A week ago I joined Digital Coco as Director of Sales. I am closing the doors of Chalkboarder. Please direct contact to jeff@digitalcoco.com.
Spotlight On Social Good » » @amandalindhout » Amanda Lindhout » #Somalia
At Chalkboarder our mission statement clearly states we build and nurture interdependent villages. Today, we’re launching a new weekly bulletin that shares brief profiles of others around the world who seem to share this vision. Please join me in connecting with and supporting these folks and organizations. Jeff Kingman, CEO, Chalkboarder
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Amanda Lindhout
Founder, The Global Enrichment Foundation – Advancing Somali women’s leadership, building stronger communities and promoting peace.
I’m actually quite surprised that I haven’t noticed Amanda Lindhout prior to yesterday, as I’m a complete news junkie very interested in geo-affairs.
Amanda was interviewed by Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN’s AC360 last night, standing in the largest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab Refugee camp in Northern Kenya.
On August 4th, Amanda participated as a leader in delivering, by convoy, food to feed 14000 Somali refugees. Amanda has history with Somalia, but I’ll ask you to go find that on your own.
Amanda, if you read this, welcome to a broader community. Your courage and leadership are inspiring.
On Twitter, you’ll find great community in the hashtag #UsGuys, #PRSCamp and #LeadershipChat, amongst others.
Stay safe out there!
I Like It Rough And Slow
Written by Jeffrey J Kingman, CEO of Chalkboarder
Yes, you read the title right. I like it rough and slow. I’m a little different that way. Perhaps hardcore might be another descriptive term. Or.. someone might say “he has an appreciation for the unusual”.
You see, I find opportunities where others might discount none to be. I look for the little clues that signal these potentialities. I’m willing to venture through unusual circumstance, that others would shudder at, to perhaps find that rare gem of an opportunity.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not talking about sex. Yes, I was leading you on; intentionally.
I’ve always been a traveler – a bit of a nomad. I grew up that way and it in large part defines me. I feel trapped, or better, caged and bound, if I am unable to experience new vistas and experiences. I meet interesting folk this way. Sometimes, the people I meet have ability to transform and positively impact not only me, but the opportunities before Chalkboarder.
As I write this, I am up all night, at Boston South Station, waiting for the final leg of a six day journey across the USA. I boarded Amtrak Empire Builder in Oregon five and half days ago. We were almost a full day late into Chicago. Let’s look at the results from enduring lack of showers, lack of beds and lack of sleep this week.
- Amtrak Regional Operations Director – Pacific Northwest. I bumped into this gentleman at the hotel they provided me for a half day in Chicago, between trains. An excellent representative of great customer service; honestly inquiring to my welfare and comfort. We’ll have coffee sometime later this summer.
- Amtrak Empire Builder Cafe Car Attendant – Actually, someone I have had twice before using Amtrak between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. We remembered each other’s names and chitchatted at length. He owns a restaurant in Milwaukee, WI and I gave him pointers on his social media.
- Harvard Behaviorial Health Professor – my seatmate from Chicago to Boston; one heck of a conversation, culminating in contact info trade and the possibility of reconnecting for coffee on Harvard’s campus.
- Al Jazerra English Senior Technical Producer, London UK – this young gentleman and I had an outstanding conversation in Chicago, and have already traded tweets. I’m a big news junkie and he was grilling my opinions on the political landscape of the USA. Perhaps the most solid connection of this trip, and my introductory relationship to the Arab World.
- Brooklyn Latino – this father and daughter made the trip with me across the country. His daughter, same age as my littlest, and I shared quite a few giggles. The father, while not fluent in English, and I got to know each other and have made plans to hang in Brooklyn sometime soon, where he will introduce me to his ethnic neighborhood.
- Everyone is stressed out.
- You hurry through the system in lines.
- Time is rushed. Get here, get there, don’t talk to others – such a isolating experience and yet so ironically, all together.
- You can’t move about and randomly get into conversations with your other travelers.
TAXI! One of the Beauties of Social Media
This morning, having breakfast, checking my smart phone, a request through Facebook chat popped up. A friend of mine, in Florida, had left her car and cell phone at another friends and was stuck at home with only a laptop.
“Jeff, can you call me a cab?”
Through Facebook chat on the smartphone, I got the Florida cab phone number and her address, and called her a cab. The dispatcher thought it was hilarious and said it was a first for him. “Hi, I’m calling from Oregon to get a cab…”
Contest: One Year Social Media for your Company – #CoffeeFest San Diego Foursquare Checkin
How’d you like to win a year of social media for your business – FREE?
Prize value over $6,000.
We’ve got a little contest that gives you that opportunity – if you are attending Coffee Fest Tradeshow in San Diego June 3 – 5, 2011. For details of what this provides your business, please click here.
To enter, simply be the person who checks in to the most booths on Foursquare during the three days of Coffee Fest this weekend. There’s a couple of other small details, but that’s basically how you can win a year of social media for your business for free.
Every booth at Coffee Fest San Diego has a Foursquare venue check-in. Enter the Show and search on Foursquare for “Coffee Fest San Diego”. You’ll see them all listed:
Interested?
Here’s the Contest Rules:
- Must own a small business with less than 100 employees.
- Must Tweet each Foursquare check in, with the hashtag #coffeefest.
- Must be able to prove via paid receipt that you attended Coffee Fest San Diego on the days you checked in.
Social Media Profession Saturation?
Is the profession of social media becoming competitively saturated?
Early adoption of social media led to great communicators becoming industry leaders as social media professionals.
Communicational icons, such as Amber Naslund, Brian Solis, Paul Barron and Chris Brogan sprinted out of the gate, blazing a new industry called social media.
As the growth of social media has exploded, giving rise to official professional associations such as Social Media Club and educational programs such as “boot camps” and Portland State University’s Digital Marketing Strategies Certificate, leaders in this industry – the true professionals – have eschewed monikers such as “guru”, distancing themselves from too-narrowly focused “ninjas” and those out for a quick buck.
In a conversation last week with a significant franchisee of Papa Murphy’s Pizza brand (with tens of locations and direct corporate HQ relationship), it was shared that they are approached three or more times a week by so-called social media professionals, offering to “build them a Facebook fanpage”. The franchisee laughed in frustration, stating they had established a strong gate-keeper, because nearly all of these approaches were unable to provide the metrics ability businesses require.
On another front, the critique of traditional public relations and marketing firms was heavy over the last few years – that they didn’t “get” social media. With these traditional communication providers unable to advantage social media for their clients, the clients turned to either outsourcing or handling it themselves. As recently as December 2010, I was approached by a national public relations firm seeking a statement of Chalkboarder’s social media abilities – that they could subcontract for the benefit of their clients. Many of these communication firms have now put serious investment into gaining that social media knowledge in the last 18 months.
My question is this: as traditional public relations and marketing firms increasingly offer skilled social media services to their clients, does this reduct the opportunities for other talented communication/social media professionals? Are brands going to return to their public relations/marketing firms that they have had prior relationships with and eschew social media professionals that “got it” early on? Is the industry becoming crowded? Is there value to membership in a social media professional association like Social Media Club versus more traditional associations like the American Marketing Association or Public Relations Society of America?
An additional question would be – how can brands determine the true reach and effectiveness of social media service providers?
Jeffrey J Kingman, CEO – Chalkboarder