What's up in Rwanda

Here's an NBC news video highlighting a little bit of challenges Rwandans are living with. My friend Michelle got to hang out with some of the kids in the video this summer!

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Dedicated_Individuals_Work_Hard_to_Mend_Rwanda_Washington_DC.html

Time lapse video of CA fires

Pretty alarming!

From Write It: From Facebook to Newsweek.com

Thanks to the magic of online social networking, this morning I was interviewed by a blogger from Newsweek.com about the Facebook post going around yesterday regarding health insurance reform. You can read the story here or check out the rest of the blog under Newsweek.com's link for The Human Condition.

I will admit that most of the time, I use social networking for fun or as a way to de-stress after a long day. But this has definitely shown me that it is a useful tool for professionals looking for ways to self-promote.

Without Facebook, I wouldn't have known this status update trend was happening, I wouldn't have been part of it, and the Newsweek writer wouldn't have contacted me. Other than this morning's phone call, all of our communication took place through Facebook. And the writer didn't contact me because I was special or because she knew me. She wasn't even in the same state as me. She contacted me because one of my Facebook friends ran into one of her Facebook friends downtown this week and they started chatting about this wave of health care reform posts on Facebook.

If you're looking for ways to promote yourself as a professional and you don't have a Facebook or Twitter account already, this is just one more reason to consider getting one. (PS: No one paid me to say this!)

Originally posted at http://charitythompson.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/look-for-me-on-newsweek-com-today/

From Write It: "S***MyDadSays" on Twitter & success in unlikely places

A couple of weeks ago I started following a Twitter page called "S*** My Dad Says." Every day on this page Justin Halpern posts a quote from his 73-year-old dad, who is decidedly cranky and hilarious. I figured Justin Halpern was tweeting in obscurity. Then today I read about him in the Wall Street Journal.

Read about why "S***MyDadSays" makes for good writing on my Write It blog!

From Write It: Why Social Media Should Matter To Grown-Ups

Social media matters! Socialnomics.net says so!

Some stats from Socialnomics.net:

• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia
• 80% of companies use LinkedIn.com as their primary tool for finding employees
• 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content such as blogs

Read the rest and see the video that 'splains it all on my Write It blog...