journalism multimedia training facility.

Check out the full list of trainings here and sign up for the event. The real action kicks off bright and early tomorrrow morning so there’s still time to get in on the fun.

Stop by my session and say hi if you make it out.

Knowing how controversial his new healthcare package is with a large segment of Americans, the Health Insurance Reform Reality Check doesn’t beat you over the head with screen after screen of text and stats. Instead they’ve enlisted the help of trusted top level decision makers from various health and social service organizations to do the job.

These short videos include testimonials from Melody Barnes, the President’s Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and Linda Douglass of the White House Office of Health Reform among others, going into detail about various aspects of the health care bill. These clips go a long way in explaining the issue and lending credibility to the President’s claims. And of course, there’s a full range of social media functions embedded on the site and viewers are encouraged to email and Twitter away, leave comments and sign up for email updates.

We’re sure that, like their previous social media media campaigns, this initiative will go a long way come election day.