#begoodbesocial – my take.

27 Oct

Not long back from the first meeting of #begoodbesocial at The Melting Pot in Edinburgh. If you work in the non-profit arena in Scotland and you haven’t already heard about this then get over to the website and have a gander.

There are a few meetups designed for the social media savvy in Scotland but the concentration lies mostly on harnessing social media for business success so it was really interesting to have a group of people talking about social media for good. Kudos to Ross McCulloch for pulling off a very successful evening.

From my perspective, as someone who is trying to introduce social media into an organisation that has not used it before it was comforting to hear that others face the same issues as myself. It was also satisfying to hear that those who are pushing the boundaries of social media within the non-profit sector in Scotland are doing so with similar aims to those I have for my organisation.

In particular it was great to hear Rosie McIntosh from Oxfam Scotland talk about citizenjournalists.org.uk a project launched by Oxfam Scotland to try and build a base of citizen journos that take social media beyond “clicktivism”. It’s an intriguing idea and I just love that there’s no media hype connected to it, just the true belief that we can all change the world one small step at a time.

Following Rosie’s presentation some good points were raised about branding (or lack of) of the site and the danger of other charities being able to “hijack” the site for their own causes. I wish I’d spoken up but I didn’t, I’m a relative newbie to this world afterall! What I wanted to say, as the conversation moved from cause hijacking to the constant competition for funding was this.

We all talk about the difficulty of introducing the doubters to social media, about the fact that we’re basically having to affect a culture shift within our organisations, we talk about telling them its about the people behind the Facebook, the human web. We talk about sharing information on Twitter, we Livestream events, we Slideshare ….. why then are we not taking this opportunity to extend that culture shift into the whole sector, to realise the true possibilities open to us, to really share, to work together?

Maybe I’m being naive but if we really all do go into work in the morning with the aim of changing our own small corner of the world just imagine what we can achieve with a powerful tool like the human web. If we’re all good and social together we can surely achieve so much more, and hey we’re already making huge cultural changes, why not just push it that little bit further?

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Tags: #begoodbesocial, edinburgh, meetup, melting pot, Non-profit, scotland

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• Author moptopp

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Last night saw the inaugural #BeGoodBeSocial at the fabulous Melting Pot, Edinburgh. The brainchild of Ross McCulloch of Third Sector Lab, #BeGoodBeSocial brought together 50 Third Sector professionals interested in using social media for social good – the tartan equivalent of the #nfptweetup if you like.

The programme consisted of an opening presentation from Martin Keane, Movement Builder with OneKind, a young, dynamic and pioneering charity celebrating the wonder of animals and reconnecting people with animals. Martin is believed to be first full-time social media employee in a Scottish charity and wants to use social media to empower people and build a passionate movement through authentic two-way conversations.

Those present then had the choice of two workshops – either ‘Kicking off a conversation about fundraising through networks’ with Steve Bridger or ‘Social entrepreneurs and technology’ with Snook. Steve, an acclaimed consultant who has worked with various high profile charities across the UK, suggested that Twitter was a vital tool for fundraisers. Snook, the team behind MyPolice, hosted a practical workshop on how social entrepreneurs can embrace social media and how they, Snook, are fermenting the revolution in Scotland!

Rosie McIntosh ended the evening sharing Oxfam Scotland’s plans for a Citizen Journalism network which provoked an interesting reaction and in-depth discussion. Oxfam Scotland hopes the Citizen Journalism programme will offer key supporters a way to engage beyond clicktivism.

What struck me last night, was that this felt different; different to traditional conferences or seminars. Yes, #BeGoodBeSocial combined presentations, case studies, practical workshops and networking opportunities, but it was presented in a relaxed, friendly, collaborative environment. Perhaps the feeling was best summed up in a tweet from Steve Bridger, “Tweetups vs conferences – people actually want to be here, and to share.”

#BeGoodBeSocial undoubtedly whetted the appetite of the Third Sector is Scotland. The demand is there. The event was streamed live on the internet and the Twitter-feed showed the breadth of the audience involved in the conversation [NB. All resources from #BeGoodBeSocial, including all the presentations, are available from the website http://begoodbesocial.org.uk/]

But what now for #BeGoodBeSocial? I, like many of the attendees, would like to see #BeGoodBeSocial evolve into a regular tweet-up; but is it fair that the burden of work should fall on one man? Ross McCulloch deserves an immense amount of respect and admiration for putting together the inaugural event – what we witnessed last was game-changing.

Last night’s event would not have been possible without the support The Melting Pot, Green City Whole Foods and of course, Third Sector Lab.

Stuart Glen (@stuglen) is Director of Fundraising at OneKind

Voluntary sector aims to bring people together online

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• Feedback: Lauren Currie, co-founder of Mypolice social networking site.

Stephen Naysmith

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26 Oct 2010

Police who tweet, charities using Facebook or taking on citizen journalists – these are just three ways the third sector is embracing social networking.

Online tools are changing the way the public and voluntary sector interact with supporters and the public and an event in Edinburgh tomorrow night will explore advances in the field.

Be Good Be Social will feature talks and workshops from third sector social media experts including Oxfam Scotland, OneKind (previously known as Advocates for Animals), and police feedback website Mypolice.

Ross McCulloch of Third Sector Lab, organiser of the event at The Melting Pot, said, “This is a chance for charities, non-profits and social entrepreneurs to get together to share ideas about how to make the world a better place using social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogging. This isn’t just marketing – it’s about bringing people together in online spaces to make a real difference.”

Oxfam Scotland is pioneering the concept through its citizen journalists scheme, which launches this week. The charity is recruiting supporters to be active on the internet, posting comments, blogging and rebutting critics.

When they advertised the roles, there were more than 100 applicants. Contributors will be given guidelines on how to represent Oxfam and help the charity amplify its views.

Spokeswoman Rosie McIntosh said, “For busy people who don’t have time to come in and volunteer or work in our shops, they might re-tweet something or write their own blog. Oxfam and lots of other charities love speaking about themselves, but that is not what social media is about.”

Meanwhile Lauren Currie, co-founder of Mypolice, said many police forces understood the need for a conversation with the public, but found some social network sites too much of a free-for-all. “Mypolice is designed for the public, but the police still have an element of control. The site will help police understand why the public feel the way they do much better and help them target resources more efficiently on the problems that really need it.”

Mr McCulloch added “Some people are worried about the technology element of social media, but that’s really not what’s important. We’re interested in looking at how we can use the internet to give people a voice.”

 

Visit www.begoodbesocial.org.uk.