In today’s post, I am taking a poll. When did you first go online? Start your first email account? What social media tools do you use?
I received my first email account in a BYU Communications class back in 1994. While I thought it was innovative to interact electronically with my classmates and professor, I did not know anyone else who was online. I decided then and there this Internet thing was just a fad.
I assure you it is the only time I have ever been wrong.
Last weekend, I was reminded just how incorrect I was. I attended Chicks Who Click, a Boulder-based conference that hosted some of the top social media mavens in the industry.
Don’t understand what social media or social applications are? If you’re reading this blog post, you are a part of it. The same goes if you have ever used technologies such as email, instant messaging, picture-sharing and forums. Don’t know what a social media application is? Think Google Groups, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Twitter, the latter of which is a micro-blogging and social networking at its finest, in 140 characters or less.
The great thing? All these tools are putting moms who may not have had a voice in the driver’s seat to make a large impact on society.
The Chicks Who Click conference started out as Chicks on Sticks with a ski day at Eldora. Most attendees ended up bailing out at the last minute (for reasons beyond me) so I shared a 20-passenger beast-of-a-limo with social media phenom Gwen Bell, Barbara Jones of One2One Network (one of the most powerful word-of-mouth marketing networks for women) and Metzger Associates planning guru Denise Smith.
Oh, yeah. And there was me. The one who predicted the early demise of the Internet.
I thought our epic ski day would be the highlight. It wasn’t.
I spent the next day listening to informed and inspiring speakers, meditating in my “bubble,” networking with fantastic women from all walks of life, and collaborating in group break-out sessions. I was put in a group of five and we were given the task to devise a social medial plan for a company. With fellow Mile High Mama Aimee Greeblemonkey at our helm, our group took home the top prize: an “I kicked social media a$$” trophy. I can assure you it is the only trophy I have ever received with the word a$$ in it.
Good thing they didn’t “reward” me for all those a$$-kickings my sports teams received over the years.
What were the most important things I took away from the conference?
*Traditional media is evolving and newspapers, television and film are no longer the only informants and whistle-blowers.
*A small percentage of people using social media’s tools are becoming the very voices that are changing the landscape of society. They are a force to be reckoned with, as was evidenced when powerhouse Motrin apologized for an ad many mom bloggers and twitterers found offensive.
At The Denver Post’s Mile High Mamas, we are an example of how traditional media is evolving. We are committed to connecting moms to each other and the rest of the world with the very social networking tools that are changing it. In the next few months, we will be doing a redesign to make our interface more friendly, our forums more interactive and repurposing our live Twitter feed with your minute-by-minute updates, while our mama bloggers (and token dad) keep you laughing on our blog.
Not yet blogging or on Facebook and Twitter? Start now and here is how to do it! Twitter in particular is becoming an integral social media tool to deliver real-time updates from people and organizations you care about.
Like Dora the Explorer.
My children never thought they would have to live in a world without their perpetually-perky senorita and were devastated to learn that Nick Jr. (Dora’s station) had been pulled from Dish Network. I wrote a quick tweet on Twitter complaining about this and within moments, a representative from Nick Jr. direct mailed me and explained the situation.
Bottom line: social media = power.
Now, for my next Twitter experiment: I WANT A MILLION DOLLARS.
The jury is still out on that one.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 