Archive for Social Media
“How Web 2.0 tools help victims of Hatian quake”
Posted by: | CommentsAli Manouchehri (CEO, MetroStar Systems) and Sean McDonald (Director of New Media Business Development) were recently interviewed by Chris Dorobek and Amy Morrison of Federal News Radio’s “The Daily Debrief” (airs Monday – Friday 3-7pm). They were talking about MetroStar Systems’ current effort to support to our clients who have an operational presence in Haiti helping and providing aid after the recent earthquake that has caused a major humanitarian emergency. MetroStar Systems is offering pro bono services by monitoring, sorting and filtering information and communications coming in via social media networks and tools (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, blogs) about the Haiti earthquake and the people who need aid in order to provide useful and actionable information to the proper authorities.
Source: www.FederalNewsRadio.com
You can read the web article “How Web 2.0 tools help victims of Hatian quake” and listen to an MP3 of the interview to learn more about these efforts.
How can you help? A great benefit of technology and social media tools is that it makes it easier for us to help those in need. Here are some resources, links and information on how you can assist earthquake victims:
The following organizations are accepting SMS donations (U.S. only):
- SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
- SMS text “YELE” to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts
- SMS text “GIVE10″ to 20222 to donate $10 to Direct Relief
For more information and ways to donate, you can visit the websites of these organizations that are providing support and aid to the earthquake victims and international relief efforts:
- American Red Cross
- UNICEF USA
- Yele Haiti
- Doctors Without Borders
- Direct Relief International
- Ushahidi
Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and all of those who are helping with this humanitarian emergency.
Finally Liveblogging the Final BlogPotomac
Posted by: | CommentsWell folks, here it is. We are in the lovely State Theatre in Falls Church, VA, and BlogPotomac has officially started. Keep up with what’s going on here, and search the hashtag #blogpotomac on Twitter.
Our event emcees are Shonali Burke, Principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, and DC Hughes, Photojournalist/Multimedia Producer for Lemur News Images and Lemur News Audio.
Shonali Burke & DC Hughes
Shonali Burke & DC Hughes
Beth Kanter
Our first speaker is Beth Kanter, Scholar in Residence, The Packard Foundation. Beth’s first foray into social media included her own blog, and the Cambodia4Kids.Org blog.
Throughout her time in the field, Beth noted four themes in Social media:
- Working in a networked way
- Art of Network Weaving
- Transparency
- Creating a social culture in the organization (behind the firewall)
My favorite of those is network weaving! What is Network-weaving? It is working through a network in a way that makes every node within that network stronger by way of each other node. A sort of Rhizomatic growth, that is, growth where every bud within the organism receives nourishment from the other buds.
Key takeaways from her talk:
- We need to work within our network so it can spread and grow.
- We need to learn and play within transparency.
- We need to work with our clients and our organizations as change agents within the firewall.
- Management should become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
MetroStar to Liveblog Final BlogPotomac
Posted by: | CommentsThese three things I know to be true: Death is inevitable, the tax man will come, and MetroStar will eventually succumb to the liveblogging bug. Can you blame us? The call is from the very last BlogPotomac (ever!). Who are we not to pick up?
Yes, folks, this Friday, October 23rd marks the end of BlogPotomac. For those of you who may not have heard about the unconference, it is a staple of the DC Social Media scene. Organized by Geoff Livingston (@GeoffLiving) of CRT/tanaka and Livingston Communications, it is a gathering of social media rock stars to discuss and share their ideas on best practices and future outlook.
I had the benefit of being at the last BlogPotomac, and I still notice myself shaking my head in amazement every time I reflect on the experience. As my first real foray into liveblogging (see the post here), it was quite well received, convincing me of two things: (1) that I would definitely be attending the final one, and (2) I’ll have the laptop and air-card fired up and ready to liveblog again.
So, if you’re reading this close to when I’m publishing it, hurry, as there are still a handful of tickets left. If not, fear not! Just be sure to redirect your web browsers right here to SuperNova on the morning of Friday, October 23rd, the year two thousand and nine, (show starts at 8:45 AM) and keep on refreshing, as I will be giving you the up-to-the-(handful of)-minute(s) skinny on what’s being said, and who’s saying it.
In the meantime, check out http://www.blogpotomac.com/, follow @blogpotomac on Twitter, and set your Twitter searches to #blogpotomac. And meet me right back here on Friday.
MetroStar CEO interviewed by Federal Computer Week
Posted by: | CommentsMetroStar Systems‘ CEO Ali Manouchehri was recently interviewed by Doug Beizer of Federal Computer Week in an article titled “5 Reasons Why DOD Should Embrace Social Media (and 5 reasons why not)”
Source: http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/07/DOD-and-Web-2.aspx
The article lists 5 reasons why the Department of Defense (DOD) should embrace social media…
- Web 2.0 technology improves collaboration.
- It streamlines internal and external communications.
- It costs little or nothing to use.
- It has the potential to attract young recruits to DOD.
- It’s highly portable.
and 5 reasons why the DOD should not embrace social media…
- Sensitive information is on the public Internet.
- The tools can make it difficult to comply with federal regulations.
- The technology lacks standards.
- Sharing personal information can put employees at risk.
- The tools demand a lot of bandwidth.
Expanding on reason #4 of why the DOD should not embrace social media, Ali Manouchehri “suggests allowing employees to post to public sites such as Twitter and Facebook without some kind of parameters is dangerous. For example, a DOD employee could put himself and others at risk by tweeting about his day. ‘Adversaries with poor intent can target federal workers by knowing their routine through following them through a social-media outlet,’ Manouchehri said. ‘Protecting your privacy is certainly an aspect to take into account, and the risk can be detected, mitigated and deterred by following mission-oriented rules of engagement.’ ”
In the article, reporters Doug Beizer and Amber Corrin interview a broad range of government, university and industry experts to present both sides of the argument of why or why not the DOD should embrace social media. The article provides a great starting point for discussion since both sides of the argument have valid points. You can read the full article by visiting this link: http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/07/DOD-and-Web-2.aspx
X-Life Games presents the “Who Am I?” Poetry Contest
Posted by: | Comments
Today, X-Life Games launches the “Who Am I?” Poetry Contest. The contest encourages you to use poetry to describe yourself on a global level while sharing ideas of tolerance and respect for other cultures, societies, and environments around the world.
“X-Life Games has been such a fun and educational experience thus far for everybody involved, and we wanted to figure out a way to celebrate this success,” said Daniel Nguyen, Community Manager of X-Life Games. “By coordinating the Poetry Contest, we reward our fans with a challenge that yields fun and exciting prizes, as well as continues promoting cultural unification and understanding through the X-Life Games modules.”
Submissions for the contest will be accepted until midnight on Sunday October 4th. The VIP Judging panel, featuring MetroStar Systems executives and two professors from Georgetown University, will select finalists. Then there will be a public voting period beginning Tuesday, October 13 that will ultimately decide the winners.
Prizes:
- 1st Prize: Apple iTouch for 1st place winner & $1,000.00 USD donated on behalf of the winner to a charity of the winner’s choice*
- 2nd Prize: Apple iPod Nano for 2nd place winner & $500.00 USD donated on behalf of the winner to a charity of the winner’s choice*
- 3rd Prize: Apple iPod Shuffle for 3rd place winner & $250.00 USD donated on behalf of the winner to a charity of the winner’s choice*
*MetroStar Systems will provide a list of acceptable charities that the winners can select from to have the respective prize donation donated on the winner’s behalf
The contest will use Wildfire App’s Promotions application and will be hosted on the X-Life Games fanpage on Facebook. Please visit http://www.facebook.com/xlifegames.community for complete details, rules, and to enter the contest.
