Social Media Takes Proactive Lead As Gustav Nears New Orleans

On the 3 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, social media guru's are leading the charge to ensure that volunteer notices, rescue efforts, evacuation notices and other relative sources are accessible via the internet.

Tools that have been widely used for promoting brands are now being used as main resources for keeping the public informed on the latest Gustav updates. Andy Carvin, out of Washington, D.C., developed a social network on Ning, http://gustav08.ning.com to disseminate vital details and organize a viral volunteer staff that will man the site. The site, less than 48 hours old already has over 400 members and a support staff spanning the country. On the site, readers will find storm tracking maps, live video, RSS feeds, traffic cameras, Craigslist volunteer posts, updates from news crews in New Orleans as well as Red Cross updates with contact information.


Here is a list of the other ways social media technology is being used to disseminate information:

- Twitter updates are being sent with the tweet tags, #Gustav
- RSS feeds and SMS services are being created to allow stranded people in the Gulf to send text updates
- Videos- News crews and video teams are uploading footage to YouTube, and Blip.tv
- Live chats and webcasts from camera crews and reporters are being broadcasts via U-stream
- Audio updates- Many are using services like Jott and Utterz to send audio updates that are being linked on Twitter
- Additional information site- a Wiki has been created called Gustav wiki, http://gustavwiki.com, which contains more important links and information.

An example of social media at work, Rick Sanchez, a CNN correspondent broadcasted live on CNN while reading Twitter, Facebook and Myspace messages on the air. One of his most recent Twitter messages said "Thanks for letting us know what you want, need and have, so far, its going great. What a remarkable tool, cable TV with Twitter."

A testiment to the power of Twitter combined with the reach of CNN, at 1:10 am, Rick Sanchez had about 5,100 followers. By 2:30 am, he had 5,676 followers.

#DNC08 Is All the Buzz on Twitter

In case you are following the Democratic National Convention, then you may want to get on Twitter. If you don't know what Twitter is, it has been described as a virtual water cooler for stimulating conversation online. Twitter allows you to send short messages to other Twitter users. It's one of the most popular social media groups out right now. To learn more about it click here.

If you know already know about Twitter and are interested in following other users that also share an interest in the Democratic National Convention, then you'll want to do a search to find more people with the same common interest. One way to do this is to go to http://search.twitter.com, this is a search feature offered by Twitter. Once you've gotten to the search page, you'll then want to put #DNC08 in the search bar. You'll see how many other people are interested in the convention as well as those that are there in Denver. It's a neat way to connect with new people.

I'm working with 7 bloggers, called the Denver 7, and all of their tweets (the messages that they send through Twitter) have #DNC08 somewhere in their messages. Try it for yourself, then come back to this site and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Oh and you can follow my tweets on @mediasocialite.

Did you get the text?

I have been so impressed with the innovative ways that the Barack Obama campaign has been able to engage supporters. A little over a week ago, it was announced that the first people to learn who Senator Obama's pick for Vice President would be sent via text or email. As a fan of all social media tools and strategies, I thought this was brilliant. I was discussing with a colleague exactly when the announcement would be made. It had been reported in the news that he would declare his decision before Saturday. My colleague predicted the text would come around 3 am after weighing the deadlines to make second run of press in the media. Since most media outlets put their final touches on news around 3:30/4:00 am, she said it will probably be around 3 am so he can make the 6 am news and 2nd editions of print newspapers for Saturday. And sure enough at 3:12 am ET, I received the text announcement. How awesome is that?

Chris Heuer- One of my Social Media Idols

About Me

Fast forward to college, I changed my discipline from broadcast news to broadcast production after having a few internships. The summer before graduation, I worked for the Olympics under the Atlanta Olympic Broadcasting Committee. By this time, I knew I preferred working behind the scenes. After graduation, I worked with a few labels and artists doing freelance PR. From there I went into Corporate America and worked in the Marketing and Advertising departments of a few pretty established companies. After about 5 years of working in Corporate America, I began yearning to work for myself. So I left my job to start my own boutique PR agency. If you are good with math and know what year the Olympics were in Atlanta, you should be able to figure out how recently I launched my firm.

Anyway, for all intensive purposes, this is where my social media story really begins. Since I was a teenager, I never really was too concerned with knowing the ends and outs of how computers or software worked. Even though both my Dad and my Stepfather were IT geniuses, the best they could do for me (back then) was provide software and fix my computer, which I seemed to crash on a annual basis. Then all of a sudden about 2 years ago (2006), I signed a young social media and internet marketing savant named Marco Hansell. He was only 21 but seemed to know an awful lot about where the internet and social media was heading.

At the time when I signed him, it was all I could do to try and keep up with his new discoveries. He kept talking about this thing called a widget and what you could do with it. Unfortunately for him, he had to talk to me like a 3 year old in order for me to comprehend. Signing Marco, was my first introduction to this new social media era. About a year and a half later, he referred me to a blogger who needed help creating a brand. This was in March of 2008. Now with one tech guru and one blogger added to my roster, I suddenly became fascinated with the entire landscape and how I could integrate my PR knowledge to create better service offerings for my clients.

So now, here we are. I am a twitter junkie, an internet addict, and a true social media socialite. Thank you for taking time to read about "lil ole me." I hope you find this blog entertaining, amusing, and informative.