Social Tagging Introductions

And… they’re off!  Over 60 representatives from 19 congregations joined the kickoff of our first Social Media Boot Camp, for congregations on Long Island.  Gathered in the UJA Federation of NY offices in Syosset, we introduced ourselves via a Jeff Pulver-style social tagging activity, and then learned about the themes and concepts of social media tools and culture.

While a focus of the program will be to help the participating congregations design and implement social media projects in their communities, the not-so-subtext of the program is about a major strategic shift from top-down service provision to bottom-up community building and education.  Some congregations are already headed this way, and others are struggling to even wrap their heads around the ideas.

Because the underlying shift is about much more than starting a Facebook page or a blog, it’s critical that both staff and lay leadership participate in the process, to engage the whole organization in this learning and reflection.  Teams worked on the P and O steps of a POST analysis to begin planning their projects.  People – Objectives – Strategy – Technology.  You can learn more about the POST process from Groundswell.

Working on project planning in teams

Their first assignment?  LISTENING.  Some  resources on listening if you’d like to play along at home:
Beth Kanter’s Blog (great nonprofit social media blog)
NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) We Are Media project, Module 1: Listening
Another Beth Kanter special – second half has a useful checklist
These include many examples and links to further resources.

And thanks once again to UJA Federation of NY for supporting this program!