BMPR + NCLR = Giving Everyone a Voice Through Social Media

From the outside looking in, social media can look like a bunch of spoiled brats playing with their high-tech toys, oblivious to the world around them.

Sometimes, that’s true. But mostly, that’s the exception.

The majority of people engaged in social networks use it as a way to sincerely  connect with their community. Here at BMPR (Business, Media and PR Tweetup) sole entrepreneurs have hooked up with big companies, event planning professionals have teamed up with public relations firms, web designers have found jobs, parents working from home have partnered with each other.

You name it, BMPR has it: Bankers, chefs, small business coaches, students, television producers, solar advocates, hotels, journalists, librarians, food banks, professors, realtors, graphic artists, baristas and more. It is a free, creative community where we share ideas and encourage one another.

This weekend 15 BMPR members will be taking that social media energy to the National Council of La Raza‘s 2010 Annual Conference in San Antonio. #NCLRconf

As part of NCLR’s National Latino Family Expo — the largest Hispanic consumer show in the country (it’s FREE and open to general public) — BMPR will be offering free clinics on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

You’ll find us based out of the Technology and Environment/El Futuro Pavilion, where laptops are set up for conference goers to plop down and get hands-on instruction. There will also be teams of roving social media reporters,  interviewing Expo visitors and uploading videos, podcasts and livestreams on NCLR’s YouTube channel.

NCLR is the largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation. Since 1968, it has worked tirelessly to improve opportunities available for Hispanic Americans. At the conference and Expo, people can attend free seminars on health, art, careers, education, personal finance and get advice on citizenship and immigration, as well as learn how to recycle common household technology and more.

Social media is a perfect fit with NCLR’s mission because these are free tools that anyone can use to collect information, connect with the community, and improve both their personal and professionals lives. With access to a library computer, any mom and pop shop can tweet their specials, homebound senior citizens can friend neighbors and former colleagues around the world, high school students can search YouTube for science fair ideas and university lectures.

Mostly, though, social media gives everyone a voice.

In the last two years, strangers from all over the world shared their knowledge, opinions and resources as they used Twitter and Facebook to rally around events and issues such as the tsunami in Haiti,the Gulf oil spill, health care reform, the recession, the Olympics and the World Cup.

There is nothing more liberating and powerful than meeting new people, sharing new ideas and hearing opinions different from your own. And that’s why these BMPR people are there to help out — not because they’re a bunch of social media know-it-alls, but because they’ve all experienced a major shift in their lives by using these tools. And they want that for others.

Come out and join us at NCLR this weekend. Here’s to the BMPR NCLR team: @alanweinkrantz @bigredintejas @NOWcastSA @christinechapa @colleenpence @lettergirl @kathybabb @lalorek @luissandovaljr @nanpalmero @nancypjohnson @norafrost @woodseanm @smartwoman and @sbiediger1 oh, and me @writeontime. (Many thanks to my partner in crime based in Washington, D.C. @andinarvaez who helped coordinate NCLR and BMPR.)