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Social Media Column: #Yeggies winners named

May 7, 2013 – 11:16 pm

Published in the May 7, 2013 issue of The Edmonton Sun.

Linda’s social media column can be found every Tuesday in the Edmonton Sun.

#Yeggies winners named

Geeks unite! Over the weekend, more than 200 Edmontonians converged at the Shaw Conference Centre for the inaugural Yeggies — an award show celebrating some of the city’s best and brightest in social media.

“Are any of you on Twitter?” #Yeggies co-founder Adam Rozenhart (@bingofuel) jokingly asked the packed room as the night kicked off. Laughter ensues.

The Yeggies celebrate Edmonton’s social media content creators.

Congratulations to:

Best in Business winner @acmemeartmarket

Best in Non-Profit: Coming Out or Showing Support

Best in Humour: @IngloriousHip

Best in Fashion & Style: @AdvInFashion

Best in Family or Parenting: Attack of the @RedNeckMommy

Best in Food: The @KitchenMagpie

Best in Sports: @OilersNation

Best in Political or Current Affairs: @Paulatics

Best in Arts & Culture: @GigCityYEG

Best Twitter Persona: @KikkiPlanet

Best in Edmonton: @mastermaq

And congratulations to all nominees! Win or not, as Rozenhart puts it, “you’re an important part of Edmonton’s social fabric.”

Organizers are now looking for feedback on the event.

“It’s our first year ever. Obviously there’s going to be some bumps in the road,” Rozenhart told me after the show wrapped up.

“We wanted to do our very best to make it a show for people and we want to keep doing that so we’re inviting people who attended the show and even people who didn’t to tell us what they thought, what they liked and didn’t like and maybe what they’d like to see in future years.”

While the night was a delight, I did speak to a few guests who shared some of the same sentiments about the show.

Several winners announced consecutively weren’t in attendance — which made for some awkward moments. There had been some complaints prior to the event about nominees having to pay to attend.

With six shortlisted nominees per category, perhaps a shortened nominee list would have been more feasible.

Some also mentioned they would have liked for judging criteria to have been made publically available.

Many of the nominees were also fairly unknown — to myself, to Rozenhart and to the guests I spoke with. While that fact is interesting because it shows a truly diverse and vast group of local content creators, some said it would have been nice to see a collection or sample of nominees’ work either on the big screen during the award show or within the Yeggies program book.

Overall, the event was a success.

I’m thrilled that Edmonton is home to a new media awards show and I thank Rozenhart and all those on the Yeggies team for turning this idea into reality.

They want the Yeggies to be an annual event — as do I. There are so many bloggers, tweeters, and podcasters in our community who deserve recognition, who deserve to have a hashtag Yeggies medal bestowed upon them!

Congratulations again to all winners and nominees.

You can submit feedback at HYPERLINK “http://www.yeggies.com/feedback” www.yeggies.com/feedback.

I can’t wait to see how the show evolves next year!

Some Yeggies Tweets of the Week

@lindork: “I really believe the people in this room tonight are the people changing the fact of this city” – @KikkiPlanet #yeggies

@Jaddah: Congrats to every nominee at the #yeggies! In the words of Rainz, #yeg MC, you are bringing common unity back to the community. Wear it proudly!

@HopeMission: Had a blast at the #Yeggies last night. We didn’t win, but the cheer from the crowd when our name was called meant the world.

@GameTimeArt: Congrats to all the #yeggies winners! Very cool that our city has awards for and recognizes excellence in social media.

@VitalityGuide: I would have thanked Google. Nobody thanked Google… #yeggies

Click here to read the column on the Edmonton Sun website!

Social Media Column: Get some deals from Frugal Mama

April 30, 2013 – 11:15 pm

Published in the April 30, 2013 issue of The Edmonton Sun.

Linda’s social media column can be found every Tuesday in the Edmonton Sun.

Get some deals from Frugal Mama

You might remember the inaugural Tweeter Profile was done on local youth worker Mark Cherrington, whose tweets offer raw insight into tough issues surrounding homeless youth. I had hoped to do a Tweeter Profile – highlighting interesting Edmonton tweeters and bloggers – about once a month but the city and its never-ending social media stories kept bumping these profiles back.

For the second Tweeter Profile, I’d like to introduce you to Frugal Edmonton Mama: Lori Godin (@frugalyegmama), whose money-saving tips have amassed her blog so much of a following that its become her income.

Name: Lori Godin

Age: 28

Joined Twitter: Sept. 22, 2010

Followers: 3,359

Website: www.frugaledmontonmama.com

Godin started her blog Frugal Edmonton Mama in 2009. She’s dubbed herself the ‘frugalista’ and writes about shopping, saving and life as a frugal mother.

“There are some blogs out there that will post every single coupon and every single deal, it could be anywhere. I wade through all of that and post things that are a little bit more relevant to moms,” Godin says.

“I think people have an impression that being frugal is being cheap and it’s absolutely not. I’m not cheap. I will shop for what I want and I won’t sacrifice what I want but I will compare prices.”

Godin signs up for countless e-mail newsletters and she browses through weekly online flyers to find the best deals and coupons to share with the community.

“Probably the most popular sales or deals that I post are anything related to Costco,” she says, laughing. “People love Costco.”

Like her blog posts, Godin’s tweets also centre on deals, saving tips and activities for a frugal lifestyle.

“There’s always going to be an audience when we’re talking about ways to save money and that audience has just grown since I’ve included frugal activities to do with kids, local activities, different recipes and things like that,” she says.

She also likes to tweet questions to the Twitter community, often striking up online parenting conversations.

Godin’s blog is her job. The stay-at-home mom spends about 30 hours a week on the blog.

She’s got nearly 4,000 Twitter followers and more than 10,000 fans on her Facebook page.

Last week, Godin was part of a panel of local mom bloggers sharing tips and inspiration.

She’s also been asked to speak to different mom groups and community classes.

Joining Twitter has helped Godin grow her blog and connect with other Edmontonians and she’s looking forward to continuing those connections.

‘Why should people follow you?’ I asked.

“If they’re looking for practical ways to save money or easy ways that aren’t going to mean you need to be an extreme couponer and take all this time out of your day, then I have some tips that can help with that,” Godin says.

@Frugalyegmama Tweets of the Week:

Okay. Anyone who is pregnant and living on the tums – you need to get the Tums Freshers. I’ll never feel the same about tums again!

We have strict rules for dinner – no tech. Lunchtime? Tech away. I’m on the laptop at the other end of the table working. #noguilt

Tonight we crossed a good 30% off on our Spring to do and organize list. Efficiency Rockstars.

My Kids Clothing Shopping #Secret Tip to get Kids clothes at Wholesale prices: HYPERLINK “http://www.ow.ly/kv3dx” www.ow.ly/kv3dx #frugal #shopping #YEG

Four Ways I’m using my iPhone to Save Money on Groceries & Life HYPERLINK “http://www.dlvr.it/3HfDcj” www.dlvr.it/3HfDcj

Click here to read the column on the Edmonton Sun website!

Tags blogs, Edmonton Sun, frugal edmonton mama, lori godin, online articles, social media | Category Articles Edmonton Sun Freelance | Permalink | Comment (0)

Social Media Column: Social media a great tool during emergencies

April 23, 2013 – 11:50 pm

Published in the April 23, 2013 issue of The Edmonton Sun.

Linda’s social media column can be found every Tuesday in the Edmonton Sun.

Social media a great tool during emergencies

There’s no denying social media played a major role in the Boston Marathon bombings, from emergency response to real-time relaying of information to citizen crowd-sourcing and more.

Bostonians, along with officials and first responders, turned to Twitter to provide updates in real-time on the developing attack.

An emergency official was recorded as saying “I need someone to get on social media and let people know what we’re doing here” shortly after the blasts.

Marathon runners turned to texts, tweets and Facebook posts to reach out to loved ones and seek information on what was happening.

The Boston Police Department took to Twitter to provide updates, warnings and even dispel rumours and misinformation surrounding the case.

The events truly showcased just how valuable social media can be as a communications tool – especially in times of emergency.

It got me thinking about some interesting stats from the Canadian Red Cross regarding social media use during emergencies in general.

The recent survey – a first of its kind in Canada – found that the majority of Canadians use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to let friends and family know they’re safe in the event of an emergency – which is exactly what people did in Boston.

Click here to see the survey

The survey also found most of us think disaster and emergency response agencies like fire and police should be using and monitoring social media.

“The majority of Canadians are using social networking sites regularly and they expect emergency first responders to also be using those tools,” says Tracie Moore with the Canadian Red Cross.

“Having these numbers out now really show us that we need to be paying close attention.”

Red Cross societies around the world are trying to get a better understanding of how social media can affect the efficiency of disaster response.   The results of this survey show social media use in times of disaster is not to be underestimated.

Police, fire and other emergency agencies must include social media in their communications and response plans.

There’s no question about that.

“Since those networking tools are viable, important resources, in sharing information during emergencies, we want to ensure from the Canadian Red Cross perspective that we have a clear understanding of that and how we can utilize that moving forward,” Moore says.

But while social media is useful as a communications tool, there can be and often are inaccuracies, and false information spreads quickly.

The Boston case highlights a number of mistakes – from incorrect victim ID’s, to wrongly identified suspects, to the revelation of tactical information overheard by citizens from online police scanner feeds.

But the medium is also self-correcting and users often dispel hoaxes and misinformation quickly.

The Boston bombings show just how much of an impact – be it good or bad – social media can have during and in the aftermath of disaster.

It will be interesting to see how the use of social networks in times of emergency, from citizens, officials, and the media, evolves over time.

Click here to read the column on the Edmonton Sun website!