Some wonder why I bother with social media and blogging! My answer is that if you ain't telling your story, someone else will tell your story! You want that?Here's someone who learned it the hard way, the TMT spokesperson“I’ve known for a while that our Facebook page needed updating and it seemed like at the time, there were so many other more important things to do than update a Facebook page,” she said.In the past few weeks, she has realized how many people social media can pull in, dwarfing the reach of local public hearings. Dawson now plans to hiring a college intern to handle the social media for the telescope.“We will not drop that ball again,” she said.
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Sandra Dawson has handled community outreach for the TMT in Hawaii for seven years. At age 66, she’s not very familiar with sites like Twitter and Instagram and hasn’t relied on social media for community outreach in the past.
Instead, she has focused on getting to know people on the Big Island personally by serving on the local Chamber of Commerce, joining the Merrie Monarch parade and attending local events such as the school robotics tournament.
“I’ve known for a while that our Facebook page needed updating and it seemed like at the time, there were so many other more important things to do than update a Facebook page,” she said.
In the past few weeks, she has realized how many people social media can pull in, dwarfing the reach of local public hearings. Dawson now plans to hiring a college intern to handle the social media for the telescope.
“We will not drop that ball again,” she said.
Gwen Woltz, co-founder of the local social media firm Wahine Media, doesn’t have an opinion on the Mauna Kea controversy. But she said it’s a clear indication of the power of social media.
While hashtags like #TMTshutdown helped unify the opposition to the telescope, the delayed response shows a lack of planning on the part of the telescope proponents, she said.
“They certainly didn’t plan for the worst and now they’re kind of seeing the results of that,” she said. “That’s unfortunate because maybe they do have some awesome things to say and maybe it could have been different if they had a more proactive approach.”
This is the age of social media! This is the age where people can just post a picture to their smartphone and make it go worldwide in an instant!
If you're doing any project that could be controversial, ALWAYS be prepared for battle! Your opponents will show no mercy! Their followers will tweet to their friends and then what? What are you going to do? When are you going to strike back? The longer you wait, the more it seems like you got something to hide!
Always be ready to tell your story!
Write a blog, and write as much as you can!
Use your blog posts to back you up just in case someone says something inaccurate about you or something you are passionate about!
If you have video capabilities, use that too! That way, those who can't (or don't want to) read and can hear from you!
After all, it is you who has to tell your story! Nobody else!
