Experimenting with social media | Web Directions

• In: Blog
• By: Maxine
• February 6, 2009

This interview with the staff of COSI - a Science Museum in Columbus Ohio - has some solid insights into the institutional realities of experimenting in social media. The project seems to be another example of a theme I have seen a bit of recently: we’ve spent about a decade seeing the web as a place in which even the smallest business can engage globally, but there is also incredible power to engage very locally as well. Social media - humans connecting with humans over the network - will also foster a desire for contact in the physical world, so you can see how it is perfect for growing engagement on the local level.

As the community started to hear about the Social Media Cafe, local bloggers would show up, and it exploded into this network of people trying to work together to positively impact the Columbus community. For example, they have taken small grassroots efforts under their wing—like helping a community park cleanup group start a blog, a Twitter account, and gain more exposure for their community efforts. So we’ve been an active part of the Columbus tech community as everyone is figuring out how to move forward.

This quote also caught my eye:

We didn’t just jump into things. I recommend finding a local event or workshop in your community to learn more.

Good reason to get along to Grant Young’s Engaging Social Media workshop, in Melbourne or Sydney, that we’re running as part of the Web Directions Roadshow.

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