“It would be great to see #ldnbeta concept (or some other iteration) picked up and used to drive the conversation — not just here, but on people’s own blogs, on Twitter, face-to-face, everywhere – exploring and advocating new opportunities for social media in London.”
In hindsight I should have focused on that point a lot more heavily in my last post.
I don’t want to “own” or even lead this.
I’m just an ideas guy, with more vision and commentary than I know what to do with, but when it comes to the tech side, as well as design, contacts, etc, I don’t have a lot to offer — whereas other people do, and I’m hoping we can all be more assertive with our own own special gifts to build something truly, originally London’s.
I may not be London’s biggest fan but I have a hard time living here without wanting to help make it better, without doing something to be really proud of.
There seems to be a need and an opportunity for more collaborative development in London’s online social sphere (if I’m wrong — and I genuinely suspect that maybe I am, and I’m just embarrassing myself, *gulp* — please correct me).
There seems to be a lot of outspoken blogging and tweeting about City Hall and the LTC, a lot about the London Free Press and A Channel and CTV — not to mention all the “opinions” about Rogers, Bell, etc…
But if we’re such experts on how what those institutions should do, let’s look at how much time and energy do we spend trying to improve London’s social web?
I mean, ya we all work away on our own thing — in the same way that everyone at all the organizations we always complain about are doing their own jobs, not looking at the big picture, where they could really do some good — but are we doing enough?
I definitely don’t mean to diminish PodCamp London, The Meetup, Dan Brown promoting London blogs via LFPress, Greg Fowler’s weekly ‘Online London‘ posts, BlogLDN, London Photo Walk, LondonCommons (I’m sure there are more I’m missing — comments are open…) and anyone who has ever made an extra effort to respond and link to other London bloggers… probably more I’m missing…
What I’m saying is we could have more of that — more momentum, more convergence… and let’s not forget, more tension and conflict. I’d guess the best way to get that is to get more people following, blogging, and commenting.
So then, if someone wants to start a blog in London, where do they go first?
How accessible is London’s blogosphere to non-bloggers (aka, virtually everybody… potential readers, customers, etc)?
How fast and easily will they be able to follow the breadcrumbs to what they should be reading, watching, listening to, following, emulating and interacting with?
How fast and easily can they find you and the people you follow — the conversations that matter to you?
I realize I’m probably being too self-righteous and heavy-handed, but I feel there’s a need and an opportunity and I worry I’m not doing enough and this is the only way I know how to contribute (until I learn from these mistakes).
Am I wrong?
Is there a better way?
Originally posted at ldnbeta.ca.
