Tag Archive for 'issues'

Is it really about gender?

Published in issues. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Christine Egger pointed me to a very thought-provoking post today that I want to stop and noodle on a bit with you.

Venessa Miemis discusses “How to be a Woman in a Man’s World” – picking up initially on a recent post from Clay Shirky, titled “A Rant About Women.”  Shirky’s post, or rant, claims women “aren’t just bad at behaving like arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks. They are bad at behaving like self-promoting narcissists, anti-social obsessives, or pompous blowhards, even a little bit, even temporarily, even when it would be in their best interests to do so.”  Some of this sentiment has been shared before in the blogosphere, especially in the conversations (debates?) about the lack of women on the presenting line up at conferences or other high-profile settings (especially in the tech sector).

In response to the comment danah boyd left on Clay’s post, Venessa poses the question: “What are the expectations for women (or what should they be) as we progress into an increasingly interdependent global society?”

Venessa ends her post with this great passage:

I think we’re seeing a shift in the values we find commendable in society, and it’s not about men or women being better. It’s about being co-designers of a healthy, equitable society. It’s about keeping an eye on the big picture, and trying to live up to a standard that’s captures the essence of what it means to be human. And I don’t think that’s going to be accomplished through acting like anti-social obsessives or pompous blowhards. It’s going to be through empathy, altruism, and collaboration.

You can read the full post, How to be a Woman in a Man’s World, here.

My comment to Venessa:

Hi Venessa -

I have been blogging for a few years (professionally – personal blogs for many years) and have reached enough people that I do feel I have a community of readers, though no where near your 30,000.  When I tried to contact Clay I received a response within the hour.  But unlike any of your methods, I emailed him.  I have never gotten a response from him on Twitter or elsewhere. And reading your introduction about your trials of making contact despite all your other accomplishments and accolades juxtaposed with mine, made me think:

Maybe I simply went where he was, or where he was comfortable, or where he wanted to connect.

As I read the rest of your post (incredibly thought-provoking!), I started to think about how my reaction to the first part, actually came back to me over and over again.

Maybe it’s because I’m a “Millennial” and we have as a generation rethought or redesigned so many aspects of public and “private” identity, but I think less about if the person I am trying to connect with, the community I am trying to serve (I work in the nonprofit sector), or the audience I’m trying to reach is a man or a woman, or if they are arrogant or shy.  I ask myself where do they want to go? How do they want me to connect with them?

This could very easily turn into a post of its own and maybe I’ll write something up – but, mostly, thank you for continuing to explore in this public place and inviting us to explore with you.

I know that my focus probably starts to wander from where Venessa originally intended the meat of her post to focus, but I’m curious what you think.

Is it really about gender?

Or is it about place, process, voice, or something else?  Looking forward to your ideas!

Published on January 22, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 4 Comments

New on SSIR: First and Foremost Know Your Community

Published in issues and otherblogs. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

My newest post is now up on the Stanford Social Innovation Review.  You can read the post and participation in the conversation on the SSIR blog here!

The piece is reposted below:

Have we replicated our offline social dynamics and barriers online? I believe we have, and so does Danah Boyd.  As profiled in the New York Observer, Danah talked to the data uncovered in her four years of research on new media use in a presentation at the Personal Democracy Forum.  If we truly are reproducing our offline social divides online, then it’s further proof that the central part of your social media strategy needs to be focused on your audience.

“MySpace has become the ghetto of the digital landscape,” Ms. Boyd explained to the crowd. And many of us in these social environments, she said, “have gotten into the habit of crossing the street like we always do to avoid the riff-raff.” – NYO

You’ve probably heard of Facebook; you may even have set up a group or a fan page there for your organization.  But did you do that because you heard of Facebook in the news, or from a friend? Did you choose Facebook because you evaluated your existing community as well as the audience you wanted to bring into your community, and they were already using Facebook?  Did you consider MySpace? or Orkut? or Bebo? Maybe you’ve never heard of those platforms, but for some large demographics they are the hot spots online, not Facebook.

Let’s step back a minute and consider why a nonprofit or social benefit group wants to include social networking as part of a social media strategy.  Why would your organization want to have a presence on a social network?

  • Go where the community already is!  Don’t expect the community to come to you, or even find you, online. Instead, go where they have already set up shop.
  • Make your calls to action part of the routine!  Creating calls to action that match the community and can be accomplished, or promoted, in the same space will increase the overall participation you can garner.
  • Join the community!  Don’t just come to the party and start asking questions or push calls to action; instead, actually join the community, answer questions, share links or information (even ones that aren’t related to your work but you may just know!), and be a genuine part of the ecosystem.

“The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to all of us,” she said. “It should scare the hell out of us.” – NYO

Choosing the platform or platforms to concentrate your efforts online is crucial.  You may hear about Facebook, but if your audience is on MySpace, it doesn’t matter how much time and energy you put in.  They won’t be there to find you.  When evaluating your community, some of the most influential items to consider regarding social networks include:

  • Age: Facebook users can skew older than MySpace; many organizations in the UK have had great success joining the ecosystem on Bebo to extend the opportunity for teens to reach out for social services in a private way.
  • Actions: What kinds of “actions” do you want your community members to be able to do? Each platform offer unique functionality and it may not match what your community members want to do with/for you.
  • Data: Is your work reliant on certain data (whether for eligibility, age, etc.) that you will need validate, or at least advertise? Each platform displays profile information in different ways and you will need to check your settings and profile customization to ensure you are disclosing what you need, and offering opportunities to connect outside of the public messages.
  • Goals: What are your goals for the inclusion of social networking in your social media strategy?  Be sure you don’t get caught up only on functionality that’s new and cool; remember why you’re there.

Danah’s research shines a bright light on an issue many activists and organizations have been concerned about ever since the media hype around Facebook VS MySpace rose as a loud voice in the conversation about social media use.  The issues our social service agencies and social benefit organizations are dealing with offline, in local communities, are showing up online.  It’s imperative that we recognize the social divides permeating online social networks and carefully consider how we craft our online strategies to truly reach and serve our communities.

What do you think? Has your organization had experience reaching your core constituents in an online social network? How did you identify the best place to concentrate your efforts?  What lessons have you learned?

You can download Danah’s dissertation here.

Published on July 1, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 3 Comments

Comeback Lines to Social Media Objectors

Published in issues and otherblogs. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Debra Askanase has turned a recent experience dealing with many social media obvjections into a list to help you nail your comeback lines for any objectors in your organization or office.  She even crowdsourced some of the responses via Twitter – a fun way to get a bit more brain power out of the process of blogging!  She deals with these five questions:

  1. It’s not safe! What about the BU Craigslist killer?
  2. What if our biggest rival pretends to be us online?
  3. Social media means a lot of work and we don’t have the staff time to do that.
  4. There is no place in our organization for social media.
  5. People will attack us online with negative critique.

Read the answers to those questions and more of the story on Debra’s blog here.

And remember… the best comeback line is the truth, and the truth is that if you aren’t online, joining the conversation with your community members, supporters, and doubters, and engaging with the larger sector, then it doesn’t matter how great you think your branding is or how much you know your audience, because there is a quickly moving and building conversation about your work and your sector happening without you.  The only form of control you have over your message and your organization is to join the conversation that’s already happening.  Really.

Published on June 14, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

What’s the cost of “following” on Twitter?

Published in issues and roi. 11 Comments Tags: , , .

Deborah Elizabeth Finn just posed a terrific question:

This is a question for nonprofit organizations that use Twitter for outreach, fundraising, and advocacy campaigns:  do you factor your organization’s Twitter follow cost into your campaign strategy? Also, do you consider the follow cost before you start following another tweeter?

She raises a ton of issues and ideas for me and I wish I could launch into all of them right now!  Some of them include:

  • Calculating cost (read: time) of maintaining conversations on Twitter
  • How to leverage aggregation tools for listening so you don’t have to “listen” or read every Tweet that comes through
  • Balancing your stream (both in content and frequency) so that your “cost” isn’t too high

And the list goes on.  I’d love to hear what you think about the cost or burden or even reward of following more and more people on Twitter.  What do you think?

Published on April 7, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 11 Comments