The Social Media News Release: Thinking About how we Communicate

I was very inspired by a recent blog post by Steph Gray, Head of Social Media & Stakeholder Engagement at DIUS about how government organisations should be moving away from the ‘old fashioned’ press release, in favour of Social Media News Releases.  

Steph argues that the old fashioned press release with its ’stilted’ quotations isn’t really trusted by journalists, and is no longer relevant to today’s multimedia format of broadcast. A Social Media News Release is more accessible for bloggers and ‘citizen journalists’.

But as someone who works for an organisation which relies on (and has embraced) social media as a way of communicating with our various audiences, this post really gave me some food for thought. And also highlighted the areas where I had been going wrong with some of our communication.

We communicate to a cross sector of different people everyday from young people to people from business, government, and community groups, and with individuals and organisations using different communication tools such as facebook, twitter, myspace, direct email etc etc.   

We use social media to share information because it is cheap, its direct, its inclusive and because it works (there’s a great example of some people invited to speak with a government department as a result of posting an idea on the network). There is also something wonderful about seeing conversations develop in full view, for example Twitter conversations, and the developing of ideas on the Chain Reaction network.

Its obvious really – including embeddable video and images, adding social bookmarking buttons “…to help users to spread the word”, and listing the relevant tags / hashtags in news releases makes perfect sense. So why hadn’t I been doing it?

Why did the Chain Reaction press page feature the basic contact information and links to past press releases? (The only innovative thing about the press releases themselves are the fact that they had clickable links…)

And generally speaking, we as an organisation have better relationships with bloggers (you know who you are), and trade press than we do with national press – and so in hindsight, it’s madness that I hadn’t been making life easier for the people who tell our story so well.

But, this post is about something that inspired me rather than an exercise in self flagellation, so what have I done as a result of reading Steph’s article?

Well, firstly, I have since renamed the ‘press page’ as ‘Media Resources’ – it just makes more sense.

And secondly, I have updated the page itself to include links to all of our other resources online – including facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr, FriendFeed – and practical information for bloggers such as the tags used by us on our blogs and twitter, how to get your hand on high resolution photos, and where to find embeddable photos and video. And of course, I’ve still kept the links to old press releases with clickable links!

There is a little work to do as well to tailor our future news releases to make them relevant and accessible.  It would be useful to hear from other organisations who have already embraced the idea of the ‘Social Media News Release’, and who would like to share what works and what doesn’t. 

It would also be great to hear directly from bloggers or journalists or other communicators to find out you want from a news release.  What works for you?  What information would be most useful for you?

Read the full article by Steph Gray here >>>

Check out our Media Resources page here >>>

Volunteering with Chain Reaction

Apart from one (and a half!) full time members of staff, Chain Reaction is staffed entirely by volunteers, the majority of which are students and young people. 

Caroline Middlecote of Accenture tells us about her experience of volunteering with Chain Reaction in 2008.

 

Volunteering at the Chain Reaction event was a unique and incredible experience for me.  The atmosphere created by having thousands of people who are passionate about social action and change in one venue was really electric, and I felt very lucky to play a part in making that happen.  I was involved in managing the Green Space, where some of the breakout sessions were held. I therefore not only had the opportunity to hear the sessions myself, which ranged from disruptive social innovation to social-entrepreneurs speed networking, but I was also able to meet and chat to all the speakers. 

Over the two days I had chance to network with and get to know a lot of interesting people.  I had time in between my volunteering commitments to really get involved in the event, and I was blown away by the energy and ideas bouncing around the venue!  I came away from the experience not only feeling inspired to play an active part myself in catalysing social action, but also with a lot more ideas of how I could do that.

I gained a great deal personally from knowing that I had helped, in a small way, to making this innovative and inspiring event happen.  I also learnt a lot from the sessions I participated in and the people I met, and I have kept in touch and developed good relationships with several of these people. 

After my experience at Chain Reaction, I have stayed closely involved with the project and the work of Community Links, and am already looking forward to this year’s event.

 

As you can see, there are many benefits to volunteering – from learning or developing a new skill, to meeting new people and making new connections, and to gain valuable work experience.

Convinced?  Well we are currently looking for volunteers who can offer time and skills in the following areas:

• Website development – CMS, CSS, Expression Engine

• Design

• Social Media – blogging, twitter etc

And nearer the time of the national event, we will also be recruiting event volunteers to help with on the day event delivery. 

So if you are interested in any aspect of volunteering at Chain Reaction please email Laura Hyde at info@chain-reaction.org for more information.

And to find out other ways you can get involved in Chain Reaction click here >>>

The Norman Moy Trio: A Jazzy Way of Fundraising!

On Wednesday 13 May, a large group of people gathered for the launch of the Norman Moy Trio’s debut album ‘Close Connection’, at St Martin’s within Ludgate Church in central London.

Formed 5 years ago, the Trio is made up by Norman Moy on tenor saxophone and piano, Adam Moy on electric guitar, and Community Links’ very own Matthew Smerdon on double bass.  They were also joined by established jazz musician Seb Rochford on drums.  

“The group is very aware of the benefits that music, particulary jazz with its blend of rhythms and improvisation, can bring to the wider community”

The audience at the launch event were treated to a selection of music from the new album, and were able to purchase copies of the album which contains seven tracks – including familiar Jazz standards played with style and skill.

The album is available listen and download at the band’s MySpace page  and a JustGiving site has been set up to accept online donations for Community Links

What Do We Learn From Success Stories?

The obvious, short answer to that question is ‘a lot’.  But can’t we also learn just as much from our failures?     

I was at a very inspiring meeting earlier today at the RSA with a group of innovative communicators, to discuss ideas around community engagement and social spaces.  (Read Matthew Taylor’s blog post about Social Spaces here)  There was a bit of discussion at this meeting around how, while we are often happy to share our successes to help inspire others, generally speaking we will hide our failings from public scrutiny.  That as a culture, we tend to fear failure – that failure is in some way unacceptable.   

Ok, this is a bit of a generalisation, but this it is a theory that has been given a lot of consideration by various psychologists over the years.  I think it was the existentialist psychologist Rollo May who said something along the lines of “…as human beings we always strive for some sense of perfection – possibly because we exist in an imperfect state”. 

I don’t think the implication here is that we are all perfectionists per se, but more so that there is something in all of us that wants to paint the perfect picture, or write the perfect poem, story, article etc.   

For a very basic example of this, look at TV shows such as the X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent.  Thousands of people striving to be ‘the best’ at what they do.  Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having ambition – in fact if we didn’t have ambition then nothing would ever get done.  But equally it is ok to be…well ‘ok’ at what you do.  It is also acceptable to fail, because we can learn from failure.

As David Robinson, Co-Founder of Community Links, wrote in his book ‘Unconditional Leadership’:

“We can expect to develop our understanding from …[failed] experience, with lessons which could not have been learned in any other way.  This is a ‘good failure’”

At Community Links we have traditionally published an ‘Ideas Annual’- a collection of inspiring case studies of innovative ideas that have worked (this soon to be going on-line – watch this space!).  Jokingly, there also exists somewhere a half designed proposal to create a ‘Bad Ideas Annual’.  But actually, on consideration, perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea (!). 

I think I’ll finish this blog post with a quote from Richard Feynman, the US physicist and professor who worked on the Manhattan project to develop the US atomic bomb – who summarises perfectly:

“We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea at first, and so on. So there isn’t any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work”

Richard Feynman

 

You can also share your story here >>>

We All Have a Voice…

“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing”

Rollo May, existentialist psychologist

This week we have added a new feature to the Chain Reaction network called ”Voices“, which replaces the more ‘traditional’ blogs section of the site. 

Generally speaking, a ‘blog’ can is an on-line journal which facilitates the sharing of opinions, thoughts and information.  By its very definition the word ‘blog’ implies to many people that it is something that needs to be updated regularly and maintained – something that we don’t always have the time to do. 

But while not everyone has the time to write and maintain a regular blog, we all have a voice, and whether individually or collectively, we all have something to share. 

 

This could be a story, some knowledge, a piece of work, an opinion or just a passing thought.

No, we haven’t invented anything new – the Voices platform is essentially still a blog - but we are allowing people to share their stories with the rest of the community (on a one off basis, or more regularly), to inspire, to teach, to provoke thought or perhaps to amuse!  

For example, you may wish to tell a story from your community or project, highlight a particular issue, ask for some help or advice, or share some knowledge or expertise.  Or you may wish to regularly share posts from your external blog, update the community on news from your organisation, or just check in now and then to share your thoughts. 

You can also add photos, video, and links to external information, and you can even choose if you want people to be able to add comments or not. 

Recently added posts include a short piece on social reporting and the recent Digital Inclusion Conference by David Wilcox, a link to an external blog by Taylor Nuttall, while Mary Lamont shared her thoughts on Age

So why not share your story and add your voice to the community?  Find out more here

A Bank of Happiness?

Trawling the twitterverse earlier today, I stumbled across a link to an interesting new community initiative launching in Estonia this month - The Bank of Happiness.

The Bank of Happiness is a virtual collaboration network that allows residents of Estonia to share their skills and time within their communities.   While it is called a ‘bank’, the Bank of Happiness is not about making Estonia a money-free state, it is more about creating community cohesion and community support systems, and allowing individuals to put their skills to good use - which is especially pertinent for those people who may have lost their jobs as a result of the recession. 

The Bank of Happiness is a way of trading good deeds and altruism - and not necessarily on a reciprocal basis either.

Founder Tiina Urm says,

“We call it a bank because we want to bring forth a new set of values…at the moment we are glued to other people only through money. But that’s not how we evolved as a society. We used to work as a team.”

This sentiment is shared by The Council on Social Action, who, in the paper “Stronger Communities, Stronger Economy” states that recent work on happiness and wellbeing exposes the deceit of excessive earning and owning as proxies for the good society.

The Council, which was set up to advise central government on the agenda for social action here in the UK, has proposed the paper ‘Stronger Communties, Stronger Economy’, to examine whether the recession provides an opportunity to rebuild a better, fairer society, and discusses what we need to do now to ensure that we emerge from the current economic challenges with stronger, more connected and more caring communities.

Two of the proposals within the paper, are very similar in nature to the thinking behind the Bank of Happiness.  

The first, “Common Goals“, is a programme that would deploy and develop the skills of those with reduced working hours or no paid work and which would focus this national resource on the sustainable legacy of stronger, healthier, more engaged and more supportive communities.

The second proposal is that of a “National Talent Bank” which would manage the wholesale brokerage of work.

So could we launch a similar programme to the Bank of Happiness here in the UK? 

Well, the Council on Social Action is still receiving feedback from on their proposals before they make recommendations to central government.  Anyone can feedback to the council, so if you have any thoughts or would like to comment on any of the proposals  please email info@chain-reaction.org or discuss with others in our online forum

The Bank of Happiness launches later in May

Read the full summary of the thinking behind “Stronger Communities, Stronger Economy” here >>>

Read more about the Bank of Happiness here >>>