I live online. Most people live in houses or apartments. I live in this alternate media driven universe. When the information is flowing, particularly information on media, journalism, public relations, storytelling-nothing matters. After observing that I hadn’t eaten a meal all day and was glued to one screen or the other, my husband once asked me if I simply drank coffee and ate Internet 
.
In my daily life, I often talk in terms of hashtags and DMs and it’s easy to forget that not everyone exists or works in this digital world, or uses the online tools everyday in their work.
I recently sat on a panel of journalists who were talking to the community non-profit and small businesses owners of Philadelphia. The topic was digital journalism and social media. I was in a room where the majority of people in the audience were NOT on Twitter. Whoa.
But after I stopped to think about it, maybe I’m the weirdo. Because everyone doesn’t live online. Everyone doesn’t eat Internet. So it’s understandable that some people are still wondering why Twitter is valuable. ( However I think the way journalists are covering events in Egypt should answer how critical these tools are ).
Saturday’s panel inspired me to put together this guide for social media beginners. Media Access: Essential Online Tools for Small Businesses and Non-Profits is a free reference tool: a curated list of the most essential social media tools non-profits and small businesses should be using. For many of you this information is second nature. But remember that there are a lot of people out there who are just getting to know the tools we depend on and take delight in every day. Hence the name (and theme of the workshop that inspired this document) Media Access. Please share this information with the community non-profit leaders and small business owners in your network.
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Amanda Miller Littlejohn is a writer, public relations consultant and media strategist in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter or offer her new workshop ideas on Facebook.
