@"Systems Overload" we write about GTD (Getting Things Done) and other productivity measures, social media, health, family, and other things to improve your personal and work lives.
Blog Action Day 2010 is now history and thought that some of you might be interested in reading a little bit about how it went, so I thought that I share some information about it with you all.
I received an email teling me that the main event on Friday had more than 5,600 bloggers from 143 countries participating, reaching more than 40 million readers. This definitely shows that blogging and Social Media have reached a whole another level, think about how many tradtional television shows and traditional publications reach that many people!
Blip.fm and Globaljammerz had an event to go along with Blog Action Day 2010, that I told you about in my post on Blog Action Day. The event ran all weekend long so that it could allow people in all the time zones to participate. Trying to get statistics about Blip.fm has proven more challenging that I had first thought, so my numbers aren't as complete or as in dept as I'd like but I wanted to report on a few things anyways.
First of all, thank you to everyone who participated in Blog Action Day, in whatever form that you might have done so. I also wanted to thank those people that participated on the Blip.fm/Globaljammerz Blog Action Day 2010 Event. As far as I know this is the firs time that something like this was organized on Blip.fm and Globaljammerz, so I have big hope for this to grow in the future.
Over the course of the past weekend I played 31 songs on Blip.fm. I received 20 different reblips, or people replaying songs that I played, often restating part or all of the message that I wrote along with the blip. All of the 31 songs that I blipped were also tweeted on my Twitter account. I received 38 props or kind of a thumbs up from other Blippers for songs that I played and/or the messages that I blipped
What I'm not able to determine is how many songs were played with "#BAD10" in the blip, as was one of the ideas behind having the event, so I'd be curious of someon Blip.fm can find out for me. Looking in Twitter, 8 tweets mentioned me and Blog Action Day and songs that I blipped Using the search on Twitter doesn't seem to pull up any of the blips that I know should be there, I'm not sure why.
I wanted to take a moment and recognize some of the people that participated in the Blip.fm/Globaljammerz event.
"indyh"gave me the most props for songs played as well as being the first to reblip or replay one of the songs that I played for the event.
The first prop or thumbs up that one of my blips got goes to "sandraew".
3 different blips of mine were reblipped by at least 3 people
"Danimelocoton" reblipped me several times and gave me several props
"MCDEIBEM" and "DeAnn" reblipped multiple songs of mine
"indyh", "mairsplaylist", "Loba_Negra", "DeAnn", and "Globaljammerz" gave me multiple props
The idea of having a Blip.fm/Globaljammerz event tied to Blog Action Day only occured to me with a little more than a week before the big day, so there wasn't a whole lot of time to organize and promote the event. Overall, I'm happy with the event that we had on Blip.fm and Globaljammerz. I've learned some lessons on things that can be done differently in the future and see big potential in other events that can be organized in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do for Blog Action Day 2011. If you participated in the Blip.fm/Globaljammerz Blog Action Day, I'd love to get your feedback and some statistics from you to help round out my evaluation of the event.
Globalammerz.com is having a membership drive with the goal of reaching over 1000 members by the end of this year.
What is Globaljammerz? It is a social network for DJs, Musicians, and Music lovers. A large number of members are also members on Blip.fm. While there is a lot of communication going on at Blip, as a social network I've thought for a while that it needed a lot more functionality and now with Globaljammerz you have much of what I was looking for. Also, membership is free.
If you go to the groups section, you'll find over 40 different groups covering a wide variety of musical tastes and themes where you can meet other people with similar tastes and interests to yourself. If you're into the Beatles, they have a group for you. If you're a Disco Freak, they have a group for you. If you've got the Blues or are into the Blues, they have a group for you. If you're a Soul Man (or Woman), they have a group for you. They have Hard Rock, Punk, and a variety of other groups all waiting for you to join them.
Several of the DJs at Globaljammerz have regular shows on Blip.fm. You can start the week "Mayer Mondays with Mary", where music from John Mayer is featured. "Flowapowa with Deann", plays flower powered music from the 60's and 70's. "German Rock House with Petra" focuses on popular German music (and we're not talking about the folk music from Oktoberfest that most people think of either). "Sountracks with Daniela" plays music froma wide variety of famous (and sometimes not so famous) movie soundtracks and television shows. "Texas Blues Power Hour" features famous (and not so famous) guitarists from Texas. These are a few of the regularly occuring shows and there are also several special shows that are scheduled on more of an ad hoc basis, so it is a good idea to check out the events to see what shows are on the horizon.
There is a chatroom built into the network, so you can see if any of your friends are online or if they'll join you online. It is also a good way to communicate with the DJs doing shows, to let them know what you think about the songs they're playing or maybe you can give the requests live duing their shows.
Globaljammerz is a social network hosted on Ning.com. Ning is probably the most famous site where you can build your own social network, so Globaljammerz can harness the experience of Ning for the benefit of its memembers. Look for new features and funtionaliy as Globaljammerz grows and matures.
If Globaljammerz reaches the target of 1000 memebers by the end of 2010...
The first prize winner of the contest who brings in the most members will win $150, 2 concert tickets, or virtual shares of Globaljammerz
The second prize winner who brings in the second most new members will win $100
The third prize winner who bings in the third most new members will win $50
To qualify, the new members need to mention that you referred them when they apply.
I'm excited about Globaljammerz because I see that it can become "the" social music network. It isn't nearly as complicated at Ping and there are already tons of people already on Blip.fm that could really benefit and enjoy the site. I hope to see and hear you at Globaljammerz and Blip.fm. Why not give them a spin and join them, membership is free. By the way don't forget to tell them that Darryl Heron sent you.
You might also be interested in...
Here's a post that I recently wrote about Globaljammerz
I was really excited when I read that this year's Blog Action Day theme was water. Water is something that we can all relate to and shouldn't lead us off into some ivory tower discussion about if it exists or not (at lease I hope that some of the spinmasters out there haven't found an angle on this, but I have little doubt that they'll try). Water is such a basic and simple item, but it is central to our existance in this life, we cannot live with out it. When we, as people, are presented with a problem there is a natural reaction and desire to want to help and to ask "What can I do?"
First off I thought that I bring up some of the topics that were raised on the Blog Action Day homepage, water is way more far-reaching that you might first think. All of the things that I mention are worth further investigation and you owe it to yourself to have a look into them (if not today or tomorrow, in the near future, while we still have a future) Education is almost always a good thing. Take some time to learn what the problem is and you'll be amazed at some of the possibilitie that will open up. Be sure to check out the Blog Action Day homepage because they have some real good resources there. If you're running out of time or just wish to skip to the "What Can I Do?" (try doing "contrl F" and pasting "What Can I Do?", it'll the the 3rd instance of that phrase). Here you'll find some suggestons of some things that you and your family and friends can do, along with some information about the Blip.fm/Globaljammerz Blog Action Day Event that we've planned....
Water as a Human Right
The UN General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right. 122 countries votes yes on the resolution while 41 nations "absentained". You have to wonder what the reasons were of those countries that didn't vote. You can sign a petition to let the UN and other world leaderss know you support water as a Human Right...
"Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
I support the UN's life-saving efforts to accomplish MDG seven: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities are basic necessities required for health and for success in the fight against poverty, hunger, child deaths and gender inequality around the world.
It is also central to the human rights and personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth."
Effects on Women And Children
Charitywater.org reports that water collection and unsafe and unsanitary water have an extreme effect upon women and children who spend 40 billion hours every year just collecting the water that is available. "Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses." "Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions."
Polluted Oceans
According to Savethesea.org "Not only is pollution bad for the environment, it’s also expensive! Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year."
Unsafe Rivers
According to Dosomething.org "Today, 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. That’s not surprising considering the fact that 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water, and industrial waste are discharged into US waters annually."
Food Footprint
You might have heard about our Carbon Footprint but have you heard about our Food Footprint? From Waterfoodprint.org, "Do you know the water footprint of your food? For example, 75 liters of water are required to make a glass of beer and 15,500 liters to make a kilogram of beef."
Water Wars
According to Finalcall.com "Many scholar, researchers and political analysts attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. In fact, a report commissioned by the UN Development Program found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa."
Water And Poverty
According to Endpovertynow, "A lack of water contributes to poverty, with parents and children too ill or too busy collecting water to go to school and work. Water poverty also undermines progress poor countries are making on health - with half of hospital beds taken by people suffering with diarrhoea and dysentery." Further more "Currently, a staggering 2.6 billion people live without a safe toilet and 884 million people lack access to clean water. These problems combine to make a massive crisis for developing countries - undermining health, education, economic and gender equality progress."
Technology Footprint
According to Spectrum.ieee.org "On an average day, 500 billion liters of water travel through US power plants to power all the technology that we use every day. For example, that shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with approximately 6.4 million active iPhones in the US, that’s 3.2 million liters to charge those alone."
Bottled Water
According to Envronment.change.org"Even though people in the US have access to clean water from their taps, they drink an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled."
Farmers vs. Animals
According to Desertelephant.org"As water becomes scarcer in Africa, farmers not only compete with each other but also with other animals, including elephants. Forced into close contact with farmers, elephants destroy crops and wreak havoc on agriculture, causing farmers in turn to resort to violence in order to protect their crops and water sources."
Fashion Footprint
According to Treehugger.com, "That cotton t-shirt you’re wearing right now took 400 gallons of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 1800 gallons. Not wearing cotton? The dyes and synthetic fibers used to make your clothes create waste that’s among the many contributors to water pollution."
Water Celebrities
On a brighter note some celebrities are using their star power and influence to champion the cause of water and water rights, including...
I've you've read all or most of my post to this point, thank you for doing so. Did you find out along the way that water is way more complex and far-reaching than you first thought too?
Tell Others about Blog Action Day and this year's theme Water.
Let's start off by discussing it with people you know, especially your family and friends. One person by themselves might think that they can do anything but when you add more people you get a snowball efffect and momentum and motivation, so amazing things can happen.
Share any good articles or ideas that you find. You can "like", "tweet", "bookmark", "favorite" and any number of other terms to get the word out. Also don't be affraid to add a comment or two, but do be constructive, there are plenty of trolls out there today just waiting to jump on you, don't be one of them.
You can write something of your own. You don't have to be Dickens or Shakespear. Don't be affraid to speak up or that you might make a mistake, or that nobody will like what you write (or worse yet, nobody will read it).
Below is a video about Playpumps that I found a couple of years ago, I think that it is a great idea and certainly something positive that is being done about water availability.
One last thing before I get to the event, there are lots of things that we can do as people about Water availability and the items mentioned above. First of all we should not accept the status quo and give up. As consummers and taxpayers we need to be more that those two functions. We need to let out political leaders and businesses know that we expect more out of them than they've been giving us. We can also choose what we buy and use. If you decide to not buy a good or service because the company isn't acting responsibly, let the company know what you're doing and why you're doing it and tell everyone you know about what you're doing.
The Blip.fm/Globaljammerz Blog Action Day Event
The idea: People on Blip.fm and Globaljammerz will play songs to raise awareness for Blog Action Day and this year's theme of Water (and have fun doing it).
What: If you're not already signed up at either one, then sign up. Blip.fm allows you to be a DJ and share music online with other DJs. Globaljammerz is a social network built to complement Blip.fm which allows you to do all kinds of social things that aren't built into Blip. Play songs around this years theme, maybe you can search for "water" to get you started. You can also look for "#BAD10" and see what songs come up that other people might have already played.
How: When you find a song that you want to play, you'll want to Blip it, which is like publishing a post or a tweet because all of Blip.fm has the ability to see what you've "Blipped". When you blip songs be sure to include "#BAD10" in what you blip, so that we know you're taking part in the event. Its really that simple.
More: Because you have the interation of other DJs on Blip.fm, you'll be able to discover new songs and artists (or be reintroduced to ones that you might have forgotten). You can show other DJs that you like what they've played by giving them "Props" and you can "Re-blip" songs that you like or have a conversation with them via your blips.
The Challenge: To make things more interesting, the Giving Back Group at Globaljammerz has issued a challenge to the other groups at Globaljammerz to see which group has the highest percentage participation in the event, the most members participating, and a variety of other challenges that you can read about here.
You can also: Join the Globaljammerz group at Facebook or any of the groups at Globaljammerz. Feel free to check out my blips at Blip.fm and my profile at Globaljammerz. I hope that you'll join us. Although Blog Action Day is "offically" only October 15th, we'll be blipping songs all weekend long. Hope to hear and see you at Blip.fm and Globaljammerz. I'm also looking forward to seeing what great things people will do for Blog Action Day.
Photo credit: Pictured is a Mindmap that I created based on post ideas listed on the Blog Action Day homepage and it is posted in my Flickr account.
What are you doing for Blog Action Day 2010? The question has crossed my mind a lot in the past few weeks. A more pressing question is, What can I do? Or you might even be asking, What is Blog Action Day?
Blog Action Day is day where people around the world, from many different languages and cultures write about one topic to raise awareness and to see that the theme of that year has many voices and reaches as many people as possible. This year's theme of water is both basic and simple enough and very complex, all from the same word.
In the past bloggers, writers, and people just plain passionate about the theme and wanting to be a part of something bigger than themselves have participated and the event has grown. I certainly wish to encourage people to take this route of participation and remember that while you might not be Dickens, Shakespear, or any author whose name rolls of the tongues of people when they think of great writers, but you're welcome and encouraged to join along. I've given a lot of thought of how to expand the event and reach a wider audience that it already has. I came up with the idea of extending the event out to the music world and have created an event within Blip.fm and Globaljammerz to coincide with Blog Action Day 2010.
If you're already a DJ at Blip.fm, you can play (blip) songs along with us all day on October 15th in whatever time zone you happen to live. Heck, how about if we blip songs all weekend long! The songs that you play should be arround the Blog Action Day theme of water but I personaly think that you have quite a bit of room for personal interpetation. For example, maybe you might decide to play songs from artiists that you know are active in a variety of causes and you believe would support Blog Action Day, if the could, or if they knew about it. Blip.fm allows you to post text along with the songs that you blip, so you can add a message to all or some of the songs that you play. So that the world can see how many people are participating on Blip.fm, you should be sure to include "#BAD10" in the text you include. If you have Twitter integrated with Blip.fm, your blips will be broadcast into the Twitterverse for even more people to see. You can reblip (or replay) songs that other people have blipped for Blog Action Day and you can give the DJs that are playing songs (or have played songs) props (a thumbs up or sign of approval at Blipfm).
If you're not a Blip.fm DJ, it isn't too hard to join and you'll have lots of fun and meet all kinds of people from all over the world if you do join, why not suggest songs that the Blip DJs can play. If you're in Facebook or Twitter you can make your suggestions in your status area, just be sure to use "#BAD10", so that the world can tell your suggestion is part of Bog Action Day. You can also suggest songs in the comments section following this post, or send them in via a Tweet by using "@darrylheron", so that I see it in Twitter. You can also join "the event" that has been set up at Facebook or Globaljammerz. You can also tweet about or "like" any Blog Action Day article or post that you believe is worth promoting, as well as any song.
If you're already a member of Globaljammerz, the social network that complements Blip.fm, you can participate there in a variety of ways. This event is being sponsored by the Giving Back group at Globaljammerz, so why not join there and tell us how you're going to participate or tell us about the set list that you're going play on Blip or that you'd like to see played on Blip. You can tell us how you feel about the topic or what it matters to you. You can also become friends with the people that are participating. If you're not a member of Globaljammerz, why not join? Membership doesn't cost you anything and you can meet other music fans with similar tastes to yours (as well as people with different musical tastes) and you can join one of the many groups there where you're bound to find other people with some similar interests to you.
Whatever you do, I do hope that you'll participate in Blog Action Day 2010, in some form or fashion. What are you doing for Blog Action Day 2010? I'd love to hear what creative and interesting things people are doing and have planned. Whatever you do, be sure to tell as many people as possible about Blog Action Day 2010.
The 2010 Blog Action Day is coming. On October 15th, bloggers, writers, and other people from around the world will all write about one topic, to raise awareness. This year the theme is water. Why water you might ask, from the Blog Action Day homepage...
"Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted. Access to clean water is not just a human rights issue. It’s an environmental issue. An animal welfare issue. A sustainability issue. Water is a global issue, and it affects all of us."
When I looked at the Blog Action Day homepage, before writing this, they already had over 1,500 blogs registered to participate, from 98 countries, with over 12,000,000 readers. So, already the reach is pretty good. In honor of this years event, I created an event at Globaljammerz and am encouraging all of you on Blip.fm and Globaljammerz to play songs around the theme of Blog Action Day on October 15th. Since not everyone can or wants to write, this opens things up for more people to participate in the event. Any song that you wish to play related to Blog Action Day should have #BAD, #BAD2010, or #2010BAD in them so that they can be found by the various tracking programs. For people that have Twitter integrated with Blip.fm, your blips show up like tweets, so these would show up in the various Twitter trends and searchs.
If you're already on Blip.fm and Globaljammerz, why not participate. If you're not a member, why not check it out and join us for the event. By the way, you're more than welcome to write for Blog Action Day as well. For more information about Blog Action Day and things you can do, be sure to visit their homepage. You can share artilces that you like via Twitter, Facebook and a host of other methods. I'm looking forward to seeing what all we do for Blog Action Day this year and hope that you'll join us.
Posts
