SMC Seattle

Micah Baldwin has been working with social media since before it was cool.  (Remember BBS?)  Since then he’s created multiple start-ups, helped universities start online fundraising programs, and written for Mashable.  Oh, and he created twitter’s most famous meme #followfriday.

In advance of his talk at Gnomedex, he talked to Jennifer Cabala about influencing people online, networking for the non-people person and how he created #followfriday.

When did you first start using social media and why?
I’ve been involved with social media (BBSes and other forms of “interaction” media since the mid-80s (yes, I am old). I dove deep into blogging, twitter, etc in mid-2007. I had just sold my interactive agency, and was interested in exploring what was available online, and where social media had grown. It started with a blog (http://learntoduck.com) and quickly expanded into Facebook (I was on facebook from 2003ish, but never really did anything), Twitter, etc.

Which tools do you use most and why?
My comedic answer is always the same: my fingers. I have a strong belief that the tool is always secondary to the connection and relationships, and any reliance on tools just muddies that reality.
I spend most of my time with Twitter and Facebook. Trying to learn how to do video, so I am beginning to spend more time on Youtube.

How did you come up with the idea for #followfriday?
I had two friends, @jeffrey and @dannynewman, who decided to have a bet as to who could get to 1,000 followers the fastest. They kept asking me to tweet out that my followers should follow them, but when I finally did, they lost followers. I jokingly called myself the “anti-christ” of twitter.

During that time, I began to think about what it was like when I started using twitter. I followed a ton of people on the public timeline, and then began to follow a ton of people that they followed. Over time, I realized that the recommendations of people I trusted went a long way towards whether I followed someone or not. (I’ve always kept my following number low. I don’t want a lot of noise and I wanted it to be people that I liked to, and would communicate with often.)
So, I figured why not have a day, where people could recommend a couple of people to their followers that were worthy of a follow.
Who knew it would become what it is: more than 250,000 #followfriday tweets are sent every Friday.

What are some ways you can increase your influence online?
Well, you are just going to have to come to Gnomedex to find out!
I have always expressed influence as a combination of audience, trust and expertise. In essence, if you are trusted and considered an expert, you can exert influence. Audience or reach allows you to extend that influence in terms of audience size, and dissemination of message.

We have a lot of non-profit members, are their some techniques you could share about online fundraising?
Wow, that brings me back to the beginning of my career. Online fundraising really is not much different than offline. Its all about the right offer to the right person at the right time. I think most non-profits view online fundraising as a question of numbers (If I send more email, I will get back a better response). A better course of action is finding better ways to target messaging and the ask so it gets in front of the right people.
I am a big fan of DonorsChoose.org, and I think they do a great job of allowing the potential funders to self-select the right offer and the right time.

You’ve said that you aren’t much of a people person, but isn’t social networking about people?  How do you manage that?  Is there something different about the online experience?
Well, not sure I have the answers. My therapist and I have been trying to work that one out for the last 3 years! Social networking is about the people, but its in a safe environment. You can walk away at any time. Its relatively easy to manage.

Any tips for people who don’t like networking in person?
In terms of events, the only advice I have is come armed with a couple of stories. Ask people more questions. People love to talk about themselves or their projects. Keep moving. There is really something about spending a few moments with many people vs. a lot of time with a single person. Less likelihood of saying something dumb!

Anything else you want to share?
I’m excited to speak at Gnomedex. Its one of my favorite conferences, and Chris is one of my favorite people.

You can see Micah at Gnomedex starting August 20th.  Online, you can find him on his blog “Learn To Duck”, on twitter, or at work at Lijit.

SMC is excited to be a Gnomedex 9.0 partner and SMC members get a 10% discount!!

Here’s where you register: http://gnomedex.eventbrite.com/?discount=smcseattle10