Fergus Falls learns a thing or two about social media

Folks from Fergus Falls and the surrounding area learned last night that "Twitter" is not the sound a bird makes, and "mashup" isn't what you do to your potatoes--at least not on the Web.

Participants of the blogging and social media workshops held at West Central Initiative on June 23 broadened both their vocabulary and Web 2.0 knowledge. The workshops were presented by Tim Erickson from E-Democracy.Org.

Erickson encouraged the group to consider how they could use some of the online tools to engage their communities. He shared sites that were doing just that, like Locally Grown Northfield and new york mills mn. He also encouraged participants to look at how they can share their interests, concerns and info with others through blogging. Some examples include Lida Farm, Travels with Children, Bluestem Prairie, oh, and West Central Blogger, of course!

Tim also recommended these fun, short "how-to" online videos:
Blogs in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
Social Media in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English
Online Photo Sharing in Plain English

Finally, here is Tim's list of things to keep in mind when starting/keeping a blog (in a nutshell):

1. Figure out who your audience is.
2. Keep it personal.
3. Read other blogs.
4. Link to other blogs.
5. Post regularly.
6. Just do it.