Local Hashtags: A Twitter Proposal

June 24, 2009 By

[Loooong post alert. Grab a coffee.]

So, the past week has brought a lot of interesting events and happenings in Kingston. From PAB, to Doors Open, from Teddy Bears to Music Festivals and from fires…. to, well, bigger fires. I’ve been watching it all very closely on Twitter and trying to keep up.  It’s been hard, though, because while big events (like PAB) have dedicated hashtags, smaller going-ons never do. We chatted about this a bit at the last meetup, too, and are beginning to think of a solution, but I’ve been doing some more thinking on my own, too.

First, I pondered the idea of a single, generic tag that could cover all local events. Something like #kingstonon, or #kngon (to keep it short – on Twitter, every character counts) or something like our airport code #ygk… But none of that seemed right – a sweepstakes at the mall and a parade downtown then share the same tag… And until local events begin to have their own tags, that’s going to get very confusing, very quickly. So I thought we could break up the city in a way that would make sense… And the more I thought about this, the more I realized it was already done – by Canada Post!

The Down-Low on Postal Codes

Ahh, the postal codes – something I’ve been developing more of a personal interest in. The postal code system in Canada is set up with 6 characters, three letters and three numbers, formatted as D1E 2F3. The first three characters are the FSA (Forward Station Area) which break down a specific area of a province or city and the last three are the LDU (Local Delivery Unit) pinpoint a specific area within the FSA such as a street, block or sometimes a single building. Because of the way the FSAs work in Kingston – I decided that breaking the city up along those lines made the most sense. If you want to learn more about postal codes, check Wikipedia.

The Hashtags

So I’m proposing we begin tagging news, events, important updates and similar using the FSA as a hashtag. I’ve set up a rough map showing the rough areas according to the Canada Post map. I’m also providing a list of major landmarks within each hashtag zone, along with a specified suggested colour. Click on the read more link below to read all about the new tag zones for Kingston. Part of the beauty of this system is that it can be easily adapted for use anywhere across the country.

I’d appreciate feedback on the hashtags – the idea is to help bring the community together on this, so redefining them together is alright by me. Also, if I missed any notable landmarks, I’d appreciate knowing those, too.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Archives, Local, Projects, Twitter

#FollowFriday for April 24th, ’09

April 24, 2009 By

Just a quickie this time.

In celebration of PodCamp London happening this weekend, I’m sending my #followfriday picks out to @billdeys and @picard102.

Bill and I first met hanging out at ‘The Slip’, the lounge at the Holiday Inn at PAB ’06. We got in touch again shortly thereafter and have kept in touch ever since. We cross paths mostly via Skype, uStream and Podcasts – and toss the occasional hotel party into the mix for fun.

John, PodCamp London’s designer, and I met for the first time at PCTO09, but we’ve communicated via Twitter earlier. I’m a HUGE fan of his design work and haven’t seen a piece of his work yet that I haven’t enjoyed.

That’s it for now!

Filed Under: Archives, Twitter

My #FollowFriday for March 27th, 2009

March 27, 2009 By

So, before I get to this week’s suggestions, I need to do a little catching up. I’ve been known to forget #FollowFriday regularly, so I’ve only got a few, but here they are – along with date and reason:

February 20th: @markfox – I’ve only met Mark once, though we’ve said we’re going to arrange another meeting soon. I gave him my first reccomendation for two reasons: A) He’d recently lost his job and thought I could make him smile with it, and B) Though he doesn’t blog regulary, he DOES have a “bowling” category… Which rocks. It also helped that he was local.

February 27th (Ok, 28th): @kingstonist – Harvey and I had been working like crazy on the new Kingstonist site, and he’d held out from joining Twitter for so long that I HAD to give him the plug once he singed up. If you haven’t checked out the K’ist yet, you should.

March 20th: @sarahamil and @gongshowj – My first DOUBLE reccomendation! Not something you’ll see often, I’d imagine. Sara and Jeremy regularly make the trip in for the monthly LNMG meetups. Sara drives – Jeremy drinks. It seems to work. It’s great to see them make the trip in, even through snow and ice, for a drink and some chat. I threatened Sara that I’d start a #unfollowsara meme. Sorry Sara – I lied.

So – that brings me to this week’s picks… And I’m back to a single – but with a twist! My wife’s been sick the last week or so, and I thought it might be nice to let her do the picking… So this week’s choice is:

March 27th: @lilyjmills – The story of my wife, Lily and I is actually pretty “small world”-ish. At PAB08, I was talking with someone about my wife and how she grew up in Simcoe, Ontario. Lily, at the next table over, asked me to repeat what I’d said as she grew up there too. Well, moments later, we discover that Lily actually grew up practically next door to my wife, knew her (and her family) and was close friends with my sister-in-law. It was surreal.

So that’s it! Follow all five of them to complete the collection!

Filed Under: Archives, Twitter

Meet @limestonetweets

March 23, 2009 By

So, slowly but surely, new online media stuff in Kingston is starting to grab hold. There are still [mostly] monthly meetups taking place to talk web technology and social networking, there are radio stations, newspapers and hockey teams on Twitter, and there’s a killer blog that’s starting to gain momentum. The last, oh, 6 months or so have seen an EXPLOSIVE amount of locals on Twitter, likely in a growth rate that rival’s the main site, and I thought it was time to do something with it.

So about 2 months ago, sitting alone in a hotel room, I created @limestonetweets. It’s a twitter account devoted entirely to the local Tweet scene and those involved in it. Beyond that, though, it’s been an experiment for me on multiple fronts:

  1. @limestonetweets is a directory, more than it is a soap box. The account follows(*) only people in (and around) Kingston, making it a perfect “first stop” for people in the city to find, and connect with, other locals. Sure, I use it occasionally to gather feedback, or announce a meetup, but it’s “following” list is a directory first and foremost.
  2. It’s also a chat room. Any DM sent to the account is broadcasted to the world – giving locals a chance to announce where they are to the whole community at once, and allowing for completely impromptu meetups to happen. Yes, similar COULD happen using something like BrightKite… but that’s not where the masses are.
  3. The account has also served as the test of my own abilities to manage multiple accounts. Verdict? Still out. For a while, I was really good at followbacks – that’s been tricky recently, but doable.
  4. It’s also been interesting to watch how the account has shifted from me working like mad to find locals, to other people finding it through friends. I spent hours combing the Twitterverse in serach of people from Kingston Ontario – as apposed to the Kingstons in Nova Scotia, Jamaica or the UK – to follow. These days? Not so much.
It’s a fun little experiment, though, and I think it’s proving useful.  I’m hopeful that in time, it’ll connect more people together and help the community in Kingston grow. That said, if you know someone I’m not yet following with it (I just cleared out a backlog) send me a personal @ or DM – or send a message @limestonetweets.
* More specifically, the software I’m using for the DM chat room stuff auto-follows, and I periodically go in and pull anyone not in the area. It’s toally a judgement call, but I err, usually, on the side of acceptance. I do, though, sometimes go through it’s list of followers, and see who they’re following, and who’s following them, to find other locals.
As an aside, hello blogosphere – It’s been too long.
Filed Under: Archives, Local, Projects, Twitter

Sit… Stay… Read… Good!

October 20, 2008 By

So – for those following me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been given a fancy new (But secret) job. Those of you reading the blog alone… well… probably don’t. But you do now!

For the past couple of weeks I have been SUPER excited. Not long after my last post, I got a call from a friend in the new media space that I’d seen a couple of times at events. We actually had a nice long talk about a few different topics at PAB this year and have kept in touch (fairly) regularly since. He called to ask about having me help him out on a couple of projects of his and I ended the call with the biggest smile on my face I think I’d ever had. And the closer I got to my start date, the more excited I became.

My New Gig

I am totally thrilled to finally announce that as of today I’m joining Marko to help out with both pets.ca and photography.ca!

I don’t have an “official” title over there yet… Though I’ll come up with one soon enough… But I’ll be helping out with both the website development and makeover, as well as online community building and development. It’s very much a hybrid of what I was doing with the team at TalkShoe, mixed with what I was doing on the side and the fit couldn’t be better. My first tasks will be with the pet site, and we’re going to expand my roles from there.

Sharing Pages

Part of the reason that I’m so excited about this role is that Marko and I see very eye-to-eye on a lot of things. We’ve spent a great number of hours since our initial call a few weeks ago talking about the site, where it is, where it’s been and where it’s going – and we’re both looking at the same possibilities. It seems that every time him or I have a question for the other, we almost already know the answer before we ask it because the answer is generally exactly what we would hope it to be.

The site already has a vibrant community on it’s message boards, so that’s where I’m starting. My first role is to work with the community – and Marko, of course – to develop a new look, feel and style for the site.

So that’s my new role! I’ve turned down the other offer that had me breaking out in a sweat, and am smiles all over to be starting this one. Marko’s a fantastic, community-focused, down to earth guy and I couldn’t be happier to work with him.

Filed Under: Archives, Projects, Social Media

Changing Shoes

May 22, 2008 By

I started with TalkShoe about a year and a half ago now after hearing about it though various sources and falling in love with the idea and the platform. After a marathon weekend spending every waking moment playing with the service and teaching it to others I was offered my spot as the only full-time support representative. I was thrilled. Six months in, and with a better understanding of our users, I moved to my community development role and have been active with our users on a daily basis ever since.

The whole TalkShoe experience (The platform, product, staff and users) has been incredible and there hasn’t been a day where I haven’t loved being a part of the team – or the community – that makes TalkShoe work. But like every good pair of shoes, sometimes a change is needed: So I’ve decided to leave TalkShoe at the end of the month.

The More Things Change

While my time at TalkShoe is coming to a close, it doesn’t change my connections to the people I’ve met along the way. I’ll still be on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and will still be reading the blogs and listening to podcasts. It doesn’t affect some conference plans, either. I’ll still be attending (and helping) with those, too. And hey, maybe I’ll actually start writing in the blog more.

The team at TalkShoe has invited me to remain dedicated to the community and I intend to do just that. So while I won’t be as active in the community or interacting with the staff as much as usual, it also means I’m not going to be abandoning the Ning or the Facebook stuff quite yet. My email address will still work and I’ll still be answering questions, too.

Looking Forward

I’ve always looked toward the future with a fearful anticipation – nervous of change, but excited to try something new. It’s with this attitude that this exit is being made and my next steps are being planned. I’m looking, right now, at stepping toward the consulting and public speaking worlds – helping business and individuals get a handle on what this whole new media thing is. That said, I’m always open to the opportunity to work with a new team on something exciting.

The time I had at TalkShoe has been amazing and I’ve made some incredible connections as a result. It’s been an absolute honour to work with a team as diverse and intelligent as they are. The whole team knows I hope for nothing but great success for all of them. They deserve it.

That’s it for now – until next time.

Filed Under: Archives, Personal, Social Media
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