Connie Bensen

One of my highlights each year is Blog World Expo in Las Vegas. What I love about it is that it brings together everyone that is passionate about social media. Spending time with peers is invaluable!

Blog World has a special place in my heart because it was the first event where I met all the people who had mentored and supported me as I established an online presence. I had spent over a year interacting with these people on their blogs, Twitter and Facebook and had come to know them very well. But meeting them in person took it all to a new level. Working remotely is ideal because I accomplished more than I could have dreamed of, but you really do need to meet the people behind the blogs. And Blog World Expo offers that opportunity. Each year at Blog World is better than the last one.

This past year I wanted to capture the best on video and share it here. Blog World is all about reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. It’s an experience that can’t be duplicated anywhere else.

This video features Deb Ng who organized Blog World this past year. She was a very busy lady as she worked to make sure everything went smoothly. Ingrid Tappin is a new friend that I met at lunch. She is from Amsterdam and I will reconnect with her when I’m there in January. Liz Strauss talks about the difference between drive and passion. Shashi Bellamkonda is an old friend that asked many questions about the Community Manager role back in 2007. He took my suggestions and implemented them at Network Solutions. In 2008 he invited me to work with him. That’s a case of: ‘What goes around comes around’ in the most positive sense! And finally, the Betsy’s … Betsy Weber is the amazing community person at Techsmith. And Betsy Aoki manages social media for Bing.

Early yesterday afternoon I put together a compilation of links to information on Gustav that @WayneSutton had started. It was intriguing to watch volunteers come together using social media tools to prepare for the hurricane.

Andy Carvin set up a ning & started coordinating the volunteer efforts. His ning became the Gustav Information Center. There was a discussion as to whether the Katrina wiki should be used. That information would be three years old & it would be lost. So a decision was made to create a new one using the same wiki software to make it easy to port over the structure.

Yesterday I wasn’t connected with Andy Carvin, but ChocoNancy follows both of us put this up on Flickr.

Hosting needs for the wiki were generously provided by Network Solutions (whom I work for). Deanna Zandt is handling the technical aspects of the Hurricane Gustav Wiki. Once the wiki was installed, volunteers went to work copying over the info from the Katrina wiki. Today, less than 24 hours when this initiative started volunteers are checking links & updating them. At this rate, the effort will probably be done before the hurricane makes landfall.

The wiki will serve as an incredible resource for those affected. It’s amazing to watch people using & aggregating information from Twitter, online sources, Craigslist, mainstream news & then offering it to be read in a number of formats.

If you don’t have computer access

I’m wondering if the national emergency organizations should take note & have templates set up ready to use for various natural disasters. What about having their staff trained to utilize the various social media tools & engage the power of volunteers? There have to be lessons that can be learned here. What are your thoughts?

I was doing some things in MyBlogLog.com and saw Wayne Sutton’s collaborative effort towards building community around those preparing for the hurricane. He is using Twitter but it’s being broadcast in his MyBlogLog stream which allows me to read it as a set. (I have 1500 people in Twitter & the noise level is high.)

• There’s a ning for hurricane info – join & share information
• On Twitter they’re using the hash tag #gustav
• Live Twitter tracking by @jazzychad
• And a ref librarian at Jefferson Parrish put up Yahoo pipes tracking tweets.
• And Wayne is using his FriendFeed account to post all links.
• *Update – Margaret Saizan is blogging updates at
  • www.hurricane-katrina.org
  • & has a community at http://beyondkatrina.ning.com/

People are commenting on Twitter that @RedCross is giving out more up-to-date info than the mainstream media. (My question is it really the Red Cross – after the Janet @Exxon deal. But we can worry about that after the hurricane!).

I hope that helps connect people in some small way. It’s great to see these tools utilized quickly to hopefully save lives.

I’m in Minnesota so quite a ways from the storm. I did see a request on Twitter asking for help & to email her at beyondkatrina@gmail.com