Cool Twitter Conference: October 20, 2009 – Brooklyn, New York

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak with fellow geeks and nerds about using social media to promote ideas, businesses, and brands at the Cool Twitter Conference in Brooklyn, New York. (The geeks shall rule the world!)

I was invited to speak by the conference organizers Bob Fine (@bobfine) and author/activist, Kevin Powell (@kevin_powell).  One notable presenter was Jamilah Lemieux (@sistertoldja) creator of the provocative and culturally relevant blog Me, Myself, An Eye. If you don’t know already about this sister, follow her on Twitter and subscribe to her blog now.  Do whatever you have do to be enlightenment by the insightful words of this powerfully-minded young woman of color.

I had presented before at major conferences about the importance of social/new media:

Media Justice and Feminist Futures (SUNY – Albany 2007)

Facing Race (Applied Research Center) - Oakland 2008)

Yesterday’s Cool Twitter Conference was certainly another opportunity for me to learn from others and share my ideas of how best to use virtual platforms for personal & professional development.  I also had the opportunity to publicly coin a new phrase. (Go me!) I’ve written about ’snew’ media before (just look at my ‘About Tara’ bio) and hopefully folks will see this term show up in print next month.  I’ll keep you posted!

That Guy: Kevin Powell on Domestic Violence Awareness

Kevin Powell Image: The Brooklyn Paper

You know that anti-sexist guy who we happen to come across in some off-beat progressive feminist magazine, or read about in a Women’s Studies class, or see in an independently produced documentary, yet he still seems mythical in our distant consciousness like faint familiarity? Upon coming across *that guy* we (i.e. the self-proclaimed feminists, womanists, or simply “pro-woman folk”) celebrate and lament all at once, as if to say; “Ah, yes, I’m sure that guy really does exist . . . somewhere.”