So this big conference of progressive blogging folk is coming to town in August and I am working with the Lambda Foundation and the LGBT Blogging Initiative to organize a big ole gay welcome reception. Between the Warhol and Pegasus, a good time will be had by 2,000 people or more. 

I helped Lambda set up their Facebook page (not a group) which has the advantage of showing up in people's feeds like any other profile  I also set up a Twitter account for them https://twitter.com/pghlambda (Twitter search is broken so it won't show up that way).

Then I searched for other Pittsburgh groups who are using new social media and came up pretty empty. What I mostly see are individuals who have accounts using them to promote their organizational activities.  I think that misses the opportunity for branding, but it certainly is better than nothing.

City Councilman Bill Peduto uses Twitter and FB very effectively to keep his messages front and center, as well as offering interesting (if intentional) glimpses into his persona life.  Patrick Dowd made an attempt during his campaign. 

The queer organizations aren't there yet.  Several of the dyke oriented activities seem very grounded in MySpace which has a much younger focus, so they miss the opportunity to connect with women in different sectors of the community.  I keep a MySpace account, but I doubt that I would set one up for one event when I am actively using Facebook.  I think it is incumbent upon the orgs to use the media and not expect the users to follow them.

I see quite a few events, but I don't see tweets reminding me of upcoming activities.  So even if I RSVP "yes", I forget about things.  Twitter is pushed to my phone so I am more responsive to it. 

Overall, I'd love if our community could tackle new social media in new inspiring ways.  We have all this technical know-how and so many worthwhile organizations/issues, surely there must be a way to bring them together? 

Stay tuned for the press release for the VIP Welcome Reception at the Warhol.  Fabulous!