Perusing Twitter yesterday, I happened to see an SLP (speech-language pathologist) tweet a link to this ASHA Leader article. It’s a great article about a grassroots movement among SLPs and other healthcare practitioners to figure out a way to reduce stress on clinicians and foster patient-centered care in long term care facilities. It’s also a […]
Using Online Community to Increase Member Retention
For the past few days I’ve been in Orlando at ASAE’s Great Ideas conference. I love this conference because it’s small and the content is good and it’s not all about the expo hall (as much as I love me some expo hall). Also, it’s sunny and warm here and not a snowflake in sight, […]
What Your Association Conference Looks Like on Twitter
This is a bit nerdier than usual, but I thought this was a pretty cool representation of what an association conference looks like on Twitter via NodeXL, a free open source template for Excel that lets you explore network graphs. I am working on my Excel-phobia and can only dream of being able to create […]
Why Online Community is About More Than Community for Associations
There’s been a flurry of attention over a recent Associations Now story about how Doximity, a private online community for physicians, is outpacing the AMA in terms of membership. I started to reply to one of the comments in the original story, but then my response got so long I figured I should just write […]
How to Create a Pinterest Place Board for An Event
If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with Pinterest. Also with social media and associations. So when they announced Place Pins at the end of November, of course the first thing I thought was “this could be cool for an association’s annual conference.” Then the holidays came and went, and I didn’t have time […]
Why Associations Need to Revisit Communication Strategy in 2014
I’ve been “doing” social media in the association world for six years now and if I had a dime for every time I’ve heard the comment “but our members are older and aren’t using social media,” I could probably retire right now. Associations use that “truth” to justify keeping the status quo with their communications […]
Is Your Association’s Website Any Better Than HealthCare.gov?
(I published this on SocialFish today; posting it here too) because I’m kind of obsessed with this issue lately) Every day (or at least I strive for every day….) I read the Washington Post. And it seems that every day since October 1, the first page has been dedicated to chronicling the failures of HealthCare.gov. Deirdre Reid […]
Three Things Associations Can Be Doing with Pinterest
If you read this blog (or follow me on Pinterest), you know I’m obsessed with Pinterest. OBSESSED. It’s my equivalent of paging through a billion different magazines, cookbooks (which I never actually do) and idea boards, and being able to save everything that attracts my eye for possible future reference. I use it as my […]
Will I See You This Week?
I can’t believe it’s already December! I’ve barely recovered from the overlappingThanksgiving+Hannukah, have to start thinking about Christmas decorating and shopping I guess and am scrambling to get ready for two conferences this week. I’m tired already! Tuesday I’ll be presenting at the HUG Super Forum with Jay Daughtry on “How to Engage Like the Big Boys.” […]
Is “Most Active” the Best Metric for Online Communities?
It occurred to me this morning as I visited ASAE’s community, Collaborate, that just as a lot of social metrics are focused on quantity over quality, so are private community metrics. Featured on the home page of the community is the popular leaderboard showcasing “most active members”–aka the members who post the most and/or visit […]