I just finished editing a video project for my first client in 2010. I figure the rest of the year will be down hill now. LOL.
So the backstory goes: I’ve attended Kennesaw State’s social media unconference (SoCon) since the first year in 2007. Each year, I voluntarily produced a video for MyUrbanReport. In 2007 and 2008 I produced a video package. In 2009 I produced a live stream. Why do I volunteer my talents?
One of SoCon’s co-founders Leonard Witt is one of my social media mentors. When I first moved to Atlanta and worked at Black Family Channel. I found Len’s name while researching citizen journalism. That started me down the path of blogging, and soon after that video blogging. The rest is history.
Witt was one of my first web video interviewees back in 2006.
This year I was compensated for producing the SoCon video. I wanted to produce something that was professional and captured the excitement of the event.
I smiled when I got this email from Witt earlier today:
I just got to see your SoCon10 video. My reaction: Amani ….IS …Fantastic ….And Creative. We love it. It is really great. Thanks.
I was pleasantly surprised when I received an e-mail from my social media colleague Wayne Sutton, a few days ago asking for some information about my background for a series he was planning for Black History Month called “28 Days of Diversity.”
Sutton explained his plan to showcase people who are making an impact on the social web. Though he asked me to remain mum about his request, I received a heads up that he would feature me today.
This is a great strategy for several reasons: 1) It’s giving exposure to some of the top people of color in the Webosphere; 2) It allows us to learn about each other, and possibly build relationships; 3) It helps Wayne build his brand as a thought leader, communicator and he’ll increase his reach though links and conversations that are created by this effort.
I met Wayne IRL (Twitter talk for in real life) in 2008 at SoCon08. I was immediately drawn in because his avatar is kind of similar to mine. He also has a passion for video technology, as well as anything else social. I also remember seeing a video that he posted from his car ride to Atlanta.
I of course had to interview him for the SoCon08 video I produced.
Why would he want to feature Amani Channel? If you’re just finding my blog for the first time, I’m a journalist at heart. I’ve worked in broadcast news as a reporter for more than ten years, but I fell in love with social media in 2006. I’ve always been fascinated with video and news ever since I was a kid.
You see, I was raised in a small city called East Palo Alto in the SF bay area that had a gansterous reputation. I was baffled at why the news would only come around when there were gunshots. There must have been good stories to tell right? I could go into the narrative, but produced this video that will show what I mean.
So in the past three years, I’ve worked at two networks that have shut down, news freelance opportunities are slim, and many newsrooms are chopping heads like it’s the French revolution.
It’s a sad state of affairs on one hand, but also a needed smack in the face for news corporations traded quality journalism for the paper chase. The Internet is forcing people to create new business models and that’s opening to doors for new media ventures.
In the meantime, I’ve been able to rebrand myself through the Internets. I’ve produced hundreds of video podcasts, and mobile videos with my iPhone. I now speak, teach, produce professional videos and do some consulting.
I can’t forget to mention that I now work in public broadcasting at PBA as the community manager for LensonAtlanta.
I know that I have a lot of knowledge that can help journalists make the transition into the digital space, but they have to stop chasing fire engines first and slow down to pay attention to what the people really need to know.
Thanks Wayne, and congrats to everyone else who is being featured this month!
Atlanta City Councilperson Kwanza Hall Presents Proclamation
What started as a vague concept four years ago has developed into an emerging industry in the Southeast according to some. The leading thinkers in the Southeast’s social media scene gathered in Atlanta over the weekend to network, share strategies, and ways technology is changing the way we communicate at Socon10.
This was my fourth SoCon, and the best yet. I’ve been there from day one, and like many of the originals, I had no idea what social media was back in 2007. I had this blog, a few videos on YouTube, and a passion for video production, news, and an interest in learning more about how new media was impacting our lives.
Fast forward to 2010. Twitter and Facebook are household names, just about everyone is a SM expert, but still many are trying to figure how to use SM to maximize its benefit.
Here’s what stood out to me:
Social media is now on the political radar. Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall attended for the second time and presented a proclamation from the city of Atlanta during the opening session. Hall believes that SM is an emerging industry in this region and said that he wants to support the community and businesses.
News broadcasters are getting active in the community. I noticed a couple of local broadcasters including Chris Sweigart who works at 11AliveNews, and CNN anchor Tony Harris attended. In addition, I had the honor to meet a former CNN executive named Mike Klein who attended for the first time. I’m still not sure why more news pros aren’t more engaged, but I’m sure more will follow suit. As a news broadcaster myself, I could go on and on about the value of SM, but perhaps on a later post.
Community building can be challenging unless you’re Coke: Keynote speaker Carol Kruse, the Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for Coke shared valuable insights into how the company leverages social media. She admitted that Coke is still figuring it out, and said that Coke fans have taken the lead in helping to build Coke’s online presence. She also said that technology is changing so rapidly that it’s easier to use popular free platforms like Facebook to engage the community.
Analytics is essential: Keynote speaker Dan Siroker, the Deputy New Media Director for Obama’s Presidential campaign shared his secrets on how he helped the President raise 300-million dollars. Tests, tests, and more tests…
Meeting IRL (in real life) is better than a tweet: I met more than a few people at SoCon, many of whom I’d already had some back and forth over the Internets. As valuable as sending a tweet, or message on FB is, nothing is like a handshake, a smile and a little conversation.
It’s hard to trend on Twitter: Last year #socon09 trended nationwide on Twitter, this year it trended in Atlanta only. I think that speaks to the growing popularity of Twitter.
SoCon and Video:
I’ve become the unofficial video producer at SoCon (though it looks like I may have some competition from Steve Burns . The first two years, I produced MUR episodes about the event. Last year, I live streamed the morning session, and this year I did both (well I’m still working on the video). I also hosted a breakout session on creating mobile media with your cell phone.
Sounds busy right? I had a few challenges with the live stream, and ended up using my MacBook Pro. For some reason UStream only recorded the tail end of Carol Krues’ presentation, but it looks like Siroker’s entire keynote is there.
Producing the Live stream: I set up in the back of the room because the audio feed was there. Initially, I was going to use my Canon camcorder to live stream. There was some kind of video glitch however, and I had to use my laptop instead. My Mac’s iSight camera worked pretty well. The audio was acceptable, but the video was a wide shot with the backs of heads, and the speakers faces weren’t distinguishable. Overall, it turned out better than I expected. About 40 people tuned in.
The video glitch was actually a blessing in disguise because it freed me up to shoot broll during the opening session. I basically “sprayed” the room, gathering wide, medium, and tight shots of the audience and the spreakers. I also interviewed several of the main players with my Canon XL1 later in the day. It will probably take me a few days to edit the final video. Stay tuned.
My Breakout Session: I once again used my blog to present this breakout session. I showed some videos, used SlideShare, demonstrated how to use Qik, Kyte, and UStream to share video with a cell phone. In the spirit of an unconference, I entertained questions and encouraged conversation the whole way through.
Finally, I’d like to thank SoCon organizers including Leonard Witt, Ellen Miller, Carole Arnold and everyone else who helped make this conference a success. Thanks to everyone who took a moment to shake my hand or attend my session. And thank you for taking a moment out of your busy life to stop by my small piece of the digerati.
You’ve heard all about Twitter, but still don’t really get it. I’m begining to wonder how many Twitter users get it. I’ve gotten Twitter spam, see accounts where people just blurt out marketing messages with no two-way engagement, and automated accounts with no signs of human life.
To start off with, Twitter is a micro blog. It’s similar to a blog in that you can update information frequenlty. I like to liken the community to a chat room, however you select the conversations, and users that you receive messages from. The limit to these messages or “tweets” is 140 characters.
Twitter is a valuable tool for news because it allows you to easily monitor what other news organizations are covering 24/7 (as long as they are actively on Twitter), engage in conversations with the community, identify news sources, brand your content and drive traffic.
Twitter can be effective when you “tweet” regularly, have two-way conversations with your followers, re-tweet (quote) tweets from other users who are sharing interesting content, and use hash-tags to aggregate news.
In developing your Twitter strategy try to share information that adds value to the community and can establish you as the source of quality information. Below are some general communications methods:
Engage in two-way conversations: Use @username to send a publicly visible tweet to another user. For example: “@charlesedwards1 What are you working on today?” All of your followers will see that you are asking Charles a question.
Direct Messages: Twitter allows you to send private tweets similar to e-mail. This is called a Direct Message or DM. DMs are limited to 140 characters
Re-tweet: A re-tweet (RT) is the highest compliment on Twitter; it means that someone finds so much value in your tweet that they want to share it with their followers. For example: RT @charlesedwards1 (followed by the original tweet). You should always give RT credit when sharing a tweet that originated from another community member. Tip: Make sure your tweet doesn’t take the entire 140 characters. It makes it harder to people to re-tweet you.
Hashtags: Hashtags are used to aggregate tweets from the community. Twitter users usually assign a hashtag which becomes adopted and used by the greater community. During the Atlanta Mayoral election, users used #atlmayor for Tweets related to the Mayor’s race. During the runoff #atlpolitics was used. By following a hashtag, a user can follow all tweets related to a certain topic. Note: Due to the limits in character length, a hashtag should be no longer than ten characters.
Hashtags seem to work best during big news events. When I was working for HDNews and covered the 2008 Hurricane season, #Ike, and #Gustav were the hashtags used to share information during the storms. I was able to have direct conversations with people on the ground, learn about areas that were being threatened, and share what I was seeing from the field.
Getting started: Once you establish your Twitter account, start by looking for other news organizations that are on Twitter (that is a great way to monitor what other stations are covering. I even got some freelance work from the AP by monitoring Twitter). You follow them by clicking “Follow.” You should also look for elected officials, public figures and other newsmakers.
The beauty with Twitter is that anyone can be a newsmaker, a fan, or “citizen journalist.” Try to follow civic minded individuals. If you like someone’s tweets follow them. They will usually reciprocate and follow you back. You can start building a rapport by sending a tweet thanking the follower for their interest.
News organizations should carefully consider the Twitter policy regarding re-tweeting information from other news sources. A news organization wants to establish its credibility as being the source of breaking news, and important information. Re-tweeting news from other credible sources could undermine these efforts.
If you have any other thoughts, ideas or questions, please leave a comment.
I own three Flip cams, and have managed to avoid paying for any of them. I have a HD Mino, the Flip Ultra, and another model which I think was one of the first generation Flips.
I’ve enjoyed using the Flip for a few reasons: 1) Tapeless workflow; 2) Small and convenient; and 3) It’s easy to use. I’ve received all of my cams at media conferences or events as give aways.
My biggest complaint is that none of the models are equipped with a mic input. As a professional news guy, a mic is a must have piece of equipment.
Audio is just as important as video. But it seems that most of the consumer camcorder manufacturers haven’t received the memo that people want to produce quality videos regardless of the size or price of the cam.
I’ve managed to get around the mic situation, by making sure background noise is a minimum during interviews. I’ve even edited a few MUR episodes using Flip b-roll and sound.
As much as I like the Flip cam, there’s a pocket cam that appears to be even better.
It’s called the Kodak Zi8. It’s about the same size, and price, but it is equipped with a mic input. Why is a mic so crucial?
Let’s say you’re at a conference and there’s a speaker you’re dying to interview for your YouTube channel or vlog. You have your Flip, but there’s a bunch of background chatter. The interviewee takes the time to answer your questions; you’re all excited about the interview, but when you go to watch it, the audio sucks. You can barely hear your questions, let alone the answers… in other words, the video is garbage.
I know it’s happened to you before, because it’s happened to me before. There are a couple of ways around having a mic. You can scout out a quiet area, and ask your interviewee if s/he minds moving, or you can buy a camera that has an external mic input. Of course you still have to buy a mic, but believe me it’s a worthy investment, especially if you’re a serious video enthusiast.
Kodak hasn’t been as aggressive as Flip with give away marketing with Zi8’s because I probably would have one or two by now, but I’m going to have to make that move.
In the meantime take a look at how SCAD’s Social Media Manager Jason Parker rigged up his Zi8.
If I told you how busy I am, that still might be an understatement. On top of being a dad, husband, grad student, full-time employee, and business owner, I’m also involved with a nonprofit called the New Leaders Council.
The NLC launched a chapter in Atlanta this year, becoming the first in the Southeast.
I could go into the story of how one of my colleagues contacted me about a year ago to share the idea; everything that was involved with getting it off the ground; the guerilla social media marketing tactics I used to spread the word; hours of meetings, conference calls, coordinating… yadda yadda yadda.
The long and short of it is that the idea became reality this past weekend. The New Leaders Council Atlanta Institute launched with 17 Fellows who will spend five months learning the ins and outs of progressive political entrepreneurship.
The organization is non-partisan, and is quickly expanding. There are a total of ten chapters nationwide which include: NY, LA, DC, SF, Boston, Chicago, Louisiana, Sacramento, San Diego and Boston.
The weekend was amazing. The two-day session focused on life entrepreneurship.
NLC Atlanta’s Honorary Advisory Board Member Kwanza Hall took time out of his busy schedule to share some of his trials and achievements in Atlanta politics.
Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall Speaks
The retreat ended with Milano Harden from The Genius Group speaking to the class about progressive entrepreneurship.
C. Milano Harden (The Genius Group)
Of course I was all over the social media. I posted about 250 photos to Flickr; was using my iPhone to instantly publish videos to the net, and my Twitter stream was on fire (I manage the @NLC_Atlanta account as well).
This is an organization to keep an eye on. There is great leadership, it’s recruiting top young progressives, and there isn’t a program like it.
Congrats to the inaugural class of NLC Fellows: Fana Abay, Matthew Arnold, Kyle Bailey, Shemariah Butts, Carlissa Carson, Stacey Chavis, Howard Franklin, Kevin Grimes, Lauren B. Jarvis, Casey Lamb, Dwayne Marshall, Daniel Moskowitz, Darius Pattillo, J.Shakir Ramsey, Menyuan Smith, Jahnisa Tate and Travis Townsend.
. The first two years, I produced MUR episodes about the event. Last year, I live streamed the morning session, and this year I did both (well I’m still working on the video). I also hosted a breakout session on creating mobile media with your cell phone.
