Something fired my brain up about 20 minutes into the first CUWCS speaker, Robbie Wright's presentation. He was expanding on a blog post he wrote in June of this year which stated, in part, "nothing important happens in the credit union blogosphere."
Obviously, as I am very active in the blogosphere, Twitt-o-sphere, Facebook-o-sphere—and at times have an inflated opinion of my contributions in this arena—I was in VEHEMENT opposition. Then I listened further (listening being something I appreciate more fully, being involved in many credit union 'spheres) and realized he had a point of sorts.
He said "important stuff is never really talked about online." He also mentioned a few things that flew at high speed OVER my head, such as member business lending cap and partnerships between some anagrams that sounded pretty important. One or two members in the audience spoke up to share stories of credit unions using social media platforms—such as Twitter—successfully as a marketing channel. I'm not going to go there, because there are both amazing and amazingly bad examples of social media use in every industry, not just ours.
What I am taking away is this: Let's all agree that social media is an amazing way to TALK to each other. Twitter specifically let over 130 people participate in the conversation during #CUWCS, which in turn kept those 130 networks informed and interested, and so on. The majority of the people who follow me on Twitter are there to 1) immerse themselves in my witty and insightful 140isms and share the same back with me; or 2) politely following me back for my follow, because unless one is a creeper, that is the Twitter etiquette. My use of Twitter is much more information sharing than sales, although I am the business development person for Currency.
So let's try using this platform for important conversation and sharing!
I'd LOVE to see Robbie (just to get things rolling) start up a Twitter # chat on those important things he says are not being talked about. How about the second Monday of every month around 11 a.m. Pacific time, called #importantstuff? I hereby promise to show up for that, hopefully to learn something, but also to lend support to the important stuff getting talked about. For those of you who are too shy to admit they don't have a clue what I mean by a "Twitter # chat" or how to participate, here's a super easy how-to:
- Go to www.twitter.com
- If you need to, create a new account. If not, sign in. (If you use a Twitter app or client, set up a #importantstuff stream)
- In the search field, enter "#importantstuff" and click the search button.
- Near the top of the results page you'll see a button that says "Save this search." Click that button.
- Click on the Home page link. In the "Search" drop-down list (under your status field, 4th in the row beside "Timeline", "@Mentions" and "Retweets" if you're using the new Twitter) select #importantstuff
- Read and participate
- Nothing there? Nice, you're early. Come back at 11 a.m. Pacific time on the second Monday of the month
See? Easy-peasy, right?
There are a lot of websites out there—including ours—that focus on the credit union industry, and I assume the things people are comfortable talking about. If a number of people out there feel these sites aren't talking about the important stuff, then let's find a way to talk about the important stuff.
Who's in? I am—what do you say, Robbie?
Nala
