NAHJ, has ten multimedia journalism training sessions in Texas, Feb 20. Blogging, social media and content creation will rule these workshops.

Very innovative and keeping in pace of a trend in the Latino sphere – from their website: The New Generation Latino Consortium (NGLC), the only professional organization of its kind dedicated to the enhancement of the New Generation Latino audience, is proud to announce ‘The NGLC Media, Marketing & Entertainment Conference’ taking place in New York City on April 5, 2010.

While social media is undeniably hot, without evidence of burning out, many established organizations and businesses have been exceedingly slow in accepting social media as the new engagement platform.  In the face of prudence, speculation and convention, enthusiasts – evangelists – have pressed forward with a new and unpredictable, yet powerful and stable form of communication that has haulted an entire industry and forced it look over its shoulders.

In many ways, social media has just begun – 2010, will be its pivot.  Pre-2010 will be looked back as social media being considered only an addition to already established marketing tools, but post-2010 social media will be viewed as a major factor, even replacing traditional media.

Hispanic organizations will be on the far end of the tail, as Hispanics are mostly a conservative population.  To the older generation, social media represents…is, change.  However, the younger generation is embracing new media in droves.  Somewhere in the near future – post 2011? – there will be a huge explosion of Hispanic based industries and organizations in social media.

These are my observations, not my judgments.  I think social media will continue to influence its way into every business sector and will be the fast track to Hispanic related communications.  The fact that Hispanics are the quickest and most abundant adopters of new technologies and media, should move every decision-maker toward the promised land of social media.  Will you be joining me?

What’s interesting in this short round up are the new players making their entrance as a result of a changing industry.  Also of note is the inclusion of new media within the agendas of established organizations.

This list is far from complete, as there are smaller seminars going on, as well as some larger that I’ve not added – it’s a start.  If you have any suggestions please feel free to add them to the comment’s section and we can create an ongoing list.

• One exciting first, is Manny’s HispanicPR Conference that includes social media.  It’s a 3 day event in Texas, May 10-12. I think we’ll see this as an annual event for years to come.

• Another ‘first’, is the Latino2 event in LA powered by Latinos In Social Media (LATISM) on April 30-May 2. This event will solidify the LATISM footprint in marketing and social media on the West Coast.To keep abreast of what is going on in LA you can follow these Tweeps and their daily discourse:  @giorodriguez @antonio @davidvallejo @laurag

• LatinVision in NY has it’s annual Convergence conference Oct 4, that will discuss the future of Hispanic media.  This even bring in the major networks and agencies in NYC and beyond.

• In Hispanic print and digital media is Portada’s event Sept. 23.
  

When it comes to social media, are you on the outside looking in or on the inside looking out?

This is the question I ask myself when I encounter someone involved in social media.  It gives me insight to their level of engagement, which is important to me toward my own expectations.

Insiders

If you’re one who uses social media to interact with friends and family, then your consider an insider.  This means that you’re using social media in it’s purest form without any interest toward professional interests.

There are some professionals however, who wants to further the cause of social media and has significant value to add – both professionally and personally.  I consider these insiders as well, as they further push the boundaries of social media by defining it, identifying new trends and adding content.

Outsiders

If you’re on the outside looking in you are looking to harness the popularity of social media for a professional means and not necessarily adding to the inherent value of social media.

This group includes marketers/advertisers, companies and brands, as well as sites looking to tap into social media to benefit their own agenda.

Value

Ultimate value lie with Insiders, for without them Outsiders would have no one to target, nothing to reap. For instance, I recall talking with a prestigious industry publication that said it would be of great interest to feature what Hispanics are doing in social media from the user’s perspective.  Once I told them about the outsiders involved the article lost it’s luster.

As I’ve stated above, this categorization of what people do online acts as a measuring stick to help guide what you may talk about with them, or to what extent you want to include them in a project or task…or not.

The Mexican government is up in arms against ‘Twitteros’ who use Twitter that warn others against drunk driving checkpoints – “alcoholimetro.”  But what really has those on the good side of the law angered is the blatant use of social networks by drug traffickers and other criminals.  Thus the “Spanish Bill.”

You decide: Is this a fair case to relinquish free speech for the greater cause of justice?

Some of the examples listed showed how others may try to take advantage of your account on Twitter. Complimenting yesterday’s post, I found a great article that talks about how an insider exploited Facebook to gather information on unsuspecting users – and I’ve seen those ads!

So, go ahead and take a look at that article it’s full of a lot of information…and…WYB!!!

As netizens connect and grow, so do more unsavory individuals look to take advantage of those communications.

Having a background in technology, I’ve seen many cases of users unknowingly causing computer problems which easily could of been prevented if they new more about the computer environment.

With this in mind, imagine what can happen to an individual who unknowing falls prey to a computer virus or a phishing attempt, that could of been prevented if the knowledge of the characteristics of such attacks could of been recognized.

Social Media Literacy (SML), permits us to identify such threats.

SML goes beyond the knowledge of  pushing your content through different social media channels; it involves the critique of received media.  If media literacy broadly applies to digital media,  then SML would be specific to social media platforms.

Tips

Here are some suggestions for Twitter:

- If you see many of your friends sharing the same strange new Twitter icon, or tweeting the same strange message, it’s probably a hoax, or they’ve already fell victim to one.

- Be weary of tweets that contain news or calls to action, without having links.  This may be a prank/hoax, and the joke may be on you.

Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!

- If tweet contains all CAPS or multiple symbols, take heed!

- “Think before you click.”  Is this too good to be true?  Do you know the user?

- Mouseover the link and make sure you can verify the link (enable status bar in most web browsers).  If you can’t see it, or the link looks like bad news (IP number, instead of URL), the WYB!

- Does the persons tweets have a lot of links in many of them?  They have an incessant need to get you somewhere.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used the ‘block’ feature on Twitter.  This is because, I spend so much time on the internet that I’ve developed a heightened awareness of what looks right and what looks suspect, so I don’t spend too much time blocking people from my feed…I just unfriend them.

If someone is trying to take advantage of others, and you want to take the extra step then, submit their name to Twitter Help for investigation.

Has anyone experienced, or have more suggestions for Twitter or any other site?

As you may know, my roots are in the blogsophere, so it’s great to see continuing progression.  Latino blogs moving in upper and cross-lateral directions is great stuff.

BlogWorld 2009 had the innovative idea of hosting a multicultural panel.  A clear sign of vision and pulse of the current situation in the U.S.A.  I had the honor to be invited by Jose Villa from Sensis to represent the fastest growing group both online and offline: The Latino(a)s!

With new media one discovers a personal pulpit.  For those engaged in new media, theirs is a public launch platform.

New media offers many benefits that are fairly easy to discern.  Such are:

• communication/conversation

• sharing/connecting (community)

• increased transparency of business/organizations

• democratization of media.

From this short list, we can see a concentration of potential.  Explore deeper within each broad idea one will see many possibilities.

This is why new media is not just a conglomeration of diaries and teenage chat.  Social media is pregnant with the seeds of revolution…even evolution.