Tag: Social Networking

Brum Bloggers – venue for Part 3?

I’m losing my voice. My fault for being too voluble last night. For those who listened thank you. Like Stef I too was pleased to see the room swell with growing numbers at the 2nd gathering of the Birmingham Bloggers Group and also to see the conversations splinter.

I was absolutely engrossed in talking to Joana Geary, not least about the future of the business model for newspapers. Brum bloggers Andrew Dubber and Paul Bradshaw really understand how the music industry is a precursor for the disruption that is leaving conventional publishing bemused.

alex hughes cartoonistStill on the publishing side of thing I was excited, nay moved, to be able to say hello to Alex Hughes. It was the first time I’d met him, but when I used to produce Midlands at Westminster I did commission cartoons from him.

I had a happy time talking to image makers, including Steve Gerrard, who remains keen to find new ways to allow young photographers access to bigger gigs.
Hello blogger from birminghamStef has already written to encourage us to be more welcoming of new Birmingham blogs after we received Emily’s crisp new photo blog with a mutter and a lurk. He also crafted a wonderful badge to express our local largesse. I think we should be more thoughtful in supporting each other, however blogging remains a personal thing and each blogger will choose what interests them and where and how they want to comment.

Heeding his words, these faces and blogs are new to me: Jonathan Melhiush, Ben Neal, Paul Burns, Danny Trinkett. I’m also pleased to find Matt at Zenbullets and his Midlands’ New Media aggregator. (Hat tip Pete – is there a blog post written in Brum that doesn’t link to Pete?)
I missed saying a proper hello to d’log, who proposes different styles of meeting to work in different ways and appeal to others – with the same idea from Antonio. These suggestions are one of the reasons why very soon after the first meeting I made a whole bunch of people admins for the group – so people can do what they feel is right. I’m thinking we’re still at a stage where informal is good – there are loads of people who haven’t met who should. Of course names on a sticky label makes some sense.

I am though also keen on Lloyd’s (brought up in Moseley) work in developing a social media cafe in London. This is a more structured way to offer individual social media specialists a space where they can collaborate, meet, learn, share, work. Lloyd first talked to me about it at last years podcampuk. Dave Briggs made the connection after the first Birmingham bloggers meeting. If I’ve missed your post on the evening please shout and I’ll update this one.

One enormous thank you to Jon and Jules for driving me in and out of town – especially for Jules for stying sober despite celebrating here first day in a new job.

So..what about a venue/ideal time for the next one? Suggestions?

4Talent – Social Media for the Creative Industries.

Gaping Void advertisingA while back Antonio Gould sat in my back bedroom and we talked about social media. He’d come round to record some ideas about podcasting for his fifth and apparently final Birmingham made Channel 4 media cast. It is a great listen. Antonio has a clear and enthusiastic delivery, well produced, with loads of very useful content.

The aim is to encourage creative businesses to use all forms of social media, but starting with basics like a blog or perhaps a podcast. I think the lessons apply equally to social enterprises and to local and community groups.
Mark McGuiness makes a compelling case for a realistic use of a blog. It’s like “networking on steroids”, he tells us before adds oddles of great advice and pointing us to copyblogger, one of my favourites gapingvoid of Hugh Mcleod’s Global Microbrand idea, and David Airey.

Emily Martin of Black Apple makes a great case study. Antonio met her when speaking in America about Etsy. She explains why her online home craft business (“I carry my original paintings and prints, and all sorts of curiosities”) benefits from the relationships established through blogging: “It’s not something that will be articulated in the business schools, but people get attached to you. It’s ephemeral and that’s why they like it”.
Indeed – the ephemeral is tricky to measure, but that doesn’t mean it has no value.

New Blog and Podcast for Brum and some help please – central wifi venue

It’s odd that one thing I haven’t written about recently is the Birmingham Bloggers Group (possibly re-framing itself as the social media group/cafe). Perhaps because I have so much to say about it I don’t know where to start – breaking the cardinal rule of blogging – which is to just start, stoopid.

We met for the first time last month and meet again next Monday 18th Feb.  First question (for help) is we would like a central venue with free wifi – Digbeth or City Centre – for probably about 15 people (maybe more) from 7 in the evening.  Booze and non booze on tap. Does the Friends of the Earth Cafe have wifi?

Also want to mention a couple of new things since the last meeting.   Mark Steadman should be joining us next week. He’s just launched the New Media Junkie podcast – find it here for the moment – new site to come soon. Mark is using podbean.com for hosting, a new one one me.  I host on my own space (a throw back to 2005 and misplaced ideas of being in control!) , but free hosting is plentiful and very usable.

Kevin Rapley has also created Digikev to write about social media.   Others new to me through the blogging group include Ben Neal,  The Boywonder bloggers,  and Paul Burns.

Well.  I’ve started.

Hear by Right – new website

Tim Davies tells us he’s off to the pub having just finished a substantial revamp of the Hear by Right website. Hear by Right sets out standards and principals designed to help organisations involve young people in what they do and how they do it.

The mapping tool looks promising as a means to encourage collaboration between organisations, although there seems be a bit of a gap where brum sits. It’s great to see Tim so closely involved because he is working methodically and intelligently to explore how social media will improve participation. With the site they aim to:

Create a space to share learning from the many 100s of authorities and organisations using Hear by Right to map and plan for change.
Curate and share some of the best resources to support the participation of young people in decision making Encourage organisations to be more open about the challenges and successes in engaging young people in decision making.
 Make clear the neccessary link between participation in decision making and real change for the lives of young people.

Our experience with podcasting as a tool to encourage conversations (and using the microphone as a tool which a lot of people find gives them a bit of extra power and confidence) is that we can relatively easily share skills and engendered huge amount of enthusiasm. However maintaining the momentum is the challenge – it needs to be planned for from the start.
Loads to learn and this site is a great place to start learning.
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