In the Gap (of Successful Crowdsourcing) (784 hits)
Welcome Friends!
Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to read my note.
I hope my note finds you in a time of joy, prosperity, and wellness!
For most of us, there is a gap between our dreams and our realities.
What can we do while we are here?
Here, is my story of standing in the gap.
I have 2121 Facebook friends on my Veronica Haunani Fitzhugh profile. I have such a large group, because for years I was ego and popularity based and having a lot of “friends” made me feel good about myself. So, I became pretty savvy when it comes to effective use of social media. And, I am always trying to learn more.
Now, I am using my savvy to shrink and focus my Facebook friends. I want a smaller group that is mainly made up of people who support The Deep Listening Project @ http://thedeeplisteningproject.doodlekit.c... So, who do I cut?
At first, I thought I would cut all the people who did not like The Deep Listening Project Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheDeepListeningP... Currently, 210 liked the page.
I learned only 5% of my social media network knows what is going on with me.
Mass invites to like facebook pages are no longer an effective method to attract mass attention. Everyone has a page! People have privacy filters, so they do not receive like requests. Liking pages is a low priority form of communication, so some people think they will get back to looking at the page and forget or never follow through.
The particular solicitor offered to develop a mass email letter requesting support that would be automated and sent to all of my network individually.
Right now, I have no budget. So, I decided to go down the facebook page invited list and send an email to all who were invited with no response. The email advised I noticed they did not like or donate to the project. Then, it asked for feedback as to why, so I could improve the project and make it more fundable.
The response was phenomenal. Most people responded with either liking and sharing the page, promising future financial support after the budget busting holidays, offering me media coverage, or advising of ways to make the project more informative and credible.
People also let me into their personal lives as to why they were not active on facebook like sickness, family problems and loss, being broke, being overwhelmed, and being overstretched. Being let into such personal details of strangers made me feel connected over the internet, usually an anonymous place full of disconnection.
However, facebook does not like when you try to email thousands of people one at a time. I was blocked from email twice in this project and am still not finished notifying everyone.
So, the project is taking days longer than expected.
And, I decided I would cut the few people who did not respond to my personal email requesting feedback.
So, I am in the gap of one of my dreams/goals of creating a stream lined social media network that actively supports my dream project.
So, what do I do while in the gap?
I see it as a sign that I have reached a universal stopping point within facebook (for now) and moved on to working my twitter @thedeeplistener.
I am strengthening my project by implementing the suggestions of my audience truly making it a community project.
I took the time to get off the computer and rest and go outside!
I took the time to be grateful for all the free support my community is heaping upon me when they are aware I need it.
I work on my ego, so when I have my most effective soap box, I have an honest, humble, transparent, compelling message.
