For the past few decades I’ve worked with non profits on community development projects.

These projects varied.

They ranged from working with neighbourhoods on resident driven initiatives to working with a community of youth workers on building their skill capacity so young people experiencing  poverty and homelessness would have more relevant services.

Now that I’m helping non profit groups create their online communication strategies, I am learning how community development and social media work are so closely connected.

Here is how I  see social media and community development strategies overlapping in the pursuit of social change.

In both cases you:

Approach the work with an attitude of respect for the the community’s (or client’s) ability to learn and find solutions to their challenges;

Support the community’s (or client’s) desire to make improvements or changes to their situation by listening deeply and as non judgmental as possible;

Provide the community (or client) with a larger and more detailed (organized) vision of their challenges and an outline of possible strategies;

Help the community (or client) identify their strengths and the assets of the key people that can address the challenges in a way that will lead to a high degree of success;

Help the community (or client) identify and understand on deeper levels the barriers and limitations to the challenges they face;

Help the community (or client) define their vision, mission, values, strategies and goals (using legacy documents if available) that will act as an infrastructure or solid platform for implementing strategies;

Help the community (or client) define their policy for addressing their challenges and create clear procedures for using any tools in the strategy;

You assist the community (or client) in identifying what success might look like and then help them create a monitoring tool to measure their progress;

Foster and encourage the community (or client) adopting a culture of learning, listening, innovation, experimentation, adapting and openness;

Help the community (or client) adopt practices that lead to deepening authentic relationships with their peers, supporters, partners and stakeholders;

There are no doubt many more values and principles that apply to working in a social media and community development framework. What strikes me the most as I put this list together is the lack of any reference to social media strategies/tools or community development.

Do you see anything in the list that I left out? Please add your ideas in the commenting panel.

Brent Uncategorized community socialmediastrategy socialchange

I have being taken with the expression ” a community is an ongoing series of conversations”.

I’ve adopted this term through my reading of Peter Block’s book, Community – the Structure of Belonging and his latest book written with John McKnight called the Abundant Community.

These books have little in them related to social media but they have influenced my thinking about social media strategies for non profit organizations in the most powerful of ways.

A cliché like “a community is an ongoing series of conversation” helps ground me in understanding how our world is unfolding as we speak.

Like Peter Block I believe that by sharing our unique stories and perspectives we have the potential to create the communities we want.

These little cliche sayings help me keep on track as I work with organizations committed to improving the health and sustainability of their communities.

I found my latest cliché saying in Clay Shirky’s new book Cognitive Surplus – Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. He boldly states his definition as “ media is the connective tissue of society”.

The context in which he states his definition is related to breaking the notion that media is for professionals only. Clay Shirky sees that the bundle of concepts tied the word media is unraveling.

I loved this section that followed his definition of media.

We need a new conception for the word, one that dispenses with the connotations of something  produced by professionals for consumptions by amateurs.

Media is how you know where and when your friends birthday is. Media is how you know what’s happening in Tehran, who’s in charge in Tegucigalpa, or the price of tea in China. Media is how you know what your colleague named her baby. Media is how know why Kierkegaard disagreed with Hegel.  Media is how you know where your next meeting is. Media is how you know about anything more than ten yards away.

I’m getting a lot from Clay’s book. He describes our emerging world in a way that helps me understand the social changes that are unfolding as we share our stories on the social web.

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I went to the film Inception a few days ago and was mesmerized by the complex plot and the ideas that gurgled and sometimes exploded into my awareness.

I liked the movie but I experienced some confusion as I felt the ideas about dreams and dreaming where very relevant, however I couldn’t quite understand what did the movie have to do with my world.

Two days later I began reading a series of posts by Brian Solis because I was searching for his ideas on the concept of “pay it forward”. What I discovered on his web site were a series of posts about the movie Inception.

Here is how he introduces why the movie triggered his thinking about the movie’s connection to social media.

Inception served as a catalyst for rethinking social media and how we use it to socialize not just our marketing efforts, but our business overall.

The way in which he linked the ideas in the movie to how social media can be applied in the business world, helped me understand social media adoption within organizations and the cast of actors that is needed for success. He also has numerous links to other very relevant, resonant and significant (RSS) posts and articles that he covers in his new book Engage.

Below is an excerpt that talks about how the concepts of inception and extraction relates to listening. The concept of listening is a subject close to me as I’m searching for more effective ways to explain why social listening is so important to the development of social media strategies.

I love this explanation as it gets past the tools of listening into the figuring out of what to do with what you are hearing.

Such is the framework necessary to lead the socialization of business. While today social media is led by a champion or team of evangelists that “get it,” its path remains a bottom-up process of forcing transformation through evangelism and experimentation. Eventually social media will lose momentum before its promise can be fully realized however. A team consisting of a visionary leader supported by capable specialists across the fabric of the organization is imperative to fully realize the opportunities and responsibilities that unfold with social immersion.

The Production of Social Media Requires a Dedicated Cast

Penrose Stairs illustrate the impossible objects that can be created in lucid dream worlds

As discussed in Engage and also Charlene Li’s new book Open Leadership, it is this listening, really listening, that opens leadership to change and ultimately true collaboration and co-creation. It is through this unique understanding of the cultures, landscapes and the themes that fuel connections and communication. This incredible insight inspires relevant engagement and supporting constructs that galvanizes and empowers customers and peers to become stakeholders in all you do.

The “extraction” is the research, listening, and sifting for insight. It’s not enough to monitor conversations through keyword searches. It’s not enough to measure “automated” and mostly inaccurate sentiment. It’s not enough to track activity in terms of mentions, followers, likes, and comments. There’s a difference between listening and hearing and to extract the information and intelligence necessary to inspire your ideas requires you to hear what it is that moves individuals and communities.  Extraction is the guiding light to create more meaningful engagement strategies based on the recently introduced concept of relevance, resonance, and significance (RRS), social media’s critical path. And, it’s through extraction where we uncover opportunities for inception.

Listen to Brian Solis talk about his new book here.

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I first used VoiceThread a number of years ago to capture the voices of  citizens and residents on how they felt about poverty and homelessness in their community.

The VoiceThread was called Hidden in Plain Sight and was part of the York Region Alliance to End Homelessness campaign to raise awareness of poverty in local neighbourhoods.I’m exploring the option of using it again with a large scale community building initiative called Return to Rural .

My partner Mark and I (Mark Holmgren Consulting) are helping the Return to Rural organization develop their social media strategy. You can read more about Return to Rural in a previous post.

I see VoiceThread as an effective social media tool to continue sharing and collaborating with members between face to face meetings.

You can view it (larger screen) on my VoiceThread account by clicking on this link. Your invited to add a comment if you like.

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This is a  beautiful picture that showcases the grandeur of the Alberta prairies and the important role that the farming industry industry plays in this part of Canada. I’m posting this picture because we used it in a a day long social media strategy session that my partner Mark (Mark Holmgren Consulting) and I facilitated.

Mark and I are assisting a group of communities in southern Alberta called Return to Rural (R2R). We are helping them develop their social media strategy and supporting them as they learn why, how, who, what, when and where of the social web landscape.

R2R is a ground breaking initiative that is re-branding their community as a place where young people and young professionals can reconnect with their rural community roots and values. It’s more than re-branding of course. It’s a long term community transformation process that will take careful nurturing by the lead organization, the  SAMDA Economic Partnership.

For generations, young people left their rural country communities to find work, new experiences, fame and fortune in the bigger cities across Canada.  For many their move to large urban centers worked out, but for others, their search for a place to call home didn’t materialize. In general terms, many of these immigrants to the big city felt a pervasive sense of disconnection from from that special, hard to put your finger on feeling of belonging to a home community. R2R is calling to them with a message that rural life is an economic and socially satisfying option, an option that once chosen, can reconnect you to that special belonging feeling.

Return to Rural is an ambitious and timely project with great promise for success. The issues faced by members of Return to Rural are shared by small farming communities across Canada. I am very keen to chronicle the lessons learned as I believe the Return to Rural story can be a very useful aid for many community leaders who are who are seeking innovative solutions to complex challenges in their rural community.

Stay tuned, I will  be posting again about the progress that Return to Rural is making as they engage their constituents inside and outside the SAMDA catchment areas.

Oyen Inland Grain Terminal [1 of 3], originally uploaded by neutralhills.

Brent Uncategorized rural urban farming

A musician from Canada got the run around from United Airlines after he complained about the airline handlers who where tossing his guitar around so carelessly they broke it. He witnessed this poor service from his seat on the airplane.

Needless to say the video went viral and United Airlines lost face and trust from millions of passengers just because they didn’t listen to their customer. His simple act of creating a song and then publishing it on YouTube demonstrate how social media has changed the relationship between business and consumer. It’s no longer business as usual.

A slight title change in honour of Arlo Guthrie who wrote the great Alice’s Restaurant Massacre

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I really enjoy reading books about emerging technologies, social media, learning and professional development. I also read plenty of fiction, especially fast paced, well written crime fiction in settings I’m not too familiar with such as South East Asia, Britain, South Africa, the far north etc.

I’m very pleased with the books I bought this summer and I few that I’ve received as gifts.  I’m reading these books simultaneously and employing many of the ideas in projects I’m involved with.  Perhaps in the fall when I’ve digested theme properly, I’ll take the time and write a post about what these books meant to my learning and work. Here are a few of my summer reading books with a few comments to go with each book.

Community: The Structure of Belonging: Peter Block – This book has changed my thinking about community and community work. I’m finally recognizing (after all these years) that you can’t problem solve your way to building community. I sailed into uncharted territory when I read this book, but by doing so, it’s awakened my sense of discovery and personal commitment towards building a community that I want.

Trust Agents:Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, Chris Brogan and Julian Smith - Lessons about trust as the cornerstone of your practice. A very timely book to guide my work with non profit organizations.

The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life, Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally – My daughter Meghan gave this to me on Father’s Day. She knows how much I enjoy Buddhist teachings and this one promises to be an excellent read. It’s about an ancient book based on the diamond industry and how you can practice your business successfully by following key life principles. I’ve put it aside for now but I keep it close by for quick references and inspiration.

Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead,  Charlene Li - Charlene’s book, The Groundswell introduced me to social media strategies for engaging your communities and stakeholders. Her newest book takes the next step and is helping me understand the changing role of leadership in the world of the social web.

Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone is Connected – Connect Your Business to Everyone, Mitch Joel – Understanding the changes brought about by the social web and how the businesses (other sectors as well) are  implementing successful strategies to survive and thrive.

The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighbourhoods, John McKnight & Peter Block – This book is deepening my understanding of communities and the strengths of residents to change  their lives and their communities. Like Peter Block’s book on Community, the Structure of Belonging, this book will be a constant reference for me in my social media work.

Drupal for Dummies, Lynn Beighley – Drupal is the platform of choice for my partner Alain Hurtubise (iAutomate) and I’m glad he chose Drupal. I’ll never be a web design and developer but with this book I can learn the basics of supporting Drupal based web sites and teaching staff and volunteers how to manage their web site – without paying costly outside experts who don’t know anything about your business.

P.S. The bookends are core samples taken from the mines in Sudbury Ontario, my home town. Having worked in the mines before starting my career in community & social media work, the bookends remind me of the lessons learned from growing up in a mining town.

Brent Uncategorized books