Now that I have officially graduated from college, it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and start focusing on what's happening in the "real world"—internet-wise, that is. Yes, I mean Social Media.

One of my last group projects in college was to develop a PR strategy for a new major on digital communications. Naturally, one tactic discussed by each group was to develop an online presence. During my group’s discussion, I mentioned that creating Facebook accounts and online forums was one thing…getting people to come and participate was another. One classmate said that getting people to the sites wasn’t our problem. After all, we can only put it out there; we can’t force them to come. My response was…then what’s the point?

One college professor finds a way to combat the dreaded “classes cancelled due to inclement weather” scenario. After her experience with the Snowmageddon of Winter 2010 when the university shut down for a week, R.S. Zaharna, associate professor of communication American University, decided to find a way to make the current technology work for her and her students. She got the chance this past week when classes were cancelled.

I’m taking part in the virtual book tour Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer are doing to explore concepts from Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web. In this post, I asked Lindy and Maddie to dig a little deeper into the concept of sharing control, which they describe in the book.

In her post on October 14, 2010, Peggy writes about how new technology is making its way into the education system. As a ‘non-traditional college student’ (which means it’s been a long time since I graduated from high school!), I too have been introduced to a new way of learning.

My aha for the day (maybe the week or month!): associations are approaching social media the same way they approach chapters and other components.  The aha came out of reading an insightful post from Scott Gould on How I Profile A Community’s Participation To Inform Next Actions. About four paragraphs into what Scott warns at the start is a long post, there is the statement that triggered by aha: Relationship is participation with one another.

There have been so many good reads that I've been reading somuch more than blogging. Here are a few I think you might like:

• Leading Change: Getting Your Organization on Board with Social Media
• Learning to ride the leadership rollercoaster
• Good is no longer Good enough
• Best Conflict Tool Ever: Ladder of Inference
• Leadership Skills: Curiosity (this is 3rd in a series -read them all!)
• On Mobilizing Your Evangelists
• The White Magic of Listening
• Federal Report Finds US Volunteer Rate Increased over 2 Years
• 50 Power Twitter Tips

There are so many more ... check out my Delicous bookmarks! And tell me where your's are so I can follow!

Of all the responses I received to my request for help in setting an agenda for 2010, the one that gave me most pause was from Jeff De Cagna (like I was surprised?):

In 2010, association leaders need to ask a fundamental question: how can we make everything we do more social?  This question is not primarily a technological consideration, but a strategic and human one.  The challenge is to look beyond the tools at the diverse relationships they enable and the deeper meaning they nurture.

I crowdsourced my 2010 action list and received a great reply from colleagues. The ideas included “quick actions” which I shared in my first post, tips for listening, several thoughts on integrating social media (which will come in future posts) and this checklist for building relationships from David Nour, author, speaker and consultant. 

In the waning hours of the Aughties (or Double Ohs??), I sought advice from a cadre of friends and colleagues to help me set some goals for the fresh decade. I tweeted to about 30 peeps:

peggyhoffman pulling together a new years list for social tips/to do for 2010 - let me add one from you ... dm okay?

Come to think of it, this was a most appropriate exercise to end the Search Decade (so named by Micheal Kruse in his article in the St Petersburg Times). The responses back were all over the board and yet all on the board. I’ve since spent the first couple weeks of the new decade pondering this advice.