TV One's "Find Our Missing"
If you've watched the news for any period of time you already know there is a discrepancy in the way missing people are reported in the media. In fact, it's closer to the point to say that missing white women and children simply get more press. TV One is doing something about that with its new 10-part series "Find Our Missing", hosted by hosted by S. Epatha Merkerson (of Law & Order fame). It shines a light on the plight of Black people who are missing, but who didn't grab headlines in the mainstream media.
The series premieres TONIGHT at 10 p.m. on TV One. Please be sure to watch it.
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year
Blogging While Brown 2010: You Going?
-by Aminah Hanan
Where are all the Blacks in technology? This year they will be at the third annual Blogging While Brown Conference, June 18-19 in Washington DC.
At a time when many social media conferences are struggling with issues of diversity and inclusion among their speakers and attendees, the Blogging While Brown Conference continues to provide one of the largest lineups of Black social media experts and serves as one of the largest gatherings of Black bloggers each year. Since its launch in 2008 Blogging While Brown has grown to become the premier blogging conference dedicated to collaboration, education, and innovation among bloggers of color.
You may be asking: What if I’m not a blogger? What if I don’t know anything about social media or technology? Not to worry. Blogging While Brown has something for everyone.
This year’s conference is expanding to include our very first Blogging Day of Service Free Blogger Boot Camp for beginning bloggers. So if you’re a novice that knows absolutely nothing about blogging or social media this is the boot camp for you.
For the experienced techies, social media gurus, novices who see a wildly successful new digital media career in their future, or someone who simply wants to keep their finger on the pulse of technology, Blogging While Brown has an entire day full of workshops and panel discussions designed especially for you.
Saturday’s conference schedule includes the following panels
v Yoga and Stress Relief for Social Media Users
v Technology Review
v Beyond Gossip, Hip Hop, Hair, and Politics
Bloggers, Change Agents, & Educators
v The Business of Blogging: BEYOND Ad Networks
v 32 Ways to Make Your Blog Suck Less
v Why We Can't Wait: Technology and the Fierce Urgency of Now
Unique opportunities for people of color in the digital age and what might happen if fail to seize those opportunities
v Break Through Bloggers
v Town Hall Meeting
More panels and workshops will be announced soon.
Confirmed speakers for Blogging While Brown 2010 include: Lola Adesioye, Angela Benton, André Brock, Maurice Cherry, Cheryl Contee, Patrice Grell Yursik aka Afrobella, Scott Hanselman, Danielle N. Lee, PhD, Ananda Leeke, Luvvie, Gina McCauley, Latoya Peterson, Carmen Dixon Rosenzweig, Nichelle Stephens, and Baratunde Thurston. More speakers will be announced in the weeks leading up to the conference.
So if someone asks, “Where are all the Blacks in technology?” Let them know that you will all be in DC June 18-20 at Blogging While Brown 2010.
For more information and to register please visit www.bloggingwhilebrown.com. Follow us on Twitter @BWBConference for daily conference updates.
The Slow Death of Bulk Unfollow
It's getting more and more difficult to unfollow people on Twitter. Have you noticed that? Months ago, the site itself did away with any of the doohickeys that would have let you easily see all of the people who follow you (or don't) and how long it's been since they last tweeted. But that didn't stop social media celebs from bragging about using outside forces to unfollow thousands of Twitterers when their streams got too heavy. That was last year.
Today one of our members was in the middle of a "bulk unfollow" on Twitter Karma when a pop-up message announced that "On January 15th... " Twitter informed Twitter Karma that the bulk unfollow function violated their terms of service. Minutes later, the owners of Twitter Karma tweeted that Twitter had told them to take the button down. The guys who run TweetLater saw this coming last July.
Does anyone remember Qwitter? For a while, it was the hottest thing going for Tweeters who didn't want to follow anyone who didn't follow them back in return. Now don't be mislead- Qwitter was never stable or reliable. It was a lover who called when he wanted to. You wouldn't hear from Qwitter for weeks, and then it would dump an avalanche of "quits" in your inbox. But at least Qwitter was on the case until sometime last year when, for no reason at all, Qwitter stopped calling. The creators who live in Ireland keep the page up, but don't bother. It isn't working. Neither is Twitoria. Whether those sites got the same warning as Twitter Karma or whether staying "free" just didn't pay the bills, many Twitter users are having a harder time managing their accounts than they used to.
There are still some other bulk management tools out there. But many of them aren't able to handle the demand and have stopped accepting new sign-ups. There are options, though, for people who use various Twitter clients like Tweetdeck and the like. But today we want your opinions. Does not being able to mass prune your lists affect the way you use Twitter? What Twitter tools do you use to manage your Twitter stream?
Social Media @ Work: Crisis in Haiti
If you've been on any of the major social networking sites this week, it's impossible to miss: the massive and insistent calls to action in the face of human suffering.
On Tuesday evening a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, 10 miles outside of Port-Au-Prince. The Caribbean nation was left in shambles. President Obama pledged $100 million dollars to relief efforts. But concerned people around the world have been reaching out in a way they were never able to do before and asking "What can I do?".
Almost immediately after news of the tragedy broke, celebrities on Twitter began urging their millions of followers to donate to the Red Cross, UNICEF and other relief organizations, setting off a wave of "Donating by Text". Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean set fire to Twitter with his Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, urging followers to text "YELE" to 501501 to make a $5 donation. By all accounts, donations triggered by social media have been pouring in. On his own site, Wyclef said "I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now."
As people targeted search engines for more information today, Wyclef's campaign to help Haiti made his Twitter account the 2nd highest result for the search term "TWITTER" on Google. In addition, "yele wyclef" was the #3 top search on Google and "wyclef jean haiti relief" was #4. Concerned about scams, many tweeters expressed today that the campaign backed by Wyclef is the only one they feel they can trust.
With telecommunications systems down in Haiti, to say that information coming from the island is sparce is an understatement. Millions of Haitians living outside Haiti are still unable to reach family and friends. That has led to an uptick in traffic on Youtube, where the constant uploads of grainy aftermath clips are being viewed by thousands of people by the hour. Today the first three of the "Most Viewed" videos are concerning the earthquake.
Meantime, Haitians and people with loved ones in Haiti are using Facebook to share information and organize donations. The wall of Earthquake Haiti is filled with family pictures, heartbreaking pleas for information, and prayers. The page popped up literally overnight and has nearly 125,000 members. Almost 4,000 pictures of missing loved ones have been uploaded.
We are also hearing about several charitable events being arranged to benefit relief efforts and we'll bring you up to date on those when we get more information.
Photo: Washington Post
TheFabGiver: Passionista
"Do what you love and the money will follow." Or so the saying goes. Today's featured twitterer is drumming up lots of money for charity by getting people to put their money where their hearts are. TheFabGiver, also known as Karyn Brianne, does it by making "giving" look good and by following her passions- charity and style.
In her blog for the Examiner, she reports on all the ways ordinary people and big companies are helping out fellow citizens by giving their money, time and services. On her personal blog, she tirelessly keeps readers informed about creative ways to give back and lays out stylish products to support various causes.
Brianne also helps women and girls with HIV/AIDS as a co-founder of The Red Pump Project. Keep on keeping on, TheFabGiver. We see you, girl. Consider yourself backed by the BlackTwitterati.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Thefabgiver
Blog: http://thefabulousgiver.com/
Examiner Blog: Examiner.com
We're Back!
Get ready for more power profiles and semi-discovered gems on the Twitters. After a brief tussle with the powers-that-tweet over our username, we're back in business with lots of goodies already in the can. Apparently, we nabbed the name BlackTwitterati just before Twitter disallowed usernames containing "Twitter" and recently found ourselves unable to do anything but tweet from our Twitter homepage. The longstoryshort is that we can keep BlackTwitterati on Twitter and make some of the changes we want to our profile. So, be on the lookout for new material this week. And keep those emails and tweets coming!
ChanelleCarver: Literacy 'n' Poverty
-by guest blogger Kim Spight
What happens when a seven year old ambitious goal-oriented dreamer becomes an adult and commits to changing the world? You get Chanelle Carver and her non profit organization, Literacy 'n' Poverty Project, a startup nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty and improve adult education worldwide.
Chanelle gained her passion for non profit work from an early age and continued this through her college career. As she began to learn more about non profit organizations and social enterprises, she realized that she was always a social entrepreneur.
Twitter gives her organization a platform to educate and build relationships with current and new supporters and has allowed the organization to receive support from volunteer bloggers and writers. Having an online presence has allowed the organization to build a blog following for the MakeSocialChangeAReality.com blog. The blog is about educating and empowering others to make social change a reality in their own unique ways by giving others the opportunity to learn about social issues and uncover the necessary resources that will allow them to create change, the kind of change they can believe in and execute.
Find Chanelle and her organization at http://twitter.com/chanellecarver and http://twitter.com/lnpproject.
About today's contributor: Kim Spight is a new writer who is working on becoming a more frequent blogger at her own blog lattethenthoughts.wordpress.com. Also find her on Twitter as @girly1121.
AbiolaTV: High Definition
Her background makes her uniquely qualified to report on everything from urban happenings to haute couture. Abiola Abrams grew up in what she calls a "suburban ghetto" in Queens County, but attended an all-girls prep school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Then, she decided to make her mark on the entertainment world at the age of 15, after getting her big break from rap figure Ed Lover at a block party on the other side of town.he age of 15, . So, needless to say, she knows her way around Gotham. Today, she hosts and produces "The Planet Abiola Show" on Blackplanet.com while making appearances on BET and VH-1. She's also the author of the new novel "Dare".
Her favorite topics are dating, shopping, celebrities and nightlife. At anytime you can find her sharing the details of her hectic life - whether on TUMBLR, her official site, her blog, Twitter, Flickr, Glam Media or (see below) her Youtube channel.
Planet Abiola: http://www.blackplanet.com/planetabiola/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AbiolaTV
Blog: http://www.abiolaabrams.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/abiolaTV
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/abiolatv
Computer Giveaway by MochaDad
Just in time for the back-to-school rush, MochaDad is giving away TWO Hewlett-Packard computers. The prizes are one HP dv6t laptop, an HP Mini 110 netbook, and a customized Timbuk2 bag. What do you have to do to win this nice bundle? Simply submit a comment on his new review blog describing a teacher who impacted your life. MochaDad and wifey will choose the winner. The contest ends August 30th. Find out more HERE. You will kick yourself if you miss this.
TheRootBuzz: A Busy Bee
If a newbie to Twitter asked you for five "follow" recommendations, who would you name? One of our must-follows would definitely be TheRootBuzz. Jonathan Pitts-Wiley is the writer behind the the Twitter account and a section of the Washington Post-run The Root.com called "Buzz". He focuses on people, cultural events and entertainment causing a buzz on the web. At TheRootBuzz, you can't ask for a better roundup of what Black folks are talking about along with snarkalicious commentary. But beyond that TheRootBuzz is witty and irreverent with jaw-dropping regularity. Makes you wonder if his bosses are paying attention. And even if they aren't, we are.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/therootbuzz
Alter ego: http://twitter.com/pittswiley
Website: http://www.theroot.com/buzz
DeBerryandGrant: Daring Duo
Authors around the globe are trying to harness the reader-grabbing power of Twitter. Those who are having difficulty should take some tips from DeBerryandGrant, also known as the bestselling writing duo Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant. Followers are rewarded with tweets that are funny, irreverent and delightfully off-topic. In short, they see the big picture, not just their corner of the universe.
Of course, as their longtime fans know, DeBerry and Grant are two of the most successful black writers today. They first made a literary splash with their novel Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made back in 1996. Since then, they've written nearly half-a-dozen other novels about love and the pitfalls of modern living. Their most recent novel, What Doesn't Kill You, is nominated for best fiction for an African American Literary Award and at least two of their books are being turned into movies.
They're best friends who have been writing together for years while living in separate states. We think it's fair to say that their situation put them on the information super-highway earlier than many other authors. We're just happy to be able to read the little nuggets they drop on Twitter.
Website: http://deberryandgrant.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DeBerryandGrant
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DeBerry-Grant/36992085874
Blog: http://twomindsfull.blogspot.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/twomindsfull