Through my RSS feed I get blog posts from the sites I subscribe to, work and calendar notices through project management portals, Twitter searches for business – you can get almost any type of notice or news. It’s great.
Especially when someone like Ofer Wolberger, a commissioned New York photographer, uses the web with full sharing in mind (2.0, yo!). He has a series called The Photographic Project at his blog, Horses Think. The gist is simple: he posts one of his images. If you are the first to respond, he will send it to you on his dime.
A couple weeks ago, thanks to a timely reed of my RSS feed, I was quickest to draw. And now I have an original image of a cowboy on horseback in San Antonio:
I don’t exactly recall how I came about Ofer’s blog. I think it was through another photographer I follow. But I’m glad that I did. I really enjoy his images.
If you look at this through marketing glasses, there’s no better way to extend your reach for so little. All it takes is a little elbow grease and minor expenses.
You may recall I took part in the TweetUp blood drive a couple months back. Just today I got my donor card (”A neg”, BTW), so maybe it’s time to help again.
The facts surrounding hunger in Austin are staggering:
• One in five adults and one in four children in Texas is hungry.
• 41,000 children under 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.
• 61% of Austin Independent School District (AISD) students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
• 12.6% of Travis County individuals live below the Federal poverty level ($18,850 for a family of four)
[stats pulled from Michelle's blog]
Social media works in so many different ways for everyone, but it’s really great for NFPs. Perhaps it’s the giving nature of online participants, but the word spread and this social exposure prompted Tyson Foods to donate 100 pounds of protein if they got 350 comments on their blog. It took just six hours, and when it reached 420 comments they took the entry down. Social media in action right there.
September is Hunger Action Month (HAM) and Saturday, September 13th is the HAMup TweetUP. Jury is still out on what it will involve, but I’ve got my own ideas brewing on how to raise awareness and food donations, and I’ll be posting about them here.
The adult Doyles are on the left side - I’m piggybacking on the wife’s business trip to UX Week. It’s the first vacation sans kids and we’re very excited to be here, though we can’t help but think about the fun Katie and Patrick will have when we travel here as a family.
There is so much to do and see. SF has a real entrepreneurial vibe, just like Austin. You get the same weirdness, too.
Without taking up too much vacation time, here are some additional observations about San Francisco, CA:
- This place is filled with Europeans. Damn dollar.
- Speaking of, most Euro males love old Nike Hightops.
- High in the mid 60’s. Friday in Texas is going to be a shock.
- It’s hilly here. Yeah, that’s right, hilly.
- I could eat fresh seafood with every meal if I wanted.
- People are nice and the police, even nicer (seriously).
- Lots of Asians here, too. Damn dollar. Wait…
- The Golden Gate Park is the coolest municipal place I’ve been. Figures that it was built by Olmsted. That man was a genius designer.
- The Haight isn’t what it was, but I like to think about the free thought it provokes.
- Tonight we’re seeing my cousin Billy Doyle and meeting his girl. I’m really excited - I felt thisclose to Billy as a kid.
- Yeah, that’s right, Billy the Kid.
- Turns out, I like to be a tourist. But cool metro places make me miss Chicago.
- Hotel Nikko is the shit. Union Square is not, but I like the place we’re in.
- I forgot how much I love the Land Rover Defender (primer to Twitter info below)
- It’s super expensive to live here. I mean, extremely expensive.
- Hanging out in neighborhood places always beats a downtown locale. Seems to be that way across the board.
I’ve “Tweeted” a bunch more about out visit. “Tweet, what’s that?” you may say. “Sounds silly”.
A Tweet is a microblog post. Here, on my blog, I could write a novel and then post it. But on Twitter (where one “tweets”), you get 140 characters and you can upload images. That’s how I’ve been documenting the trip.
Go to my Twitter page to see what we’ve been up to. If you click on TwitPic links, you’ll see images from my posts.
If you’re still confused about Twitter, watch this fantastic video:
If you join Twitter, contact me so we can follow one another.
A quick note - I want to leave with a huge heartfelt thank you to Karen and Corky. if it wasn’t for your generosity, we wouldn’t be here. Thanks for watching the twins.
