Here's one use of Twitter you don't hear about everyday...

Check out the Telegraph's full story here.

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The headline on this story in WSJ caught my attention immediately: "Young Urban India Ditches Social Media."

So often, I find that social media trends in Asia seem to be leagues ahead of the US because they largely jumped the personal computer era and landed straight into the mobile world.

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, "urban Indian students (aged 12 to 25 years) are experiencing 'social-media fatigue' as they no longer consider social networking to be 'a fad.' "

"Of 2,000 Internet users surveyed across 14 cities, 55% recorded that they had 'consciously reduced' time spent on social media, while nearly 30% had already 'deactivated or deleted their accounts' from popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and LinkedIn. The remaining preferred to maintain 'a low profile' as they claimed their privacy was “being breached” via social networking."

Take a look at the full piece here.

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You know how I love demo data! Check out the full piece here.

Not so interested in the gender data right now, but the info on countries using LinkedIn is the most interesting part of this set to me. There are several top ten countries on Facebook that do not appear on the LinkedIn list (ex. Mexico, Germany). Does this mean that these countries use social media less for business and more for play? Or are there regional or in country rivals that serve a similar purpose?   

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Welcome Back to Socially Diverse!

I'm excited to share with you an interview with Simon Kemp of BBH in Singapore. Those who know me well understand that I have a bit of a fascination with data, specifically cultural data. In addition to being uber interesting, cultural data gives us a quick peek into the world of those around us. With this data, we can begin to assess actions, preferences, problems, solutions...anything really (<<-- Like I said, fascination). 

Given my Caribbean heritage, I have traveled quite a bit through that region, but my global travel has been limited. In late 2010, I traveled to China and it opened my eyes to several new cultures. Ultimately, the trip sparked an interest in exploring more of Asia to experience the variety of cultures and to observe the role social media in society.

I was delighted to see a new report on Mobile and Digital Media Trends in India and had to reach out to the author to get his perspectives on use in the region. Here we go! 

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• Name: Simon Kemp
• Age: 33
• Twitter handle: @eskimon
• Website(s): http://eskimon.com
• Profession: Social media marketing and avertising
• Location: Singapore (with Asia-Pacific remit)
• Place of Origin: Scotland
• Adopted Culture: Oooh, that's a tricky one - I'm a culture chameloen. I try to adopt any culture that surrounds me, mostly because I get a lot of satisfaction in doing so.

How did you first begin using social media (Blogs, Social Networks, etc)? 

I started using basic Internet forums when I was at university back in 1996, but I got more into the current form of social media when I discovered sites like Friendster in 2005. I was working in marketing strategy at that time, and realised that these communities offered quite an interesting opportunity, but I only really started to develop serious social media entities for clients in 2008.

What currently drives your interest in the social media space? 

I'm lucky, in the sense that social media plays a central part of my role at BBH (an advertising agency). I also have a few social media 'properties' of my own, most of which relate to music marketing and promotion. The biggest of these are my own DJ page - http://www.facebook.com/eskipresents - and a facebook-based playlist service called The Cartel - http://www.facebook.com/jointhecartel

I also love the opportunities that social media offer for social serendipity; I've met some of my best friends through social media, and every day I meet someone new and inspiring through services like Twitter and Facebook.

Social Media in the US really hit a tipping point in 2007-2008 when major election debates were taking place online and news networks began reporting on conversations occurring within social spaces. What are some of the major drivers of conversation in India? Is it politics, sports, entertainment? 

The adoption of social media in India has followed an interesting path. It started out with considerable, organic adoption of Orkut, and India still accounts for a sizeable chunk of that network's global traffic, even if much of the Indian people's interest has now shifted to Facebook.

However, it's only been in the past few months that we've seen steeper adoption curves of the Internet in general in India, and with it the stunning growth of social networks. My sense is that, rather than big events like elections or major sporting occasions, the tipping point in South Asia has more to do with simplified access - mobile devices are driving growth across many sectors of the Indian web, while ever-increasing access to computers is helping to fuel that trend. Having said that, the Internet played a significant role in coverage of the recent ICC Cricket World Cup, and given the sport's popularity across all strands of Indian society, it's likely that cricket will be a major driver of heightened social interactivity in the future. 

Business is also playing a significant role in the adoption of social media across India, with sites like LinkedIn proving popular. Reliable, recent figures for Twitter usage in the country are difficult to come by, but it seems that Twitter adoption rates amongst India's huge professional population is exploding too.

Nearly 800 million people in India (67% of the population) are mobile users, and the penetration of mobile phones was found to be higher than television.

What is the relationship between mobile platforms and traditional media channels? Are the two interconnected or is mobile dominating on its own when it comes to consuming news and other information? 

Interestingly, I haven't seen any studies that examine this phenomenon in any detail in India, but there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that mobile phones are a primary source of entertainment in their own right, especially when it comes to music. We are in the process of exploring how people in India use mobile devices in parallel with other media (particularly TV), but we don't have any findings to share on that yet. 

Our understanding is that dual use exists, but certainly not on the scale we've seen in the US around big TV events like the Superbowl or American Idol. Based on my experience of Indian culture and the way Indians love to analyse and discuss things though, my personal sense is that this phenomenon will become a major part of media consumption across the subcontinent, and I wouldn't be surprised if India pioneered some major new platforms to facilitate this sort of 'mass conversation'.

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are clear frontrunners in terms of social engagement in the US. However, within the last two years, location based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR have come onto the scene, and brands have encouraged consumer engagement by incentivizing users to check in at various locations. Have you seen this type of activity in India? How about the larger region? 

Yes - again, reliable numbers are hard to come by, but we have seen considerable interest in location-based services like Foursquare in large cities, especially Mumbai (although it's worth stressing that penetration levels for such platforms are still low considering the sheer size of the Indian population). We are even seeing a few local brands getting in on the Foursquare action, but I haven't seen any 'official' results as yet. 

As you move from India into South-East Asia, use of these platforms becomes even more widespread, with countries like Indonesia showing impressive adoption rates of services like Foursquare (a trend which is most likely correlated to that country's large-scale adoption of Twitter). Use of such services is also considerable in Singapore, and still growing at an impressive rate.

From my time in China, it was easy to see that social media has a real place in Chinese society and culture. Nearly every major, western social network has a Chinese counterpart. Have you observed the same or similar trends in India?

Social media are definitely becoming an important part of the digital scene in India, but that scene is evolving in a different way to the one in China. Generally speaking, Indian society is more welcoming of Western culture and business than China's, so many of the sites we see dominating across the rest of the world are also the market leaders in India. There are certainly notable local players too, but the pattern of re-creating platforms that we've witnessed in China is far less evident in India.

Stories coming out of India and some parts of Africa have led me to believe that the US is behind when it comes to engaging in mobile use with a purpose – mobile function dedicated to enhancing everyday life (work, leisure, social concerns, health, etc). Do you find this to be the case? What are some examples? 

Yes, that would be my take on the situation too. Mobile plays a much more important role in developing nations, partly due to faltering fixed infrastructure, and partly due to the practicality and multi-use functionality of mobile devices. Mobiles in India have become a vital part of life, even in rural areas - farmers in remote villages can now take advantage of a wide variety of simple text-based services, from tracking weather patterns to performing simple financial transactions. 

Perhaps the most impressive role mobile plays in India is when it comes to health though - mobiles keep health workers across the country informed of the latest developments, whether they relate to new outbreaks of communicable diseases, or to information on how to treat less common illnesses. We've even heard a number of stories of surgeons in remote parts of the country being guided through complex operations by peers hundreds of miles away via mobile phone. In that light, it's easy to see why access to a mobile phone can literally mean the difference between life and death. 

Given the mobile phone's importance, it has become a financial priority for many people too, and I've heard many anecdotes of people making quite significant sacrifices in other areas to ensure their phone has sufficient credit. Indeed, this is true across much of Asia - we've witnessed similar trends in the Philippines and Indonesia too.

On a lighter note, mobile phones often serve as boomboxes for groups of friends in India, and it's common to see friends huddling round a basic feature phone that's blasting out the latest Bollywood hit.

Despite all of these great statistics, one point in your presentation stood out. You stated that “31 percent of India’s rural population is unaware of the internet.” Could you please expand on this point. How is this possible? What does this mean on a greater level? 

Yes - I think it's worth starting by noting that this finding is from a piece of research conducted by the IAMAI, a well-respected industry body in India. It might seem quite shocking to people in the West that people in rural India have never even heard of the Internet, but it's worth putting this in context.  Rural communities in India often struggle to gain access to even the most basic forms of education, and although the government is addressing this with schooling programs for children, older people do not enjoy that same privilege. Even fundamental health education programs in these communities have to start from the very basics - the importance of washing hands after going to the toilet or before handling foods - so it's perhaps easy to see why people might not have heard of the Internet. Moreover, many of these communities do not have widespread access to electricity, so many people may never have even seen a computer, let alone used one.

Lastly, you are well linked in to the social scene. Share a few sites or blogs that you would recommend if we wanted to follow the latest developments in India and/or in the South East Asian region. 

I depend heavily on twitter to stay up to date on trends across the region, but I often refer to penn-olson.com and the local / regional sections within thenextweb.com. Beyond these, it can be difficult to find consistently reliable info on 'developing' countries, mainly because things change so fast. That was actually the main reason I started to put together the BBH Data Snapshot series - clients and partners regularly spoke of similar challenges, so I thought it made sense for someone to do something about that, and I set about collating anything I could find. In doing that, I've realised the value of a well-connected twitter community, and in that regard, I'd like to highlight @askaaronlee, @williswee and @ladyxtel who have all provided a wealth of information and inspiration in the reports so far.

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Many thanks for checking out this interview. If you would like to follow Simon's latest, you can follow him on Twitter: @eskimon. To see the full presentation, check out the slideshare deck below. 

Til next time, 

James 

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As I mentioned in my last post here, I had a great time at the Social Learning Summit 2011. At the event, I was joined by a great group of folks on a panel titled "Social Bill of Rights: Civil Rights and Social Media."

Following the panel, I sat down with Josh Feldman of American University's Tech Tauk to discuss Civil Rights, Social Media, Culture...oh and of course Malcolm Gladwell. Take a look, and if the spirit (or the keys) move you, let me know what you think!

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I'm still on a high from the Social Learning Summit (#sls11), and I thought this was the perfect time to do a quick recap on my panel and share a great upcoming event with you. Here goes...

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The Socially Diverse project was first conceived because of discussions about diversity (or the perceived lack thereof) in social media. The focus here has always been exploring the internet to discover truly diverse, unique conversations and the people leading them - regardless of race or any other category. Given that it is Black History Month, I have to highlight a really great project that profiles rising people of color in the tech and social space.

Social Media leader Wayne Sutton has many titles and accomplishments that can be tacked onto his name, including co-founder of TriOut and the newly announced Director of Digital at TechMedia. Today, I want to call attention to one of his initiatives- "28 Days Of Diversity: People of Color Impacting the Social Web."

This is the second year that Sutton has taken on this daily initiative during the month of February. This year, in addition to profiling these individuals, he asks each of them one critical question: How can we use technology to close the digital divide?

If you have not already, I strongly encourage you to visit SocialWayne.com and follow 28 Days of Diversity through the rest of February!

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• Name: Yawa Hansen-Quao
• Age: 27
• Blog: http://www.leadingladiesnetwork.org
• Twitter handle: @yawahq
• Profession: Social Entrepreneur
• Location: Accra, Ghana
• Place of Origin: Ghana
• Adopted Culture (The one you are most connected to): Ghanaian

1. When I saw your tweet and looked at your profile my first thought was: "Someone is following me in Ghana? Who is this? How did she find me?" That said, I must ask, how did you discover the Socially Diverse Project?

I made the decision in January of 2010 to resign my full-time job as a travel services professional and focus entirely on building The Leading Ladies’ Network; a women’s leadership development organization I founded in April 2009.

I began this organization with no real source of funding besides myself and I wanted my organization to stand out as much as possible. I did a lot of reading and talking to people about the best ways to promote my organization and its vision—particularly to tertiary-level women (our main target group) and the answer was almost unanimous—“Yawa, use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook & Blogs to spread your message and strengthen you and the organization as a brand.” So, I took the advice, created Twitter, Facebook and Wordpress accounts for Leading Ladies’ Network.

And because I also wanted to know more about social media and how to make the best uses of it so I regularly research and follow individuals and organizations

in this area—which is how I came to follow YOU on Twitter!

2. You are involved with a variety of activities that overlap between personal and professional interests, including travel. At the center of all of this lies the Leading Ladies Network. Please tell us about the network, its mission, a what inspired you to get started here. 

My vision for LLN is really to develop and nurture a network of socially conscious women leaders who will help bring positive transformation to Africa and the rest of the world. Over the next five years, we seek to fulfill this vision by equipping tertiary-level women with the tools necessary for them to become effective leaders and agents of social change. Since our inception last year, we’ve

conducted numerous skill-building workshops for tertiary-level women including a 4-week public speaking & oral communication summer course for university women.

Now, most of our energies are towards development and implementation the “Female Leadership Advancement, Mentoring and Empowerment Series (F.LA.M.E.S.), which will become our organization’s signature leadership development program for tertiary-level women. And through F.L.A.M.E.S. we plan to expand our outreach to ALL regions of Ghana, not just women in tertiary-institutions in Accra.

This initiative will have a special emphasis on public institutions, particularly those that are not well-resourced, and are also in areas where there are high numbers of women in vulnerable situations and where the impact of emerging female leaders women would be most felt. FLAMES will include a community service component that will require participants to develop and implement a social change project that will positively impact other vulnerable groups in the society.

Once F.L.A.M.E.S. is successfully developed and implemented over the 5-year pilot period, LLN will have 500 women, from 10 regions of Ghana transformed into social change agents and brand ambassadors. Additionally, F.L.A.M.E.S. alumni will be engaged in the creation of a local and national network for peer mentoring, networking and resource sharing. This project truly excites me! 

So, what inspired me to start the Leading Ladies’ Network? Well, since college, I’ve always been involved in causes for women, but it was after I made history in Ghana by becoming the first female to become president of a university-level student government organization that my interests began to shift towards the issues surrounding women’s leadership.

In Ghana, tradition still strongly determines the path that most women’s lives should take. For me, establishing LLN was necessary to fulfill the need for a formalized network dedicated to supporting the personal growth and professional development of aspiring women leaders in Ghana. My belief is that the more women leaders emerge, the more they can inspire other women and the more they can leverage their own success to improve circumstances for others.

3. You make good use of online technology and have several web properties dedicated to your organization, including a website, a blog, a Facebook Fan page and a Twitter account. What role does social media and online technology, in general, play in your day to day communication with the women who are a part of the network and potential supporters?

Our Leading Ladies’ Network Facebook Page is our most active source of dialogue with members and fans of our organization. We post regular tips, advice and links to useful information and of course, publish information about upcoming events. Our members post comments on our discussion boards and regularly share their comments on topical social issues. We also have a Wordpress blog. 

We actively promote women’s usage of social media. Although socio-economic demands on women such as early marriage, child bearing also affect women’s ability to become visible leaders.

It appears that new technologies and social media tools open up a new world of opportunity for women to be able to continue to participate in global discussions and access knowledge from anywhere.

4. What prompted you to get involved with social media? Do you manage the accounts yourself or do you have help communicating with people on those platforms? 

We manage our social media accounts with the help of some volunteers.

I also often participate and update our pages myself. Admittedly, we are still relatively new at using these tools so there is still a lot of trial and error. However, we have enthusiastically embracing social media and continue to learn the best ways to use it to our advantage. 

5. What type of diversity do you see among the women in your network? What percent of the participants are from Ghana? What other countries are represented?

We see a lot of diversity. We have women from all over the world following our efforts. The majority of women are from Ghana. Within the African continent, participants are mostly from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Other countries represented include the USA and the UK.

6. I know that you incorporate the idea of travel into the work that you do as a way to open minds and inspire. Does your work require you to travel? If so, where? 

Travel will play an important role in our future activities. Our activities have centered in Accra-the capital city of Ghana and we’re determined to reach out into new regions of the country. Luckily, with our FLAMEs project, we will be doing just that! In the coming weeks, we will be traveling across the ten regions of Ghana to facilitate consultations, implement questionnaires and solicit input from tertiary institutions (Students, faculty and administrators), corporate Ghana (hiring managers who will tell us what they observe and they expect from female professionals) and other stakeholders etc. towards the development of the Female Leadership Advancement, Mentorship & Empowerment Series (FLAMES.); our flagship women’s leadership development curriculum for tertiary-level women.

7. Based on your experiences, share with us one place that we all should visit in our lifetime. Tell us why you've chosen this place.

If you could only visit two places in your lifetime, visit Ghana….twice!

I choose Ghana for various reasons. Of course, our country has numerous developmental challenges—some of which my organization is working to ameliorate. However, I don’t think there’s a better place on earth that represents an intersection between tradition and modernity. The hospitality of the people, the beauty of the terrain, the richness of natural resources, the music, excellent weather, organic food and abundance of economic opportunities make Ghana my top recommendation.

8. Please share with us one thing that you have been able to accomplish because you created the Leading Ladies Network.

I think my biggest accomplishment is simply as being the initiator of this vision. Undoubtedly, the most accomplished are the women who benefit from our programs.

I am particularly proud of those who participated in our rigorous 4-week Public Speaking and Oral Communications training program.  It was very gratifying to see women who were once shy and fraught with stagefright transform right before your eyes.

9. If there was one thing that you could get from the greater online community to enhance your network, what would that be?

We are a young organization and yet have emerged as though-leaders in the arena of African women’s leadership. Through the greater online community, we would like to garner more attention to what we are doing and identify international partners that can help us take our efforts into new territories.

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• Name: Ben O’Neill
• Age: 22
• Twitter handle: @BennyONeill
• Profession: I guess you could still call me a student. I’ve recently completed my Bachelor of Communication majoring in public relations and journalism from the University of Newcastle (Australia). That said, I am presently freelancing for a number of football (soccer) magazines and websites while I conquer my indecision about whether to return to University for an Honours year, or step out of my comfort zone and look for a public relations role in one of Australia’s major cities, or even abroad. Although my current plans are to freelance in Asia and Europe later in 2011, I’m eager to network and connect with all potential employers – particularly those with a football or agency PR focus – and keen and willing to explore every possibility put to me at this stage in my life.
• Location: Newcastle, Australia
• Place of Origin: Newcastle, Australia
• Adopted Culture: I’m proudly Australian and will always call Australia home. However, I’ve often joked with people that know me that I should have been born in Europe. My love for soccer was nurtured by a television station here in Australia called SBS (Special Broadcasting Service), who have remained profoundly devoted to covering soccer for as long as I can remember. Their coverage of European football and the passion the people of Europe have for the game led me, in part, to four months living in Germany when I was 18. Experiencing the German culture opened my eyes further to the passion people in Europe have for life and also made me many great friends. Therefore, I feel a strong affinity to Germany and the nuances of their culture, and have certainly adopted small aspects of their lifestyle into mine.    

1. How did you first become engaged with social media (Blogs, Social Networks, etc)? At what point did social media become a part of your professional role as a writer?

My first experience using social media was in high school when I first signed up for a MySpace account. While I don’t use it anymore, this was definitely a founding factor for me in realising the power of social mediums to connect with people at home and abroad, and be exposed to experiences and ideas I otherwise wouldn’t be. Like a large proportion of people, I actively use Facebook to converse with friends, but it’s only been of late that I’ve latched on to Twitter for professional use. I doubt I have ten people on my Twitter account who are Facebook friends. 

Pure and simple, I use Twitter as a tool to express myself to people and organisations I’d be interested in working with on a professional basis, and likewise listen to people who provide insight beyond what I know. Social mediums can open so many doors and this is why I’ve become increasingly intrigued by them.

 2. In the FourFourTwo article “A-League’s Twit or Miss,” you wrote that that the Australian public is “completely, utterly, obsessed with – social mediums including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Tell us a bit more about what you mean. What are some interesting examples of how Australians are using social platforms?

 FourFourTwo certainly provided me a great platform to have that particular article read by the masses, and the generally positive response I received from people in Australia and abroad, such as yourself, was both justifying and hugely appreciated. The particular sentence, or part thereof, to which you refer was made after extensive research into some of the statistics surrounding Australia’s social media use.

People probably don’t realise that on a per capita basis, Australians are the most prolific social media users in the world. When I found that out I started thinking about the way professional soccer clubs in Australia are utilising social media, and decided to explore the concept a bit more thoroughly. Generally, I found that they’re not really doing enough to interact socially with their existing fans, or engage with their ‘could be’ fans. For teams that struggle with their finances, I deemed it had to be questioned why they aren’t increasingly looking to expose mediums which are largely available to them free of charge.

To the second part of your question, every day I log on to my Twitter account and see someone has uploaded a ‘Twitpic’ that details some unique part of their life. It astounds me that A-League clubs aren’t doing similar things. It would take very little effort for them to share some small aspects from their players and organisations which definitely won’t garner back page coverage, but of which fans find enthralling. Why not snap a few pictures of players celebrating the team song following a win and shoot them direct to fans heading home on the train? It’s too easy! For me, this kind of concept is the crux of why I wrote “A-League Twit or Miss”, and is why I’m monitoring each A-League clubs social media outputs increasingly closely.

3. Social Media in the US really hit a tipping point in 2007-2008 when major election debates were taking place online and news networks began reporting on conversations occurring within social spaces. What are some of the major drivers of conversation in Australia? Is it politics, sports, entertainment? All of the above?

Social media in Australia certainly seems to be following a similar trend to the US. A few years ago it would have been extremely unlikely for a top politician to share their daily schedule with the wider world via a medium such as Twitter, but these days it’s almost a necessity. They’ve worked out that Australians love to be online and love to use social mediums, so platforms such as Twitter have become a key way for politicians and celebrities to reach out to their audiences to engage, and, they hope, influence.

It’s impossible not to realise that an increasing number of television shows are integrating audience contributions via social mediums into their programming in Australia too. Generally, this extends from asking a question on the established political program “Q & A” on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) network, to sending thoughts about an event from the weekend’s soccer action on The World Game on SBS, which then scroll across the bottom of the screen. In addition, one talent show similar to American Idol I saw recently had people voting for their favourite performer via Twitter, while social mediums have also been used by Government departments as a way to share information quickly.

Only recently Australia experienced catastrophic flooding, and organisations such as the State Emergency Services utilised several platforms to send localised warnings and instructions to people cut off by the floods, or who may be in imminent danger. Social media’s prevalence in Australia is certainly highlighted by the simple fact Twitter comments and conversations are forming the basis, or sparking, news stories for the daily newspaper or news bulletin.

4.    Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are clear frontrunners in terms of social engagement in the US. However, within the last two years, location based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR have come onto the scene, and brands have encouraged consumer engagement by incentivizing users to check in at various locations.

Here is an example of a campaign with the American Football team the Washington Redskins: “Washington Redskins Kick-Off Foursquare to Reward Loyal Fans” Have you seen any activity from these sites or similar networks?

 I’ve noticed an increasing amount of my friends on Facebook utilising Foursquare to “check in” at various locations, however I haven’t yet seen organisations grasping the potential of platforms such as Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR.

Indeed, this was one of the major criticisms of A-League clubs I noted in “A-League Twit or Miss”. During my research for the article, one of my interviewees told me that professional Australian sporting organisations should always look to the US for great examples of digital activations and brand building. This led me to an interview I found online with the Executive Vice President of the New York Jets, Mr Matthew Higgins, who spoke about his clubs intentions to utilise the aforementioned geolocations tools at home games, in order to push out promotions, increase the clubs sense of community, and so on.

From my knowledge of American sports, I understand NFL, NBA and MLB clubs are some of the best supported and most lucrative organisations in the world. So, I questioned, if the utilisation of platforms such as Foursquare is good enough for the hugely supported, money making sports giant that is the New York Jets, why aren’t the relatively poorly supported A-League club who financially finish in the red year on year seeking to exploit them? Generally, I feel the connection between Australia’s established and growing social media usage and the intent for A-League soccer clubs to exploit these lines of engagement isn’t where it should, and needs to be. 

5.    Lastly, you are well linked in to the sports scene; share a few sites or blogs that you would recommend if we wanted to follow sports in Australia. 

If you’re avid about soccer the best places to go are The World Game (http://www.theworldgame.com.au) and FourFourTwo (au.fourfourtwo.com). Both these sites offer news, opinion, user forums and blogging communities, and both are active with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. More generally, Sportal (www.sportal.com.au) cover a host of sports including those popular namely in Australia – Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Australia Rules Football. The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers site (www.smh.com.au) also offers a quality mix of reports and analysis on a wide variety of Australian and international sports. 

 

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Hi everyone! Happy New Year! I wanted to start off with video update on the latest from Socially Diverse. Enjoy!

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Several people have mentioned this TED talk by Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices) to me over the last few months, but I just made the time to really watch it. So many points made during his presentation resonate with me and are in line with what I'd like to accomplish with Socially Diverse. 

If you haven't seen it, give it a gander. 

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I am back from China and *almost* over the jetlag period! Now that I can successfully stay up past 9pm and sleep the entire night, I wanted to return to blogging, so this will be my first in a series of posts about my time in China.

First, I should give some background on how this all came to be.

Though I blog at PR Prescriptions and here at the Socially Diverse project, I work full time in Washington, DC with the digital arm of the global PR firm APCO Worldwide. While working on the initial plan for Socially Diverse at home, an interesting opportunity called the Global Employee Scholarship Program presented itself at work.

To use official language, "The global employee exchange program recognizes and rewards top performing employees by providing them an opportunity to work in another APCO office with their international colleagues for a period of two to four weeks. While on the exchange, employees have the opportunity to share best practices, work on interesting client work, develop relationships with their global colleagues and learn about other cultures."

I applied, was accepted and worked with colleagues to plan an amazing trip to China. I spent the bulk of my time in the capital city of Beijing, but I was also able to spend a few days in Shanghai on the tail end of my trip.

Phenomenal. Life-changing. Eye-opening. Shocking. Enriching. All words and phrases that I could use to describe my jaunt in what many believe will be the next major world superpower. I have returned with a broader world view, an interesting look at working internationally and many insights to share in regards to online/social media work in the region. I'll split those posts between the Socially Diverse project and PR Prescriptions in the coming weeks, but I wanted to start with the best part, culture!

Below, you'll find some short videos that I shot with my Zi6 to capture the sights and sounds of China. Enjoy!

The Chinese definitely understand the need to get up & out early. Amazing that this happens all over on the weekends.

Attn Metro riders: We can no longer complain about crowds.

So great that people just show up and dance on the weekends. Men and women just having some old fashioned fun.

You just never know what you'll come across in the park.

A slice of the underground music scene in Beijing.

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Greetings from China!

I arrived safely and thought all was lost when I did my "Will it Link?" post and learned that posterous had been restricted right along with Facebook and other social sites, but I have found a way through and here I am.

Just before I left for Beijing, I had the opportunity to sit down with two great people passionate about social media and education, Yong Lee and Andrea Genevieve Michnik. Those who know me well are aware that if I wasn't in PR, I would be a teacher....In fact maybe one day soon the Gods of Master's programs will have mercy on me and provide me with a free degree so that I can become an adjunct professor. Major goal of mine, but back to Socially Diverse.

Just before I left, I was able to talk about Socially Diverse with Yong and Andrea on the second episode of the SMCEDU (Social Media Club Education Connection) podcast series.

Click here to listen: http://smcedu.ning.com/profiles/blogs/smcedu-the-podcast-episode-2.

Enjoy!!

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"...Check out our video with digital PR pro James Walker, whose PRSA conference workshop “Socially Diverse: Engaging with Diverse Communities Online” focused on reaching African-American and Hispanic audiences online..."

Here's the link to the video and the article by PR Newser reporter Tonya Garcia:

 http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/brand-pillars-are-the-foundation-of-bet-success_b7476

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During the 2010 PRSA International Conference, I announced that Socially Diverse will be headed to China. Well, the trip is quickly approaching and I'll be exploring China and Social Media while I'm there.

In the weeks leading up to the trip, I'll share some of the interesting findings with you all here. Check out the video below which speaks to the China 2.0 event sponsored by Stanford University.

Until next time,

James

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It was great to have him sit in on my presentation during the 2010 PRSA International Conference. Just after my session on Socially Diverse, Ian and I spoke about my findings from the project and trends I'm currently seeing online. Visit Ian at Professionally Speaking and give it a listen.

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Many thanks to all of you who attended the Socially Diverse session and those who could not attend but sent well wishes.

Here are the slides from my presentation. Off to another session. Enjoy!

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I've had a great time connecting with PR pros from all over the country, and it's only day one! Here are two quick video updates from inside the conference. 

Best, 

James 

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PRSA Opening Keynote

Post Keynote Thoughts

Official Program Description: 

Opening General Session Sunday, 1:00 p.m – 2:30 p.m.
Bettina Luescher, chief spokesperson of the United Nations World Food Programme

A spotlight was placed on the crucial role of public relations and communications practitioners this year as catastrophic events unfolded throughout the world, such as the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile that left victims in the hundreds of thousands in despair as they faced food shortages of epic proportions.

Bettina Luescher, chief spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Programme, will share how critical effective communication is, not only when representing your organization, but also when working to spur the world into action during times of crisis. Learn how the United Nations handles communications during disasters like those in Haiti and Chile as Luescher reflects on her efforts to raise awareness of the hunger issue, and help communities rebuild their shattered lives. 

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide that works to bring the issue of hunger to the center of the international agenda. It strives to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in 73 countries, working hard to get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters.

Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder, POLITICO

Recently named by Vanity Fair as one of the 100 most powerful Information Age thinkers for helping to create the “model for the new media success story,” Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of POLITICO, will discuss the need for news and information, and how you can successfully navigate today’s “information environment.” He also will share his thoughts on the communication discipline and the mid-term elections.

VandeHei is a regular political analyst on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and is a frequent guest on numerous cable and network television programs. In 2000, he was namedThe Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, and covered the first year of President George W. Bush’s administration. He also was the first representative of a primarily online news organization to serve on the Pulitzer Prize Board.

In early 2007, along with John F. Harris and Allbritton Communications, VandeHei launched the nonpartisan political journalism organization, POLITICO, and quickly established it as one of the leading new media companies in the nation. Drawing on 15 years of experience in Washington, D.C., journalism, he helps direct POLITICO’s editorial content and oversees its business strategy. The company’s more than 100 employees focus on amalgamating the old media values of fairness and accuracy with the speed and immediacy of new technologies.

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While Socially Diverse is an exploration on the array of diversity found online, it is no secret that I also pay attention to the lack of diversity in the PR industry. 

Though there's a lot of room for improvement, there are many PR practitioners from diverse backgrounds who are very active in the industry. One place you might want to check when doing some background is the PRSA Diversity Today blog. That is exactly how I found Manny Ruiz! 

Manny and I discussed a good bit of the interesting work he's done in the industry, his take on "mommy bloggers" vs blogs by dads, and then zeroed in on his "guide for creative parenting tricks" - PapiBlogger. Enjoy!

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Name: Manny Ruiz

Age (or range if that’s better): 40

Blog: PapiBlogger

Twitter handle: @papiblogger

Profession: Entrepreneur

Location: Miami, FL

Place of Origin: Miami, FL

Adopted Culture (The one you are most connected to): Cuban-American by birth but Latino at heart

1. It is rare that I’m speaking with someone about Hispanic PR and your name does NOT come up. Why did you choose PR? When did you get your start? When did you first realize that you wanted to focus on Hispanic PR and diversity in the industry?

I literally backed into PR in 1995 to survive.  I got into PR to help me transition from a career as a young and disillusioned police reporter for The Miami Herald.  I was going to study law but a number of circumstances led me to stay in PR and then here we are 15 years later!

In terms of Hispanic PR, I embraced it because very early in my PR career I realized that my last name and my heritage would lead me to be pigeonholed.  People can’t even help themselves so I thought to myself, “if I’m going to be pigeonholed I might as well become a Super Pigeon.”   I don’t regret it because I’ve gotten more opportunities being a “Super Pigeon” than I would have battling barriers.  Ironically, the Silver Anvils and PR Week Campaign of the Year awards that I’ve won are from the prominent role I played in the anti-tobacco “truth” campaign.  It’s for general mainstream PR work and not Hispanic.   

2. You have achieved many firsts and made waves in the industry, including the launch of Hispanic PR Wire, founding and serving as media relations director of the National Hispanic Market Practice of Porter Novelli and being one of the catalyst “PRSA Diversity Today” podcast, now you’re focused on adding your perspective to the blogosphere. 

Tell us about Papiblogger. What’s the focus? Who is your primary audience? What do you hope to accomplish with this blog?

PapiBlogger is a web site that features a compilation of my weird “parenting tricks” or recipes.   I thought it would be neat to create a blog that seeks to gather all these interesting and helpful tricks that parents often know but don’t readily share.   As I’ve delved deeper into PapiBlogger I’ve also discovered that I am the ONLY Latino father blogger in the nation.   I feel compelled to produce more content now that is relevant to my experience as a Latino father and not just focus on parenting tricks.

3. What is the most interesting connection you’ve made with someone online as a result of Papiblogger?

Our online presence has led to national coverage for my blog on the Hispanic equivalent of Good Morning America called “Despierta America.”  I’ve also connected with National Public Radio and have met other daddy bloggers.  I’m fielding more and more requests to talk about what it’s like being a Latino father because, like I said, I’m currently the only serious Latino father blogger in the nation.

4. You had the great opportunity to take your family on a 46 day, cross-country trip sponsored by Chevrolet. Tell us about the Papiblogger Family Road Trip and how that came to be?

We were supposed to take our kids on a trip to Italy but those plans got nixed because of scheduling problems I had around the first annual Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference that I organized in Dallas this past May.  My wife and I worked real hard for that conference to be the success that it was and I figured that since I just launched PapiBlogger it would be cool to think of a vacation that was over the top.  The result was a 46-day, 12,000 mile, 33-state PapiBlogger Family Road Trip.  We approached McDonald’s, Sprint Nextel, Chevrolet and Sony to sponsor this one of a kind Latino family adventure and from the start they loved it!  We chronicled every day of this great adventure on our blog with stories, photos and videos.  Along the way we had the best vacation of our lives and a wonderful Hispanic social media case study.  

5. There is a great deal of attention directed to “mommybloggers,” but you rarely see dads in the general discussion about parenting online. Why do think that is? Do you foresee any shifts or expansion in the discussion to include more fathers in the future?

Moms get the attention because they are perceived as the major decision makers when it comes to household purchases and the marketers almost universally believe that dads only buy cars, video games and cologne.  Another reason why mom bloggers are vastly ahead in this game is because they blog in such greater numbers than dads and until now dad bloggers have not united to support each other as the moms have.  Unfortunately, until research and dad bloggers don’t make a stronger factual case indicating that they actually buy groceries or at least influence many of the things that are purchased marketers will heap all the money and attention on mommy bloggers.  I don’t think that’s going to change.  What is going to change is that following the recent M3 Modern Media Man Summit, the first of its kind for male bloggers, male bloggers will unite. I think we will succeed in showing marketers how they need to include us more in their blogger campaigns. 

6. I recently interviewed MochaDad, a great father representing the African-American community. He shared that not many in his immediate circle of friends who are dads actually blog and share their perspective.

As a Hispanic father giving your take on raising kids, do you have a community of dads that are connected online and off?

No, unfortunately I still don’t.  Most of my readers (65%) are women.  I think Latino men are generally not used to talking about parenting online and that’s part of what I want to explore more with PapiBlogger.  I think we will achieve this and we’ll have a story to tell soon!

7. When I started Socially Diverse, I had a simple goal: highlighting interesting, diverse conversations online and the people who lead them. I am glad we were able connect for a few reasons. It’s always great to meet a fellow PR professional, and I’m glad that I can share the perspective of an active, engaged blogger from the Hispanic community.

Out of the many communities you represent (Cuban, “Miamian,” etc), are there any blogs or sites that you would recommend that we explore?

MyLatinoVoice.com, MamaContemporanea.com and Mami2Mommy.com are good in different ways.  

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I am very excited to announce that I will be bringing the insights, interviews and profiles from Socially Diverse to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) 2010 International Conference!

Hundreds of Public Relations professionals will be descending on the national's capital, my current home, for the annual conference. With the theme "Powering PRogress," the 2010 conference will feature nearly 90 panel discussions and presentations over three days.

I will presenting on Monday October 18th, 2010 from 945am-11am. For conference attendees, the official designation and descriptions are below.

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Track 3: Specialization & Practice Areas

Socially Diverse: Engaging with Diverse Communities Online

Embark on a journey through social media — both the blogosphere and social networks. Explore the findings of the presenter’s six-month journey through social media, during which he engaged with active members from several online communities. Gain understanding of how to identify, analyze and engage with active participants of diverse communities and social interactions, and also learn how to create a social media home base from which all online activities can operate. Find out how to create a sustained online presence, and continue to develop relationships. The knowledge and insight gained from this session will prove invaluable as you move through the process of brainstorming, pitching and execution.

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I sincerely hope that as you plan your conference itinerary you will consider adding Socially Diverse to your list. If you're looking for a guide, Amanda Miller Littlejohn has a great group started of presentations to attend. 

For those of you who cannot be on ground, be sure to look for updates throughout the conference here and on twitter - hashtag: #socdiv.

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