Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Youth Engagement: A path to reinventing rural education

March 4th, 2010

We talk a lot about the importance of youth engagement in rural communities. It’s a great way to connect with young people, and make sure they realize how valuable they are to the community.

I recently discovered this great example of youth engagement in rural Perth County, Ontario. 

Under an initiative developed by the Perth County Econoimc Development Offices, MS2 Productions, a local production company, has been offering Social Media Boot Camp training classes to local businesses.  The training involves a 3-hour overview session on social media marketing and hands-on training focused on specific social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

To promote the training, the company produced a video which I’ve embedded below. (It’s so good, I wish Perth County, Ontario was closer so that I could have attended.)

 

Perth County Social Media Boot Camp from MS2 Productions - Your Complete on Vimeo.

But it is what’s happening behind the scenes that sets the training apart. In addition to encouraging businesses within each rural community to work together, they are engaging students as social media consultants.  As Melissa Schenk, Executive Producer of MS2 Productions explained to me via e-mail:

Local Businesses will hire CO-OP students to be their Social Media Marketers… The Baby Boomers learn from students how to use the Social Media Sites, but the students in turn - learn more about local businesses, how to better put these social media sites to good use, and are providing a valuable resource of information in their communities. Not to mention students are engaging more with businesses, that they might never have had the opportunity or an interest in otherwise.”

In short, young people and business owners are learning from each other.  And in the long run, these young people will better appreciate life in their rural communities and be better prepared to recognize business opportunities after completing their education.

Additionally, I think projects like this will lead to the educational reform that Richard Florida has been talking about lately: creativity, technology, and social.  All are 21st Century skills that young people need to be successful.  Come to think of it, those are the same skills rural communities leaders need as well.

Note:  Melissa Schenk  sent me a message correcting my initial post, which did not credit the Perth County Economic Development Office for the project.  My apologies to Bernia Wheaton, Perth County Economic Development Coordinator.  I love this story even more knowing that economic development professionals are leading the charge!

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Posted in Community Engagement, Economic Development, Gen Y, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (3)

Economic Development - It happens in Rural Communities too!

November 11th, 2009

Prairie Business Magazine just released a story touting recent job creation activities in small, rural communities of the Upper Midwest.  The article’s message: small, rural communities can enjoy job growth if they are focused and work at it. 

There’s a lot of good advice for communities in the article.  What caught my attention, however, was how Marshall, MN is using the web and social media as a part of their economic development plan.  Mark Hanson, economic development director with the City of Marshall, MN is quoted in the article saying:

“Cities like Marshall don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing and advertising.  We have to find the best ways to spend what we have. We have decided to stop printing brochures. The website is less expensive and we can continuously update it.”

Brochures, no! Website, yes…and Facebook and Twitter too!

When I took a quick a quick peek at Marshall’s Facebook  and Twitter accounts, I was impressed: mostly updates on events and news articles, with a few video’s added for extra flavor.  Through it we get a more authentic look at Marshall than if we were looking at a flashy brochure.  

We’ve previously listed other communities that have created Facebook Pages (Energize Clinton County (OH), Webster, SD and Miller, SD) as a part of their economic development strategies.  We definitely think it’s a move in the right direction.

As more and more communities embrace this strategy, however, we need to start asking:  How has creating a Facebook page made an impact on your community?  What is the measurable impact?  Any new businesses come to town?  Do you see community problems getting solved on-line?  What’s actually happening?  If you have some answers, we hope you will share. 

Note:  Congratulations to the South Dakota communities of Milbank, Watertown, Arlington, Eureka, Britton, and Roslyn on the recent opening of Link It Software offices.

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Posted in Economic Development, In the News, Rural | Comments (0)

The Twittering Farmer

July 3rd, 2009

We often assume that Twitter is a “Gen Y thing” and that rural places haven’t gotten into the social media craze.  But a CNN article titled “Twittering from the tractor” provides a glimpse of how some Midwest Farmers are embracing technology. 

So what’s the value Twitter and other social networking tools offer farmers?  The article discusses some knowledge sharing applications currently being used by farmers, but I think the article captures the real value these technologies offer people in rural places with the following:

The biggest draw of smartphones and online social networks is that they provide human connections to people for whom farm life can be lonely, said Chuck Zimmerman, publisher of an agriculture news blog called agwired.com.

Yes, farmers are social creatures.  That’s why rural community cafés are often filled with farmers who come to town each morning for a cup of coffee.  I’m not sure that the majority of farmers are going to embrace this type of communication, but we’ll probably see more of it in the future. 

And let’s keep in mind, nobody tweets without broadband internet, and blackberries are a waste of money if the closest cell tower is 45 miles away.  Those are real issues limiting technology’s use in some rural communities.

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Posted in Agriculture, Community Development, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (0)