Webwatch – Social Media Week for the Third Sector

Glasgow is one of the cities hosting Social Media Week (#socialmediaweek), which will take place from 19-23 September 2011. The week will focus on exploring how local and regional societies, cultures and economies are becoming more integrated and empowered through a global network of communication.

IRISS is really pleased to be running a series of breakfast meetings throughout the week on various social media. Each workshop will feature a specific tool, demonstrating its value to personal learning and development, as well as organisational development, and participants will also get the opportunity to try the tools out and ’get their hands dirty’ so to speak.

The workshops will demonstrate, for example, that Twitter is not just about sharing what one had for breakfast (!), that social bookmarking is a great way of keeping track of useful websites, and sharing them with colleagues, that there are really simple and effective ways to keep track of news,  that sending Word documents by email is a painful way of collaborating, and that the iPad is the way forward for digital inclusion.

Be Good Be Social, an initiative founded by Ross McCulloch of Third Sector Lab, is also hosting a one-off social media surgery on Wednesday, 21st September as part of Social Media Week. The surgery will offer charities, social entrepreneurs, community groups and other third sector organisations the opportunity to discuss social media woes with a social media ‘surgeon’. People can come along to get help with any aspect of social media that is baffling them.

SoLoCo, a national web-based initiative based in the Scottish Borders, which aims to enable and promote community independence and confidence by providing relevant services that have been identified by local people for local people, is also being launched by Third Sector Lab as part of Social Media Week.

Further information and links to booking IRISS events: http://www.iriss.org.uk/news/social-media-week-2011
Further information on Be Good Be Social event: www.begoodbesocial.org.uk
Further information on SoLoCo launch: http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=179