Greetings all. For those who were following my timeline this weekend, you may have seen me talking incessantly about BloggerWeek. It is a conference for bloggers, journalists, and social media people. Founded by Jessica Ann Mitchell-Aiwuyor, it is an offline extension of Black Bloggers Connect. This is the third major conference, and it draws participants from around the country. This year’s event consisted of a networking event Thursday night, an all day at Busboys and Poets on Friday, and then the final day of events at Trinity Washington University on Saturday.
I didn’t attend the Thursday event, so I will address only the first and second day of the conference here. The Digital Media in Social Justice Symposium focused on the meaning of social justice, and how people have utilized social media to further the efforts. The founder of BloggerWeek opened with a definition of social justice, and then went on to explain how many causes are furthered via these various outlets. I heard some good presentations from people like Dr. Kelly Macias of Conflict Undone, Janel Martinez of Ain’t I Latina, and Tyece Wilkins of Twenties Unscripted.
I was fortunate enough to be able to participate, leading a discussion that can be difficult and divisive in an election year. The subject of my topic was “Economic Justice in a Post Obama Black America” The point of my address was to get people thinking past November 9th about what we can do as a people to begin to address our pressing economic concerns. From a talk that addresses a contentious issue flowed a conversation that was nuanced, and positive about the potential for Black America to continue to thrive.
The first day was about the messages one could put out there, while Day 2 of BloggerWeek dealt with how to do it technically. Held at Trinity Washington University, the day would be full of advice on which tools to spread your message. Andrea Imafidon of Brown Girl From Boston gave a great tutorial on how to use Canva during her session. Author Nicola Mitchell showed us how to make Instagram work for us. April Reign, the creator of #OscarsSoWhite discussed hashtag activism and the ins and outs of operating on Twitter. Rachel Decoste gave a session about blogging for a broader audience with a number of good article pitching tips. So, it was a day of information and inspiration. As a person that has been to a few conferences like this, it is good to see that new bloggers are emerging on the scene. Whether you are brand new, or have been around for a little while, BloggerWeek is a good place to go to learn about the craft of blogging. To do some of the fancy things that I saw folks presenting about, I will need to read up on these newer apps and features. Shoutout to everyone I had a chance to meet there this weekend. This post could easily be double the length it already is, but I think you all get the point. Brevity is something that I continue to work on, but I still don’t know about hopping on SnapChat. I’m just saying. Until next post.. Peace y’all!