From Inc: “LivingSocial, Clearspring, and Opower are just a few of the more recognizable start-ups that are based in Washington, but ‘scrappy up-and-comers,’ like skeevisArts and Spinnakr are setting down their roots, too.”
When Walls Come Down: Personal Collides with Professional, and Social Succeeds
Step 1. Become a Twitter aficionado: use it personally, and then become a “social media expert” at your job. Tweet on behalf of your organization, sometimes even when you’re off the clock. Use some snazzy tool like HootSuite to help you manage your various personal and professional accounts.
Step 2. While making use of said snazzy tool (and typing it on an equally snazzy smartphone), accidentally tweet to the wrong account. Say something about “#gettingslizzerd” in reference to a favorite beer. On your non-profit’s Twitter feed. Oops.
Step 3: Profit! [...really?!?]
Yes, really. As We Love DC and others have reported, The Red Cross recovered nicely – some might say, profited – from a “rogue tweet” gone wild. Two internal factors helped calm the storm - a sense of humor:
We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.
“I’m very grateful to work in an organization with people who truly understand social media and embrace it, mistakes and all.”
Of course, it didn’t hurt that the brewery responded and pitched in, asking followers to donate to the Red Cross. On the whole, a great PR win for the Red Cross and Dogfish Head. That’s not to say that “rogue tweeting” is to be encouraged, but this is a great lesson in how creative damage control can be the most effective. As a commenter noted, how you handle a potential PR disaster can be indicative of your organization’s values, which is especially crucial for “helping” charities and non-profits:
“It reinforces my belief that the organization treats its employees and volunteers with compassion and understanding.”
XKCD on the First Web Start-Up that Dared to Dream
Read the comic, paying homage to arguably the most ambitious web start-up in history: http://zombo.com/
NYTimes: In Washington, Revival of the Technology Scene
Spinnakr’s own Michael Mayernick quoted in this New York Times article about the revival of the DC Tech scene, for his work with ProudlyMadeInDC. Apart from being pleased with the exposure, this article is also a great beginner’s guide to the DC tech community – recommended reading for newcomers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/technology/31startups.html?_r=2
DC’s First Tech Meetup
Starting March 1st, and set for the first Tuesday of every month, the DC tech scene is hosting a monthly meet-up to develop our fledgling community:
The DC Tech Meetup will convene technologists and entrepreneurs focused on developing software for consumer and enterprise use. Our inaugural 2011 season will test our community’s desire to convene a regular meetup anchored by a panel or presentation on a technical or venture related subject.
You can register for the meetup @ http://www.meetup.com/DC-Tech-Meetup/ and learn a little bit more about the event at TechCocktail.
I should mention the event is especially exciting to us at Spinnakr since it was co-organized by Spinnakr co-founder Michael Mayernick, who is also the co-brains behind the ProudlyMadeInDC movement. Apart from organizing and attending the meetups, we will be certainly be covering them in this blog, so feel free to check in here if you can’t make it.
You Don’t Know What I Want
Recently I watched the TED talk given by media researcher Johanna Blakley on the very titillatingly named topic : Social Media and the End of Gender. And while I do think Blakley covered some interesting ground,
what I found most interesting about the talk was the idea of communities being based on shared interests and values, rather than demographics. I think this idea, which sounds so completely basic to most ‘common sense’ human beings, is something that was mysteriously missing from the calculations of media marketers. Traditionally, it was true that one’s interests were restrained by things like your age, your race, your geographic location, etc. But online, this is no longer the case – I can be really interested in snowboarding in New Zealand, for example. At least this is the argument.
More…