The fresh start has allowed me to consider the challenges of social media with fresh eyes, to plan and prepare before I begin. In doing so, I’ve jotted down some questions which may be helpful to others in a similar situation – whether they’re starting a new channel or reviewing something established.

1. What do you want to say (and perhaps, do you have anything to say)?

While I don’t believe in scripting every tweet or having every blog update scheduled and approved months in advance, it can be worth having some sort of content plan. What are the themes you’ll be covering on your channel? Is it for your entire life (if you’re a person) or your entire organisation (if you’re setting up the channel on behalf of one of those), or for a particular interest or project? In the early days, it may help to plan out what kind of updates you’ll want to post and how regularly, and put these dates into a calendar as reminders.

2. Who is your audience?

Once you’ve decided what you want to say, it’s worth working out who (if anyone) wants to hear it. It’s all well and good tweeting your thoughts about what you had for breakfast into the internet void on a personal account, but if you’re doing this as a job, there are likely to be things like targets or KPIs for user interaction (and if there aren’t it might be worth nominating some – see point 5 below). So, who do you want to reach? Are they end-users of your product or service, or other organisations in your field? How old are they? How computer literate? How often do they get online – and when they do, what sites do they go to first?

3. How can you reach them?

One thing I’ve learnt over the past ten years is that, in most cases, it’s far easier to go where your audience are than to get them to come to you. So, thinking about the previous question, how do your audience behave online? Are they on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr? Are they asking questions on Yahoo! Answers? Do they belong to a particular online community? Sometimes it may be easy enough to set up your own profile in these spaces to interact with other users, but in other cases, you may need to get permission from a community moderator or website owner before you make your first post.

If you’re still keen to set up a blog or community on your own website – and there are lots of good reasons to do so – then it’s still worth doing research into how best to reach your audience. Do you see your potential audience members commenting on other blogs? If so, it’s worth noting what sort of posts they feel motivated to comment on, the regularity of the postings, etc. And of course, it’s worth remembering that for a lot of people the internet is still all about email, so building up a list and sending monthly updates remains a perfectly valid way of spreading a message and driving traffic to your website.

4. Who’s going to do the updates?

People say social media is great because it’s free. Technically, in many cases, this is true. However, it doesn’t account for the huge amount of staff time that needs to be spent to set up and maintain a channel. Social media is about conversation. If you go quiet, you’ll be ignored. So, who’s going to do your updates? And who’s going to do your updates when that person is on leave? And who’ll be the person who can provide sign-off on anything controversial or out of the ordinary? Because that’s another side-effect of having a conversation – you’re never 100% sure about what that other person might say.

5. What does success look like?

For some, the opportunity to broadcast a message will be enough. For others, the end goal will be the online conversation itself. There definitely is some reward in being part of a community, in being generous and interacting with your fans and followers, learning from their updates as you shape your own, passing on their messages, leaving comments on their blogs, following them back.

However, for most, there will be some form of measurable action that you want your friends or followers to undertake. This may be visiting your website, signing an online petition, volunteering or donating to your cause, registering for an event or a myriad other options. It is this conversion from conversation to action that, for me, indicates real social media success. It’s what can be monitored as you go along and, through regularly reviewing the answers to the earlier questions, what you can aim to improve.

There’s a real excitement in new beginnings, but what I guess I’m realising anew is that it doesn’t have to end there. I’m looking forward to seeing how this project grows.

Image courtesy of Matt Hamm.  Used under Creative Commons licence.

I’ve been reading a lot of historical fiction lately, most recently Tracey Chevalier’s Burning Bright.  Like The Crimson Petal and the White, it’s really bringing to life th.  Unlike me, the narrator of my novel is a Londoner: born here, working here as a young adult.  I’m trying to create a version of this city for her that’s not my own.  Another challenge.  And so many more words to write.

You might overwrite key files, for example, and then when you go to your admin screen to log on, you might get a blank white page – and when you go to your homepage, the same thing.  Trying to stay calm, you might then try to do a fresh install, knowing that you’ve exported all your blog entries to an .xml file earlier in the evening, only to find that the .xml file only contains the first and most recent entry.

By this time it’d be after midnight and you’d be coming to the realisation that you’d deleted your entire blog.  And while it didn’t contain the best literature ever, it did have a couple of entries on the excitement of first-time publication, which you would’ve preferred not to lose.  So you’ll find yourself searching the Way Back Machine for an archived copy of your entries which you can then bring into your ‘new’ blog.  And you’ll keep bringing in entries, one at a time, till about 1.30am, and then you’ll get up at 6.00am to finish the job (finish republishing those blog entries at least, though you’ll still need to deal with the sidebar, theme, plugins and comments).

Which means  by 11.30pm the next day, having just returned from Boffoonery, a comedy benefit for Bletchley Park aimed at the kind of people who work all day with computers and then enjoy going out in the evenings to hear jokes about code (so like you and your husband and your friends), you’ll be totally exhausted and reduced to amusing yourself by writing notes in the second person.

Our next #4change chat, on Thursday 12 November, will look at how the volunteering landscape is changing. Join us for a global conversation, sharing ideas, best practice, links and resources.

How to join the chat

1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a Twitter account (it’s free).
2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com/ or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to your Twitter message
4. Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.

Rules for #4Change chat

1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tashjudd or post them below to have them considered.
2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
3. Stay on topic!
4. Be cool.

A few links

How social media’s changing volunteering

Blog: Brave New World for Volunteering
Blog: Sacrifice, optional and about other people (defining volunteering)
Blog: The Extraordinaries: Will micro-volunteering work?
Article: NetSquared and the new wave of online volunteering

Recruiting volunteers online

Volunteer Match
Do-it
All for Good

A few interesting volunteering and participation initiatives

The Extraordinaries
Virtual volunteering
Junction49
Urbantastic
Twestival

Please comment on the original #4change blog post with other interesting links, case studies and questions you’d like to see raised during the chat. Looking forward to seeing you all online on the 12th.

This was all well and good when I had a deadline: when I had a manuscript to finish before the end of my MA, when I had edits to finish before moving overseas. But, in the three years since I moved to London, I haven’t had that sense of urgency. And as such, novel number two remained largely untouched, month after month, six months after six months, a year then another.

My friend Caitlin had been to an Arvon Foundation course in the past and recommended it. She’d even been inspired to set up a writing group with other course participants on her return, and invited me to join in.

So, this year, as a birthday present to myself, I booked onto a course entitled ‘Work in Progress’. It was going to be held at Totleigh Barton in Devon from October 26 – 31. This was at the end of January. By the 25th of October I’d written perhaps another chapter or two, but the word count remained at around 25,000 and I didn’t know how the novel was going to end.

One week later, I’ve survived train cancellations, giant cows, two nausea-inducing taxi rides and the trauma of reading unfinished work in public. I’ve learned to poach salmon, I’ve got my hiking boots dirty, found the small village Sheepwash. And most importantly, I’ve finished the first draft of my novel.

And some of that has to be down to the environment you find at Totleigh Barton – a pre-Domesday manor house, at the end of a long driveway and miles from anywhere.

There are a lot of places to write at Totleigh Barton: long wooden tables, window seats, libraries and lounges, a shed in the garden, a barn with its own bats, the desk in my room. Despite the fact that my work-in-progress is set in the city and online, being in the country without an internet connection provided the hours and quiet to get the words flowing.

There was also such a productive atmosphere at Totleigh: from the workshops in the morning with Paul Magrs and Stella Duffy which made me re-examine my characters and the choices I make when writing, to the long afternoons when I’d find a spot to write and know that all around the house, the other course participants were writing or cooking or attending individual tutorials as well. When you’re struggling to finish a difficult scene, there’s something immensely comforting – and also motivating – in hearing someone else typing away at the other side of the lounge, working on their own literary endeavours.

There’s also something comforting about a well-stocked kitchen, endless cups of tea and wine in the evenings, the opportunities to talk about writing as if it wasn’t a strange thing to do – but something that is part of a life, something which could even be enjoyed.

Tonight I’m back in London. There’s football on the radio and cars on the street outside. I’m putting words in a box which will become a blog entry. I still love the web, but I’m going to miss Totleigh Barton.

I’m going to have to create a writing environment here.

75% of the young people surveyed said that ‘they couldn’t live without the internet’.  That’s probabaly an exaggeration, but I don’t find it surprising.  I’d say the same thing.  Then again, I spend at least eight hours a week-day in front of a computer, I studied multimedia, and I work for an online charity.  I’m going away for a week in the country at the end of the month, and the fact that I’ve been told that there’s no internet or mobile access is already weighing heavily on my mind.  Being such an online advocate, I’m often asked ‘what’s wrong with face-to-face?’

After all, the very nature of online communication is that it’s mediated by a machine such as a computer or hand-held device.  With the lack of body-language and eye contact, and the possibilities for deception, it’s possible to see the internet as cold, impersonal and isolating.  However, what that assumption ignores is the way young people live what Professor Hulme calls ‘hybrid lives’ – their onlines and their offlines are blurred.  Their friends on Facebook may or may not be friends from school or work; status updates on Twitter may become conversation starters in the classroom.  80% of young people surveyed said they use social networking sites to talk to friends or family they see a lot; 22% said that they use them to communicate with someone they don’t know.

So, while it’s impossible to generalise the experience of every young person, it seems that for many these online tools aren’t replacing face-to-face communication methods – they’re complimenting them.  As Professor Hulme says, “The more we can communicate, the more we will, and do, communicate.”  What’s changing is the amount of communication tools available, and people’s ability to choose a communication tool which is appropriate for a particular situation: broadcasting their thoughts in blogs or vlogs, updating a selected group of friends on Facebook, texting or calling an individual, or having a face-to-face conversation.

I don’t have a problem with face-to-face conversation.  In fact, it’s often quite useful.  I do have more of a problem with the assumption that it’s absolutely-always-without-a-doubt the best form of communication.  The internet can be a great way to make first contact with communities of interest, for example.   After all, it’s easy to search online for groups of fellow social media geeks – in my case – than try and spot them during my morning commute.  Once contact is made, a mix of face-to-face and online interactions often result.  The internet also allows us to reach out beyond the restrictions of geographic proximity.  And, as the report goes on to say, the internet can also be a great way to source information about issues young people may feel less comfortable talking about face-to-face, with websites like TheSite.org allowing young people to access trustworthy advice on a range of topics.

While it’s important to realise that there are issues or dangers around communicating on the internet – the possibilities of online bullying, the possibilities of abuse and so on – it’s also important to realise that, in many cases, these are either reflected or replaced by alternative issues or dangers when communication occurs offline.  Moreover, just as I was taught not to give out my name on the phone by my cautious parents, today young people have learned similar lessons about the internet.  77% of the young people surveyed agreed that: ‘On the internet you can never know if someone is who they say they are.’

The past century has seen huge developments in the way we communicate: from telephone calls, through radio and television broadcasts, to the development of mobile phones, faxes and the internet.  While it’s not my place to predict what will come next, it seems obvious that there’s a lot more communication to do, and for each new generation, there’ll be more and more new communication tools as the years progress.

Today, 86% of the young people surveyed loved how new technology helps them communicate with people. Let’s keep creating technology, creating websites and online services, that will help us communicate with people.  Face-to-face, hands-to-keyboard, in the twittersphere and in the blog comments below, let’s ensure this conversation continues.

First published on the YouthNet blog

No luck with the raffles so far.  Our crime novel team didn’t manage to find all it’s characters and author first.  But it was great to catch up with some of the BookCrossers from the London meets, and meet some of the people who are participating in the Lessons to Learn bookring.  Futurecat was there too, as part of a contingent who are promoting the Convention in New Zealand next year – I wonder if I’ll be able to attend?

And there were books, books in goody bags, books as prizes, whole tables covered in books.  I’ve only picked up five so far, which is very restrained of me!  Still, there are two days of the Conference remaining…

Today there are author talks and bookswaps and a writing workshop.  The programme starts at Imperial College at 8.30 (very early for a Saturday morning!) so I better get going.

In 2007, I didn’t finish NaNoWriMo.  I didn’t finish the first draft of my work in progress.  I didn’t send any poetry to magazines.  And, yet, it was an amazing year: one where I read on National Radio, and saw a novel with my name on the spine on the bookshelves of Unity bookshop.

It’s a year where I’ve blogged, and kept a paper journal, sent letters and written travel stories.  Where I’ve read book after book, and been introduced to the work of some inspiring young writers, such as Faye L. Booth and Lili Wilkinson.  Where I’ve gotten so excited about the success of my New Zealand classmates, and just begun to scratch the surface of what’s on offer in London.

Next year, I’d like to be more focused.  I say that every year.  But more than that, I want to write things that I’ve started through to their completion.  Then, I want to have the confidence write new things: new genres, forms I’ve forgotten, to write just because I like the sound of my voice on the screen.

I’d like to thank everyone for all their support this year, and wish you all the best in writing and life in 2008.

On visits to bookstores, I often skim the writing resources shelves but I haven’t actually sampled too many of those on offer. However, when I wrote the original question, there were three books I had in mind.

As a teenager, I loved John Marsden’s Everything I know about writing. John Marsden’s one of my favourite young adult authors, and this book gives insight into his writing process for some of his earlier novels, alongside prompts and exercises for your own writing projects.

Another book that’s particularly relevant at the moment is No Plot! No Problem, by Chris Baty. Chris is the founder of NaNoWriMo – the month long 50,000-word-novel writing extravaganza that starts tomorrow. However, his book has some useful tips about the human side of writing that apply no matter which month you write in. And his talk of rewards allowed me to justify the large quantities of M&Ms I consumed while writing Lessons to Learn.

Finally, I’d recommend Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write. There’s some great advice in there – from keeping morning pages (something I do every now and then when I find myself not writing regularly) to continuing to write while you’re waiting for a response to a submission. I’ve read this book so many times over the years, and yet, every time I finish it, I’m re-inspired to continue writing.

If there are any writing-related books you’d recommend, please leave a comment here, or on the entry at web stuff 4 writers.

Of course, 57,000 words isn’t very long for a novel.  It’s no Shantaram or Edward Rutherfurd epic.  But for me it’s impressive.  Until I finished that first draft of Lessons to Learn, I considered myself predominantly a short story writer and a some-of-the-time poet.  Before then, my longest works were my failed NaNoWriMo attempt in 2004 (approximately 17,000 words) and the 12,000 word essay I wrote in my Human Communication paper in the first year of university.  The required word count for the latter was only 1,000 words I think, and I was most disappointed when I only got a B+.

I’m about 25,000 words into a new project now.  Will it be longer than Lessons to Learn?  I’m not sure at this stage.  For now, I’m just going to keep writing till I feel the story’s told. There’ll be time for editing and adding and taking out words, paragraphs, pages and whole sections, once that first draft is done.