And the Winner(s) of the Social Media Library Are ....

Earlier this month, I participated in a social media library giveaway organized by Steve Cunningham, who like me, loves books.  He writes a blog called "Read It To Me" that summarizes business books and also hosts Webinars with authors.   This weekend I participated in a Webinar about the book The Whuffie Factor along with author Tara Hunt where we discussed how the ideas apply to nonprofits.

For the social media library giveaway I asked folks to leave a comment on how they would use the books to shape their 2010 social media strategy.   I had over 60 comments and boy was it hard to choose only one winner - so I didn't.   But the grand prize winner of the books offered by Steve are:

Erin McMahon, Metro United Way, Louisville, KY

Erin even wrote a little poetry as part of her entry.

My social media plans for 2010 involve 1) developing my own knowledge and skill set, 2) helping to develop a strategy for my organization- Metro United Way in Louisville, KY - and 3) teaching within my organization to develop the knowledge and skills of others.

I believe my new library will help me achieve all three things by prompting me to:
- FOCUS my personal learning in social media.
- ADAPT my existing social media strategy based on the new things I learn and ideas I have as a result of reading the books.
- GIVE BACK by reporting out on what I have learned and how I am using the books, both internally (within my org.) and externally (with all of your fine readers!).

Or, if I had to say it in a haiku:

GETTING A NEW SOCIAL MEDIA LIBRARY [title]

If you share with me,
I will listen, learn, adapt,
AND reciprocate!

When I announced the contest, I thought there was one important book missing, Shel Israel's Twitterville.  So I said I'd kick in my copy.  Brian Reich author of Media Rules left a comment offering to include a copy of his book.  In addition, I'm sending the winner  my review copy of Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation because I think she can learn a lot from Chapter 14 on Participation 2.0.

The runner up winner was Maureen Doyle from Open Museum

What I propose to do with the library you are offering is read it, try it, share it, and let you know how it works for me, my colleagues and the people we influence.  I am the director of a non-profit that promotes open museum practices, and we are in midst of launching a free service for arts organizations: a web site that permits any museum to create a participatory exhibit space and social network centered on the museum's collections.  As you know, it takes more than access to create a successful social media network. It takes content, strategy and elbow grease.

So if we are lucky enough to win this library, we'll read it, share it and put it through a workout with a variety of collaborators, and we'll show our appreciation by pointing to your books, citing your ideas and telling you how it goes.

A Few Whuffie Winners!

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to participate in a Webinar organized by Steve Cunningham with Tara Hunt about her book, The Whuffie Factor.   I purchased a copy as soon as it was available last May.  It's been my bible for community and relationship building.  I keep a copy of the checklist on pages 158-159 from the book right by computer.

The most interesting part of webinars is the q/a and Tara got an interesting question about how you measure Whuffie and she wrote her reflection here.  I have a some thoughts I'll add in a separate post.

Prior to moving to California, I donated thousands of my nonprofit, technology, and social media books to nonprofit libraries through some giveaways on my blog.   I kept two shelves worth of books and one was The Whuffie Factor.  Since there were so many good comments on the initial book giveaway post I'm buying four copies of The Whuffie Factor for these nonprofit folks who shared their plans:

• Claire Murray who works with Malden, MA's anti-poverty agency, providing advocacy, community organizing, pro bono legal assistance, housing assistance, fuel assistance, weatherization, child care, Head Start, free financial education and tax preparation, even special "matched" savings accounts so people can develop assets, signing them up for health care and food stamps, and a walk-in computer center for access to and training in the technology.   She has been using blogs in the computer walk-in center since 2005 (through a technical assistance grant with the CNET, I worked with them back in 2005).

• Lana Kraus is the youth engagement specialist for the Kansas Family Partnership who is using social media to build out their online resources library for substance abuse prevention. The longer-term goal is to be a resource to other agencies that participate in the partnership.

• FLYyouthDC is  creating a social media plan using the WeAreMedia wiki. For 2010, they want to build relationships with past volunteers, youth clients, family members, donors, and other supporters. "Like many nonprofits these days, decreased foundation support means we're really struggling financially. Because of this, our other big goal is to get back to grassroots fundraising, not only to help us get through these hard times, but to also create a continuous stream of funds by offering multiple ways for people to donate and to share who we are. Of course, being in touch with our supporters in so many ways means we'll also be able to thank them in just as many ways!"    This is a youth-run organization that works in the DC area.

• Johanna Bates, who has worked for a community organization in Massachusetts that will close its doors at the end of year, will venture in the world of consulting.  Johanna Bates is one of the smartest nonprofit technologists out there who has a wide range of skills including social media and so many other technical talents I can't remember.    I know Johanna is a very generous person and has volunteered for the  NTEN NTC Conference annual day of service (see a photo of her climbing a ladder in a community center in New Orleans to help install a wireless network). 

If you're reading this and you left a comment and didn't win a book,  don't be sad.  I'll be doing some more book giveaways during the holidays.  I have a big stack of review copies of books and can't wait to share some brief reviews and then give them away!

Comments

[Erin McMahon]

Thanks so much Beth for participating in the giveaway! Can't wait to start reading! And yes, I will be giving you a case study in 2010! ;)

[Debra Askanase]

Love the social media book library giveaway idea! Taking the library giveaway a step further, what I'd love to see is a lending library among nonprofit folks who want to read social media books, create a mechanism for commenting on them, and move the books and the comments on to the next person. We can all read reviews, but there's nothing like a practitioner in the real world commenting on how relevant an idea is/is not to his/her real world practice.

On a personal note, I began my professional career as a community and tenant organizer at Tri-CAP, the anti-poverty agency with which Claire Murray works. They are truly committed to eradicating poverty through empowerment, and I'm so pleased that they will benefit from The Whuffle Factor via Claire Murray.