Puget Sound Blood Center Organizes Blood Drive, Social Media Fuels It

Sean DeButts, Social Media Coordinator at the Puget Sound Blood Center, has set up the organization’s first blood drive tweetup! If you’re in the Seattle area and available on Tuesday, June 23, I highly recommend that you go and donate some blood. Not only will you be donating for a great cause, you’ll also be surrounded by some wonderful folks. Sean will be posting pictures on Flickr and videos on YouTube of people who are donating throughout the day. You can even publish your experience in real time by blogging or tweeting while you donate!

For more information, check out the following links:

• Puget Sound Blood Center website
• Puget Sound Blood Center’s Facebook page
• Puget Sound Blood Center on Flickr
• Puget Sound Blood Center’s MySpace page
• Puget Sound Blood Center on Twitter page
• Puget Sound Blood Center on YouTube

Coming late to the party: My social media “wow” moment

I just had my first social media “wow” moment. Before I explain what happened, I’ve got to tell you that I’m borrowing the phrase “social media ‘wow’ moment” from Kenji_Onozawa and his website, Seattle Social Media Profiles. In his written interviews to the folks that he interviews, that’s one of his questions. If you’re a Northwesterner or just a plain ol’ person who engages in social media, this site is awesome; it really helps put social media and the local people involved in it in perspective!

Oh, that’s right… So on to my story.

I was on Twitter, reading some updates and responding to some of the tweets that I had favorited throughout the day (I typically don’t tweet during the weekdays because I’m too busy at work), and one of my friends, Bloglue, retweeted a question that he had posted the day before asking about programming and the use of 24-hour clocks and AM/PM settings. Since I follow a decent amount of programmers/developers, I figured at least one person might be able to answer… and answer he did! noahcoad answered within 10 minutes of me retweeting Bloglue’s message. 10 minutes! It just blew me away.

It’s just proof that reaching out to others and actively searching for answers for yourself and for others really works online. But you know what? It’s even sweeter when you can meet these people at social events and other types of meetups.

I’m still amazed at how much more I “got it” today. I think I’ll use this as my own proof point for when people want me to explain what the significance of social media is. Now, let’s see how many more online tools I can use to help others…