“You mean, there’s a face-to-face side of this whole Twitter thing?” a colleague asked me recently.

Yes. If you like.

So why bother attending a Tweetup? Many moons ago (back in ’96 or so) I used to hop along to different new media meetups. In fact, at one point I even  found myself coordinating a few for artists wanting to learn more about new media. People swapped ideas and business cards while they discovered new ways to turn multimedia projects into something remarkable.

These days, Tweetups are another good way to swap ideas and business cards. But this time, you get to meet people you have already met…through Twitter. People from all walks of life. Business connections. Personal connections. And a chance to talk about social media and the things you would like to learn from/do business using/create art with new technologies.

These days I don’t get along to as many events as I used to. And while social networking helps to fill the gap between working part time, caring for my family and pursuing my passions, I still enjoy meeting and hearing what people have to say at these tweetups.

So, as someone who doesn’t make it along to every social media shindig, I was thankful for the number of people who supported a fundraising party for Epic Change at Tweetsgiving in Melbourne last November. Stacey Monk dreamed it up and Avi Kaplan coordinated events globally. Regular monthly evening tweetup TweetupMellers offered to host the event (hat tip Sam Mutimer), and weekly city tweetup Social Melbourne promoted it on their Facebook page (hat tip Kate Kendall).  Even Brent Masters from Change The World came along and took some videos of gratitude on the night, featuring @sammutimer, @drwarwick, @digitalkulcha, @howard61, @georgiawatson, @mattimck, @geehall1 and some girl who rants and rambles on a bit at the end.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn-8_xSHQnI]

After meeting so many locals using social media to make a difference, it only seems right to continue the conversation (and to swap more ideas, and more business cards.) Announcing…<drumroll>…. a Melbourne Netsquared local group for those of you wanting to talk about using social media for social good.  At this stage we are looking at a venue in the east as many interested parties find it difficult to get into the city. The first meetup/tweetup is planned for Tuesday April 13th and we already have a number of RSVPs.

You can join and read more about the Melbourne NetSquared meetup group. We will only be meeting every quarter, but to keep the momentum going you can attend a weekly eastern Tweetup #mescm at the same place and time which Patricia Dodd and David Warwick are starting up. Once we can find a suitable venue for coffee and breakfast around Blackburn-ish, with wifi that is.

There are Net Tuesday events all around the worldincluding Canberra and Sydney, thanks to Amy Sample Ward at NetSquared. Thanks Amy for making it so simple to get one started over here! I think it’s a great reason, with a purpose, to Tweetup.

While you might not be able to make every tweetup, you might discover some interesting people if you hop along to SocialMelb (Friday mornings, City) or TweetupMellers (monthly Thursday nights, Windsor) or #mescm (Tuesday mornings, eastern burbs TBD).

There are plenty of tweetups to choose around Australia and the world. You never know what creative projects you might dream up or join in as a result. Personally, meeting people from Twitter has helped me to raise funds for different nonprofits, given me speaking engagement opportunities and introduced me to some wonderful creative do-gooders and resources. It is “social” networking after all :)

What’s your experience? Have Tweetups been useful for you?

It’s not always easy to get along to every social media breakfast, tweetup, and conference. Social networks have given me the opportunity to connect with  colleagues and like-minded friends around the world. Sure, I’d love to get along to more events so that I can meet more people face to face, join in the conversation and build relationships. But as a part time working mum with three little guys it’s almost impossible. There are school drop offs to be made. Homework to be done. Babysitters to be found. And there’s family time on the weekend that I cherish, even though a Saturday conference about innovation and the interwebs sounds mighty appealing.

So, why do I think it’s still important to develop those online friendships in a face to face environment? Debra Askanase summed it up nicely in a recent post “Front Yard and Back Yard Conversations”.

“…for every front yard, there is a back yard. And the back yard is where relationships are made.”…”social media builds relationships, and that relationships build brands and organizations. (Which is why we talk about how the number of followers doesn’t matter, but Dunbar’s number does.)  A related post on this subject is Beth Kanter’s post on measuring impact, not influence and social influence reach versus affinity. Backyard conversations build relationships. After all, the best ideas do happen over a good meal and (sometimes) a few beers out on the back deck.”

Every now and then I manage to meet some business friends from Twitter over coffee in the city, at a work event, an evening tweet-up or at the rare conference. Those face to face meetings have been a great way to develop friendships which have even resulted in invitations to speak, business opportunities and national connections helping out to raise funds for microfinance and a school in Tanzania. Our initial introductions through social media meant connecting face to face was effortless, and this has led to friendships and opportunities to do good work together.

So when you are trying to balance work and family, how do you prioritise which face to face event is right for you?

1. Choose the most valuable event for your purpose. There are many conferences and seminars that seem interesting and informative and personally, I love any opportunity to learn. But in selecting an event you need to consider a few other things. What is the relevance to your job and to the things you hope to achieve? Will you have an opportunity to connect with people you already know through Twitter or your blog? What is one thing you can take away from the event and apply to the things you are doing?
2. Give yourself a break. There is ALWAYS something else to do. Email to read. Clothes to sort. Forms from school to fill in. Many working parents I know are so busy working and  looking after their family that they don’t think about themselves. I bet you can make every excuse not to attend an event because there are so many things to be done. If there is something you are really keen to go to, book it in! Get help from your partner. Book that babysitter. Offload some ironing. You might even come back refreshed an energised by the conversations and ideas :)
3. Value your online social network. You can develop friendships and achieve great things through social networks. Social media is an excellent way to learn about people, exchange ideas and make a difference.  You can join in their conversations on Twitter, comment on their blog posts and even talk on Skype or participate in a virtual video event or webinar. Are you also making it easy for people to get to know you and the things you are interested in, through your own blog posts, slideshare presentations or photos? Of course it’s always great to meet someone face to face, but if you are purposeful in the way you use social media, you can also be effective.

How about you? How do you prioritise face to face networking amongst the demands of being a working parent?

Different Organisations Solve a Business Case Study at the Nancy White Online Communities Workshop, Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne.

Social Media makes it so easy for people around the world to make a difference. People like me, a part time working mum. And people just like you. Physical barriers are removed and social networks kick in for good causes.

Over the next two days I’ll be enjoying Tweetsgiving with thousands of people around the world and you can too. It begins 24th Nov 12 noon EST (that’s very early Melbourne time) and runs for 2 days. I saw @MamaLucy share some of the heartwarming stories from a school in Tanzania reaping the rewards of last year’s fundraiser.  There was a beautiful sense of community spirit behind the work of Epic Change and plenty of excitement about this year’s Tweetsgiving.

Tweetsgiving Ustream crowd cheers on Mama Lucy

This year the organisers are asking everyone to share thanks and gratitude over the next 48hours on Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and any space you can find on the web!! Find out more on their website. You can even help by  simply adding a Turkey to your Avatar!

It’s an opportunity to thank people you know, and reflect on things you’re truly grateful for. As @meshugavi said earlier today, bring your heart, put yourself out there,  be vulnerable.  It’s kind of refreshing, don’t you think?

If you’re in Melbourne you can also come along to an event on Thurs 26th from 7.30pm, thanks to some amazing people (thank you thank you thank you people because I couldn’t have organised a Melbourne event  in-between work and cooking for three hungry boys!) Major hat tip and bow to@sammutimer @lukegrange @celiaprosser @ttam and @mr_billiam for getting this party started!

Events in Canberra and Sydney are also planned and plenty of others all around the world.

RSVP for Melbourne and let people know you are coming: http://tweetupmellers.info/attendance/and you can also be in the running for a door prize:

• A thanksgiving TURKEY (plucked and prepped in the form of a $100 ColesOnline Voucher) up for grabs as our door prize on the night, thanks to @colesonline!
• A $100 Reward Yourself Card from Incentive House http://rewardyourself.com.au/ which you can spend at a leading retailer in Melbourne including Freedom, Dymocks or Sanity (read more http://bit.ly/163Mo9)
• A $100 consultation with Day to Day Lifestyle PA

Brent Masters is planning to be there, and with a little assistance from @marigo will be taking some short videos of people talking about Gratitude to put up onYouTube. Tweetsgiving also have a number of other Gratitude party ideas for the night if you want to help out!

It amazes me to think these events just happened as tweets were sent around the world. I’m so grateful for generous people! How will you celebrate Tweetsgiving?

A couple of years ago Andy “social bridgebuilder” Piper introduced me to Matt “collaboration seeker” Moore on Twitter. Since then I’ve also met Matt a couple of times on his visits to Melbourne and recently sent him a note about some upcoming  workshops he is organising with Nancy “community champion” White. Matt answered my questions about these events around Australia and now I can share them with you!

“Nancy & I met first online when we did a podcast around “blended communities” with Ed Mitchell (from the UK) and then F2F in Seattle last year.” Matt has seen the need for a workshop focusing on online communities emerge as the topic surfaced in many different areas over the last 12 months,  including learning, marketing and government.

Nancy White recently finished a book with Etienne Wenger & John D Smith called “Digital Habitats. Matt explains that  people attending the workshops can expect “practical tools to help them with online community management, based on many collective decades of experience from Nancy, Etienne, John & others. They’ll get a workshop session that will practice what it preaches in terms of interactivity & blended technology use. And finally, well, Nancy is a live wire – there will not be one dull moment (promise). ” (I believe you Matt, Nancy is on my “must meet in real life” list, especially after her inspiring contribution to WorldShapers pp 41-43)

Nancy White also shared what she hopes people will get out of the workshops. ” I’ll offer some of the frameworks we developed in the book – which have particular application I believe for work based groups, communities of practice and virtual teams.”

“I’d also like to put on the table some of the emerging distinctions between online group facilitation and something that, for lack of a better word, I’d describe as network facilitation, which in fact is new and emerging.”

If you’re interested in attending one of Nancy White’s workshops in Australia this November, check out the time and dates over on Innotecture’s blog. As somone who has experienced both the positive and more challenging aspects of participating in and moderating  online communities,  I’m really looking forward to joining in with her Melbourne workshop!

Just because I thought you might like to join in this study, which has been extended to November 5th 2009  concludes October 25th, please take a peek…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THHvcZO59Fs]

In their own words (from the delightful @celiaprosser and @lukegrange) :

“Knowledge Solutions together with its research partner, The Australian Brain Sciences Institute at Swinburne University are conducting a groundbreaking study. We want to look at the link between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and effective communication using Online Social Media tools such as Twitter and Yammer.

This is an international study so join in. Become a fan on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ydeuno7 or take a look in more detail at the project at http://tinyurl.com/yzgxyws

We have focussed on effective communication in the concept of microblogging [eg Twitter] as this is the closest form to flow of conscious thought”….”there has not been a tool that has connected so many people so rapidly in the history of communication. Microblogging has also been recognized as being as the most emerging trend for use in business.

The Study: What we want to discover is whether there is a correlation between Social Media usage and skills in Emotional Intelligence and therefore how this affects our behaviour online. We know that EI can be defined as a set of skills which demonstrates how often we perceive, understand, reason with, and manage our own and others’ feelings, emotions and mood states and that this can transform entire companies when applied to all levels and roles. It can also be used to improve individual business functions such as leadership, accountability, sales, and customer service.

What we don’t know, however, is how this links to effective communication online and because there is such an astronomical move to more and more business being done through Twitter we want to know what this means for our ability to communicate and do business – as humans! We are reaching out to you to join us in making the Web more human!

If you create an account on the Knowledge Solutions site ( http://tinyurl.com/yahyt7f ) you will automatically be part of the survey and until the 5th of November be given access to edit the Wiki to help steer it in the right direction.”

I saw this photo appear in a colleague’s Flickr stream. He took this pic of a chalk emblazoned footpath (sidewalk) in Chicago.

It captured my attention because it’s:

anonymous

organic

free

original

expressive

It reminded me of this

It’s:

fun

enjoyed by others

innovative

simple

creative

Now if we could just grab hold of that and apply it more often to the way we use social media.

Do you draw outside the lines? Think of the possibilities :)

Always late to the party, I just found Bench Monday. Looks like a fun Flickr group challenge! (note to self: need new shoes)

by neon.mamacita

by jek in the box

by leedav

from Jesshibb

There are some fun pics in the group Flickr pool. You should take a look-see.

Here’s a list of some ways you can begin to explore social media-  or 13 tips for getting your social media mojo back :)

A bit of  background: In my last post I wrote about Keri Smith’s book “How To Be An Explorer Of The World.”  I also suggested you read some of her tips and consider how they might also apply to your conversations, even those on Twitter. This is my attempt at providing some tips (based on Keri Smith’s list) on looking beyond the tools and discovering the amazing conversations, people and their ideas through social media.

1. Always be looking. (Notice the ground beneath your feet.)
Don’t just broadcast or consume information.  Pause and notice the things people are saying around you and take time to nurture relationships. There are some wonderful people out there.

2. Consider everything alive and animate.
Notice the many ways your connections express themselves. Enjoy being part of living, breathing and sometimes even abstract conversations. Animate your own conversations, blog posts and tweets through photos, music and video.

Image by Simon Lee

3. Everything is interesting. Look closer.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfBlUQguvyw]

4. Alter your course often.
In a recent post about the need to connect with all kinds of people, Stacey Monk from Epic Change wrote how societal change is“created by musicians, politicians, journalists, technologists and so many others”. Michele Martin has written some interesting thoughts about cultural connections and online homophily. Do you alter your course to discover and explore new conversations?

5. Observe for long durations (and short ones).
You can learn a lot, just by listening. Which conversations really grab you, inspire and motivate you?

6. Notice the stories going on around you.
Be amazed by the stories around you. Practice childlike fascination. If you pay attention you’ll notice some wonderful stories going on around you.

7. Notice patterns. Make connections.
Explore individual conversations, and notice patterns. Incredible things can happen when a group of people connect the dots.

8. Document your findings (field notes) in a variety of ways.
Take your observations one step further by interacting (commenting), sharing (eg a tweet or shared bookmark) or write a blog post to capture and explore those moments of inspiration.

9. Incorporate indeterminacy.
Keri Smith explains this concept in an interview with About Creativity. When you use social media, be ready to let your ideas take on a life of their own. Other people will interpret your idea in new ways, drawing upon different influences to express themselves. Embrace the unseen and prepare for the unexpected. Join in a collaborative creative blogging project or group Flickr challenge.

10. Observe movement.
Social media perpetuates a moving, creative dialogue. A song, leads to a mashup, leads to another mashup. Interpretation becomes open and serendipitous.

11. Create a personal dialogue with your environment. Talk to it.
Interact. Engage. Explore. Share your ideas. Be brave.

Image by FD

12. Trace things back to their origins.
If you appreciate a photo in a blog post, go to the original Flickr image, see if the creator has a blog, or a Twitter account where you can connect with them. Share your appreciation.  If you enjoy a quote, find the original source. If you’re inspired by a mashup, search for others.

13. Use all of the senses in your investigations.

• Look (at imagery, fonts, avatars, white space).
• Listen (to a tone of voice, a concept, a podcast).
• Touch (interact – online and  face to face through conferences, Tweetups or even just for coffee!)
• Taste (savour the moment, take time to pay attention and notice the details).
• Smell (distinguish different approaches).

I’d be interested to hear what you think. How do you explore social media?

Twitip kindly accepted my guest post about the benefits of using Twitter for fundraising. I shaed a couple of tips based on the last several months raising funds for Opportunity International Australia- which ends in just a few hours! Over $7,000 was raised for a program to help women out of poverty through small business loans and a 2 year development program.

From the post “Raising funds on Twitter isn’t just about getting money for your charity. It’s about connecting with people, creating awareness and it’s about giving.” …you can read the rest on Twitip.

I couldn’t resist. I created a second set of slides for the Fuze Tell A Story Contest. Enjoy this simple A – Z story about using social media for a fundraising campaign :)

[slideshare id=1608779&doc=alphabetstories-090619090008-phpapp02]

Feel free to vote too! Any prize money will be donated to Opportunity International

Fuze Tell A Story Contest