Potpourri

Social media tools have helped in following crisis (Iran) in the follow-up to crisis (Haiti earthquake), this article shows how to use social media before a crisis/disaster

Social media tools making it easy to find your way around SXSW

Social media as an real alternative news source

Presents a few possibilities to use foursquare for advocacy

Social media helping enterprises make better decisions and boost productivity

An excellent analysis on how to manage the twitter backchannel conversations during your presentations. The need to manage the backchannel shows that this become a significant aspect on how presentations/meetings/conferences are conducted.

Social media at the oscars!

Another example of social media permeating into how we perform essential tasks

"Before Web 2.0 took over the world, people were part of smaller online participatory communities called listservs. Remember them? Though not as sexy as Twitter, people are still active on listservs and they continue to be valuable tools for nonprofits and community groups to connect with people who are passionate about discussing issues, sharing resources, and engaging in thoughtful and sometimes heated debates. Yet even after all these years, many organizations still haven’t mastered how to use listservs in building successful and engaging online communities."

"FOR A WESTERNER, what is most striking is how different Chinese Internet culture is from our own. News sites and individual blogs aren’t nearly as influential in China, and social networking hasn’t really taken off. What remain most vital are the largely anonymous online forums, where human-flesh searches begin. These forums have evolved into public spaces that are much more participatory, dynamic, populist and perhaps even democratic than anything on the English-language Internet. In the 1980s in the United States, before widespread use of the Internet, B.B.S. stood for bulletin-board system, a collection of posts and replies accessed by dial-up or hard-wired users. Though B.B.S.’s of this original form were popular in China in the early ’90s, before the Web arrived, Chinese now use “B.B.S.” to describe any kind of online forum. Chinese go to B.B.S.’s to find broad-based communities and exchange information about everything from politics to romance. "

Social media playing a major role in sharing information and collecting donations in the wake of Chile Earthquake.

Together with google buzz, shows social media migration onto email.

A social media milestone

"The World's first Real-Time Radio Station.
A million DJ's choosing what song plays next.
Streaming live now on MySpace, Android and iPhone."

"A few quick highlights to whet your interest:

Generally, respondents felt social media channels were effective for enhancing relations with an existing audience and reaching out to new supporters, but considerably less so for raising money.
Twitter was in the top three channels for every goal, and was considered the most-effective channel for reaching potential new supporters.
Although Facebook was the most widely used tool by a considerable margin, and the one that those not yet using were most likely to start, it was seen as the most-effective only in terms of raising money-and then, only by a small margin.
MySpace was not widely used, and ranked lowest for each of the three goals. LinkedIn was considered comparatively effective for fundraising, but lagged behind everything but MySpace for the other goals."

This post on the crazy new math of the modern era drives me crazy.

Just like I don't believe in heroes, I don't believe in genius. I believe in community.

The long tail is everywhere, even poetry. The age of the elite creator is replaced by your neighbor the poet/journalist/insert-craft-here. Is there really a problem with anyone being able to write a poem? Soon, with 3-D printing, it won't just be "media" that anyone can create. Soon it will be anything - shoes, mobile phones, vehicles. (Think I'm crazy? Read this and this and this.) And then, once anyone can create anything, brands and elite notions of excellence will be obsolete. It will all come down to relationship -- to my neighbor (physical or digital) and my neighbor's work. We will really dwell in our communities -- be they geographical or otherwise. Personal relationships will matter -- and not much else. It's a beautiful chaotic day that is arriving / has arrived. Instead of lamenting the death of something ("The loss would be incalculable"), celebrate the creation of a radical new way of organizing the world. Burn the money, and the press used to print it. This is something completely different.

It was great to welcome the Orton Family Foundation to EchoDitto recently. The Orton Family Foundation helps small cities and towns adopt land-use planning that engages a broad base of local citizens in order to maintain the ‘heart and soul’ of those communities.

Having spent several years coordinating meetings and conferences, I learned that you could significantly alter the way attendees interacted through minor tweaks to the design setup. I recall many instances where the simple act of moving a chair could either encourage group conversations, or shut it off altogether.

Over the years, I have noticed how a similar dynamic is at play through the design of our built environment - determining whether people would likely drive or walk, which side of the street they would walk on, and who they were likely meet along the way. This is very exciting and shows the ways in which creative land-use design can be used in building communities.

As people have adopted social media technologies, it has been fascinating to watch as these technologies transformed the way conferences run. Twitter hash tags allow for greater participation and collaboration. Webcasts, video sharing, picture sharing and slide sharing allow for easy, often instantaneous transmission beyond the conference room. This technology has made it so much easier to find, participate in and contribute to conferences of interest. I am excited to see these technologies harnessed to produce similar results in community planning.

An example of social media in the classroom.