I love being a part of online communities. I started with YouTube back in 2007, mostly because of the vlogbrothers. That opened the door to all sorts of other channels like FiveAwesomeGuys, MusicFromBlueSkies, RhettandLink, and wheezywaiter. Somewhere in late 2008 I was convinced to join Twitter by my friend Emily. I quickly found my favorite YouTube stars on Twitter and before Twitter changed things, you used to get everyone's @ replies even if you didn't follow that person. I used that to find a bunch of other people to follow. One of those people was vlogbrothers secret sister and young adult author Maureen Johnson.
I'm always disappointed when people dismiss YouTube and Twitter as being purely narcissistic or mindless entertainment. I'm not trying to say that they can't be those things, but if you give them a chance they can be so much more. I have these forms of social media to thank for quite a few of my blog friends. I mean I never would have met my BEDA buddies without Maureen. What started out as random pairings of quasi-anonymous people by a woman in NY has turned into something that produced a tipsy night of singing Disney songs at midnight with a girl I'll be driving 3 hours across the state to see traveling Broadway shows with. Those are moments I would never give back, all because I (probably) foolishly signed up to blog everyday in April.
To show that this isn't just a weird isolated incident, I'll show you 2 great examples from this week. The first once again involves Maureen. Someday she may learn that when she starts something on Twitter it's going to take off :) Until then, it's fun to see how surprised she is when her almost-rabid fans are willing to follow her anywhere. It all started with this tweet from Maureen:
She offered her last ARC copy of The Last Little Blue Envelope to a random someone who tweets their donation to Shelterbox, hashtagged with #lastlittleshelterbox. She hoped to donate one shelter (about $1000). The project soon spiraled into something larger. Over 2 days (and at least 10 books donated by authors) her followers and others who saw her tweets or blog donated about $15,000 which paid for 16 shelters!! I am continually astounded by the generosity of this community
The other example is a little closer to my reference librarian's heart. In a recent video, John Green introduces his viewers to a cemetery in a small town in Indiana, where he finds a gravestone of a couple Walter and Gussie Manlove. Gussie is listed, but not buried there, causing him to wonder what her story was. Enter the voraciously curious community that are the Nerdfighters. Over 6 days, a flurry of forum posts, a collaborative Google Doc, and a little bit of legwork, the community not only found Gussie's final resting place, but mapped her life through 3 marriages, 5 names changes, and found a child from a previous marriage. Hank documents this (a bit crazily) in the following video:
I love internet communities. I love feeling like a part of something bigger. Alone I never could have funded temporary shelter for 160 people or found a woman born in 1887 with only her married name. But as part of a community, not only was it possible, but it happened and was celebrated :)
I'm always disappointed when people dismiss YouTube and Twitter as being purely narcissistic or mindless entertainment. I'm not trying to say that they can't be those things, but if you give them a chance they can be so much more. I have these forms of social media to thank for quite a few of my blog friends. I mean I never would have met my BEDA buddies without Maureen. What started out as random pairings of quasi-anonymous people by a woman in NY has turned into something that produced a tipsy night of singing Disney songs at midnight with a girl I'll be driving 3 hours across the state to see traveling Broadway shows with. Those are moments I would never give back, all because I (probably) foolishly signed up to blog everyday in April.
To show that this isn't just a weird isolated incident, I'll show you 2 great examples from this week. The first once again involves Maureen. Someday she may learn that when she starts something on Twitter it's going to take off :) Until then, it's fun to see how surprised she is when her almost-rabid fans are willing to follow her anywhere. It all started with this tweet from Maureen:
She offered her last ARC copy of The Last Little Blue Envelope to a random someone who tweets their donation to Shelterbox, hashtagged with #lastlittleshelterbox. She hoped to donate one shelter (about $1000). The project soon spiraled into something larger. Over 2 days (and at least 10 books donated by authors) her followers and others who saw her tweets or blog donated about $15,000 which paid for 16 shelters!! I am continually astounded by the generosity of this community
The other example is a little closer to my reference librarian's heart. In a recent video, John Green introduces his viewers to a cemetery in a small town in Indiana, where he finds a gravestone of a couple Walter and Gussie Manlove. Gussie is listed, but not buried there, causing him to wonder what her story was. Enter the voraciously curious community that are the Nerdfighters. Over 6 days, a flurry of forum posts, a collaborative Google Doc, and a little bit of legwork, the community not only found Gussie's final resting place, but mapped her life through 3 marriages, 5 names changes, and found a child from a previous marriage. Hank documents this (a bit crazily) in the following video:
I love internet communities. I love feeling like a part of something bigger. Alone I never could have funded temporary shelter for 160 people or found a woman born in 1887 with only her married name. But as part of a community, not only was it possible, but it happened and was celebrated :)
becky i totally agree! i use twitter in a totally different way than you (to follow cycling!) but i'm amazed at how it's injected me into this awesome cycling community that's helped my love grow. Twitter *can be something bigger than "what i ate for dinner," you just gotta figure out how! (i actually wrote a post about how twitter and cycling go together, if you're interested... http://masteringtheuphillshift.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/in-defense-of-twitter/)
ReplyDeleteeven tho our interests don't really line up, i enjoy your blog! happy writing!
anna:-)