Social Media "You Can't Make Me"

 "You can't make me!", a childhood declaration en route to the unwanted bath, or the dreaded family event, it is a classic line of resistance. Often the phrase is a playground recourse to a dare or command to adhere to some childhood standard.  We learn this early in life and wear the moments proudly in memory.

The time has passed. It is time to put down the memory in the category of childhood power and embrace social media, at least at some level, a beginning!  There are those who yearn for the days pre-social media, the pen and phone days of yore. I am not advocating putting down  your pen or your phone they are both powerful tools in the tool box of promotion, and marketing of you and your interest. Social Media is for business and an integral piece in my worlds of the Arts, Agriculture and Non-Profits. It is not the teen thing, or the young persons place, it is the place for our business today.

A century or more ago there was a resistance to those silly glass balls and wires, after all the fuss the LIGHT BULB was and is, a great idea. The image has become the icon for  new ideas.

        

Passing over Social Media as a unwanted trend or fad will only leave you with the Edison resistant- in the dark. Social Media is as relevant to life today as Walter Cronkite was to news, so please tune in.

You don't need to partake of the whole pie, just select a couple bites and begin to engage people and build a following. Today your circle of friends can circle the globe, so join a conversation, comment on a blog,( start with this one - what do you think?) favorite a great photo and begin to reach out with all these wonderful tools! Engagement is the seed you sow, what you work on, growth, network, reach are the harvest. Interested in more about my other social media sites? Here is a link to my page listing them: http://www.carolynstearnsstoryteller.com/Index.cfm?PageID=1512

 

credit for photo shared through:

This social media prism is inspired by Brian Solis & JESS3.
It's made by Ethority, a German social media marketing agency. More information here: http://social-media-prism.ethority.de

 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Participatory Storytelling

Re-posting a blog on Participatory  Storytelling, crossing platforms and geographic area to engage people in a  blogs, Facebook, tweets and other social media to tell a final story when all the components are gathered. I loved the Three Little Pigs segment to access via QR code. Check it out looks like fun! By: Robert Pratten

Link:  Participatory Storytelling

Who wants to try this?

What a great lead  in to a major storytelling event!

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Pinterst How To

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Use Pinterest  to promote an event, a venue, a hobby, a profession, a place or the eclectic you!

Like having all the school bulletin boards to yourself!

Scrapbooking online, collect and pin up what you like!
There  is no limit to the fun things you can share and find via Pinterst. Technology can be the doorway to finding a broader audience, building network, and developing online skills.

                                                            

     Videos, photos and articles about Carolyn Stearns Storyteller is  one of my Pinterest topics, there are so many I want to do, need to start horses or agriculture soon. Have the Donkey friends board started and the cowboys.

There are so many fun new technology tools to help us, so pick the ones that has appeal to you and jump in.  Need help? I'm teaching a pre-conference class in Albany New York March 16 1-5 pm www.lanes.org has the registration. Here is a blog about it.

http://carolynstearnsstoryteller.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-web-presence-is-dead.html

Report From the 30 th CT. Storytelling Festival

My Report from the

30 th  Connecticut Storytelling Festival and Conference

April 29, 30, May 1, 2011 at Conn. College New London, CT.

         Anticipation hardly covers the feeling of excitement  I feel when my car heads toward New London, CT. I know before long my brain will be swirling in a sea of story. That I will be swept away on a tide of spoken word is the  desire and is always satisfied. This year there was such a richness to the stories that stretched from teary drama to side splitting laughter. Back and forth we  went from one extreme to the other stretching my mind to absorb the images and emotions and music that poured at me. The Friday night concert of stories was so much fun, as was the Saturday morning tribute  concert.

At he lunch break there was a sharing room and I slid in with my plate and settled. I listened to quite a few relaxed and enjoyed the stories finally getting up near the end to share one when a lull had come.  I told a favorite horse story, I have a lot of those. Stories my horse experience helps me with to evoke the feeling of going for the ride, of hearing that mud suction the hooves in rhythmic pattern. My friend Kelly grabbed my camera and caught this picture of me mid story.

I attended the first afternoon concert to see Megan Hicks of Virginia and I loved her Stories from the Homefront. These came from memories of her mother, a young woman in the 1940's. The performance was brilliant! She shared the stage with Simon Brooks of New Hampshire and formerly of England. Here was a great balance as I laughed so hard at a couple of Simon's tales, well told and animated.

Then it was time for afternoon workshops.  I was sharing my new workshop titled; "My Web Presence is Dead and Other Fear Factors" It didn't take long for people to follow these "digital footprints" up the hall to the room I was in. I had a really nice group participate and we  used our 90 minutes to get an overview of the different social media platforms that can be used to spread the word about storytelling and  promote our websites, work, venues and events. The goal was to give people a layman's terms explanation and inspire them to try some new things after the workshop. 

We looked at simple websites, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs,You-Tube. Up on the screen everyone could see the examples of my pages we discussed content and key words and where to begin. We even had a web grow with in the room to make a visual representation of the World Wide Web and how things are found and move about. Workshop attendees were reminded that if I can do this so can they. I hope they have a little more courage to face the web and know they can always escape or send me an email question.

Saturday night brought the powerful main concert with Tim Tingle of Oklahoma followed by my Campus Slammer Showcase mic. We had 60 people in the showcase mic room and heard some very fun stories.  The Campus Slammer blog will have a report on that soon at http://www.anansihelps.blogspot.com/  Many thanks to my friend Kelly Trueb who came to all the Campus Slammers and helped out and was there behind the scenes at  the CT. Storytelling Festival working away.

        Sunday morning came and I was tired, but ready for more stories. We began with coffee which is always welcome!  Tim Tingle and Carol Birch shared the stage with a comparative between two tellings of the same story - a very interesting look at  the effects created by how and who delivers a story and the voices that they use to impart a story. There was a long question and answer time that covered a wide range of story details.

        When they were done the story triggering began. I was the first teller in the story triggering performance with my tale of the Angel of the Battlefield. At story triggering after each teller comments are made from the audience on what thoughts, memories or companion stories are evoked with the telling of the story. Being a Civil War story this  brought out many different view points and memories. 3 more tellers and sharing sessions followed mine. Then it was over, all to quick the air was still and the only stories left were those that kept me company in my mind on the ride home from the 30 th Connecticut Storytelling Festival.