Limited Audience

The biggest challenge to using social media to push information to the public is that not everybody is on facebook, twitter, myspace, or whatever network you choose. There are some people who live long productive lives without bothering with social networks. There are a bunch more who check their networks on occasion rather than daily. The vast majority are simply on a different network. You can’t reach that many people.

Access During a Disaster

Modern living is highly dependent on electricity. In the event of a destructive hurricane, earthquake, or other event that knocks out power indefinitely, it is likely that many people will be unable to receive disaster updates. After all, batteries don’t last forever. Even if you have a laptop you can plug into your vehicle for power, how will you get Internet when power is out? Theoretically, if you are in a disaster area, you are the most in need of information rather than people safely outside the area, right?

Limited Sphere of Influence

Not everybody has a million friends on social media. Plenty of people are content to have a few dozen friends. Even then, it’s just a few dozen friends, which may not include the Press.

How Social Media Can Help In Disasters

Social media is most useful when people rebroadcast updates to their own circles of friends prior to a disaster. Obviously, this only works when you know a disaster is coming, like a hurricane or giant meteor. This way, people are able to inform their friends and family with the latest. Let’s repeat that it does not reach everybody; but, you can always use the telephone too.

Another way that social media can help with a disaster is by organizing aid to the affected area afterwards. There is limited use for social media for people at the scene. Recovery efforts require manpower and resources, neither of which travels through the Internet. However, those organizing a response are able to connect and make things happen to bring both to the affected area.

That brings me to the final thought on the use of social media. It is all good and well that you want to raise awareness. Sadly, today’s populace wants to be told what to do and how to do it. We are slowly evolving to a nanny state where we look to others for direction. Awareness is not good enough. Your social media message should include instructions. Ask people to donate. Instruct people to evacuate. Let people know that you have space at your shelter. Tell people to stock up on supplies. Social media falls short in that it typically consists of “raising awareness”. Put some action items in your social media campaign. Don’t forget to instruct your audience to share that knowledge and instructions with their neighbors. Like political campaigns, disaster preparation and response depends highly on fieldwork. Connect and mobilize.

Topics covered: ADHD, Texas, politics, Governor’s Mansion, arson, ideas, banking, mortgage, refinancing, Spurs

Next show: Evening With Friends 4/27/2010

The short answer is that Google Buzz came out. That is the best I can do. Lately, my attention has been focused on Google Buzz, which serves as both a status update and a blog of sorts. It seems redundant to write a post there and then another post here on my blog.

The major difference is that I can post to Buzz from my Android phone much easier than I can post here through the same. For some reason, my WordPress installation will not accept xmlrpc of any sort, rendering mobile posts impossible. Even third-party websites like Posterous can’t dump stuff here.

Posting content from my phone seems to be the easiest thing to do for now. It’s murder for my battery, though.

So, given that I have to be at a computer to post to this blog, it just isn’t happening with my current work load.

THEREFORE,

to keep up with the latest, you are better off following me on my Google Buzz page. My blog posts should be re-posted there too.

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This is what you would see on my public Evernote notebook.

Here is a screenshot of my original digital ink note written on the Evernote application.

You will notice that there are some differences between what you see and what I see. This does not make digital ink a bad idea; simply, your writing has to be that much neater to compensate for the differences.

This return to handwriting for me is a short experiment. I often wondered if blog scrapers would go so far as to take posts entirely written in an image and try to represent them as their own. Also, do blog readers really care if my blog post is typed or written? Presumably, it’s the content that matters rather than the style, right?

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Woody Allen is quoted as saying that 80 percent of success is just showing up. In my experience, this has proven true in real life. This also proves true on the web. Too often, business owners neglect showing up on the web at all. Many who do make an effort to get on the web, only make a half-hearted effort, the equivalent of being a wallflower at a dance.

In life, you will find that there are conferences, mixers, luncheons, prayer groups, clubs, and all manner of social gatherings. Some are just for fun; others are jobs. Human beings are extremely social creatures. We notice things, like when you show up at events or do not. We notice the kind of person you are when you do show up. We notice what doesn’t happen when you do not show up.

If you have anything of value to offer in this world by your presence, it will become apparent when you show up. If you are a great motivator, others will notice when you are there to cheer the group on in their effort. If you are a great organizer, others will notice when everything runs smoothly thanks to your hard work. If, however, you don’t show up to things, then others can’t vouch for you.

If anything, one of the more valuable possessions we have in life are our reputations. We can only create a reputation for good things by being present. If we are absent, that is our only reputation. So, by showing up and being a part of what is going on, you help build your reputation.

This applies equally to your online presence. If you actively engage the online community, you will find that you can develop great friendships. However, if you are completely absent online, you’ll get the online equivalent of “I’m sorry, who are you?”

Make it a practice to go out and be around others for whom you can make a difference. Otherwise, they will never know you existed; and how can you be a success without their support? Go out and be seen.

Tonight I got to talk about web presence with some social media friends over dinner. We have all had experiences with clients who want a website or a social media presence; but they do not want to spend any time building it. By this, I don’t mean the technical parts; those can be outsourced. I mean, they do not want to spend any time building content for their web presence. They want to hire out the blogging, photography, social media interaction, and other aspects that require some inside knowledge of their business.

The first thing that is wrong with this scenario is that only somebody who is aware of the ins and outs of your business should be at the helm of your social media presence. Having a website is time consuming. One generally recommends that you spend time updating the site often with new content. Having a brochure website that simply lists basic information only will not cut it. It’s like opening another branch office in another town with a brochure rack inside.

The alternative is to at least put somebody on the task of fielding messages from the website. Open up that branch and at the minimum put a receptionist at that office. If you want a little bit better return on your branch investment, then put somebody at that branch that can handle communications and maybe even make a few sales.

The situation reminds me of a part in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, where the author relates that landscapers often get requests from people to create gardens that don’t require maintenance. Of course, the answer is “if there is no gardener, there is no garden.” Same with a website; if there is no content creator, there is no benefit to your website.

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I completely forgot to write a blog post yesterday for the 100 posts in 100 days challenge. Technically, I didn’t miss it. When you add it all up, I’ll probably have closer to 500 blog posts by the time the 100 days after January 1, 2010 are over. Currently, I am blogging here on this site. There are also some other blogging sites I have set up where I post material, listed below:

RGV Life
MissionTexas.net
ShaineMata.com
ValleyCentral.com

Some, I update more frequently than others. However, in the spirit of the challenge, I will consider this the blog that is facing the challenge. So, consider this a makeup post for yesterday. There will be another later today.

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When it comes to blogging, a similar approach can help. If you are writer blocked, you should probably go out and do something. Either your activity will form the basis of your writing, or it will jog a memory of a similar experience or idea that you had in the past, which you can write.

What you do is up to you. It can be something new; or it can be something you have done 1000 times. Even if something is not new, you may notice some nuance that you can use as the basis for your blog post. Again, do something. You’ll be surprised how ideas pop out of the strangest places.