Weekly Radio Spot
Well, my name may not be Joe, but last week after living here in Kelowna for 21 years, I took the Canadian Citizenship oath with 47 other New Canadians from over 24 Countries, a genuinely international social event.
A couple of the event’s highlights was to have Local dignitaries there for Federal, Provincial and Local representation. On behalf of Mayor Sharon Shepherd was Kelowna Social Media superstar @Kevin_Craig, who got up and talked about his tale of coming from Ireland and what it meant to him to become a Canadian and what Canada has to offer as a country. He also played up on his Irish accent, but I have to admit he spoke eloquently and with a great message for any Canadian New or born here.
Furthermore, what was also a real treat was to fire up my Twitter account and to find an overwhelming amount of congratulations from people worldwide that I have met via Social Media circles over the last year.
This connection via Twitter or Myspace, or Linkedin or re-connections via Facebook of friends and new friends has driven Social Media to the incredible mass it has become today.
So in Canadian spirit, I wanted to list Ten Canadian people/icons/organisations using Social media for good or interesting things.
Canadians rocking Social
1. Justin Bieber – Hometown Stratford, Ontario
http://www.JUSTINBIEBERMUSIC.com
http://www.BIEBERFEVER.com
http://www.twitter.com/justinbieber 2,822,877 people following
http://www.youtube.com/justinbieber
http://www.youtube.com/kidrauhl
http://www.facebook.com/justinbieber 4,545,873 people following
http://www.myspace.com/justinbieber
http://ilike.com/artist/Justin+Bieber
I know the kid is not everyone’s favourite, and yes, he has a massive team behind him. But he does most of his updates to his Social Media Streams (unlike, say, Britney Spears). He has become a Global Canadian Icon, not just through his music but his personality. And as you mentioned last week, you can remove him entirely from your online experience with the Firefox Shaved Bieber application J
2. Stephen Harper
Yes, folks, your friendly Canadian Prime Minister is on Twitter with a healthy following and does his tweets, not many of them, 249 at this time. Stephen Harper demonstrates he understands the importance of the social aspect of Twitter.
My favourite: U.S. Ambassador Jacobson delivered 2 cases of beer to 24 Sussex today to settle the Olympic hockey bet. http://twitpic.com/19jcpr
Also using Youtube to the fullest when he invited people to submit questions that he would answer live via a streaming feed. With an impressive 240,000 views
http://twitter.com/pmharper
http://www.youtube.com/talkcanada
Canadian Organizations
3. The Canadian Diabetes Association.
It was pointed out to all of the New 47 Canadians in the audience that a group of Canadians, Banting, Best, Collip and Macleod from Toronto University in 1921, were responsible for saving countless lives with the discovery of Insulin.
The Canadian Diabetes Association continues the great work today and is using Social media platforms to increase awareness and fundraise.
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.youtube.comhttp://www.flickr.com
Please check out their Flicker account to see photos uploaded by people at events. You get an incredible feeling of Canadian patriotism and community caring.
4. David Suzuki (foundation)
As the host of CBC’s The Nature of Things and the author of more than 30 books, David Suzuki a Vancouverite mixing education with entertainment. The passionate Suzuki has earned a well-deserved reputation as an environmental guru for two generations of Canadians. Although the foundation runs much of his Social Media, his Facebook Page is a reasonably personal page and worth supporting
http://www.facebook.com/DavidSuzuki (excellent profile picture of David)
5. CBC news
We discussed last week that content is key to Social Media And that perhaps Mainstream Media still has more to say than we think. And what better than a Canadian News anchor, the CBC? Over the last year, they have worked hard to keep up. Big Kudos and shout out to this incredible team for their Olympics coverage earlier this year. Streaming coverage of events was superb, and they continue to do so with more and more shows.
http://www.facebook.com/thecbc
http://www.youtube.com/user/CBCtv
Canadian businesses
Which companies across Canada are using Twitter
6. Plentyoffish.com
Yes, a weird one, you may say to this list, but Markus Frind, CEO and Founder of PlentyofFish Media Inc., graduated in 1999 from the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a diploma in Computer Systems Technology. PlentyofFish is a free online dating site, popular primarily in Canada, the U.K., Australia and the United States. With 17,000,000 registered users. With over 9,000 people claiming they met and later got married off of Plentyoffish. Last Year 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. previous year claim they met via social media
7. Club Penguine.com
Founded by Canadians Lance Priebe and Lane Merrifield in 2005, Club Penguin is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) aimed at kids aged 6 to 14 that uses avatars, chat and minigames. The site snowballed, gaining 1.4 million users in the first five months, and had reached 12 million users by 2007, when Disney bought it for $700 million. Club Penguin has provided kids with a safe, fun Social Media alternative to other sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The site has been well received and heralded for its child safety features.
8. lululemon athletica
Founded in Vancouver, BC, in 1998, the first Lululemon shared its retail space with a yoga studio. They have been growing since their technical yoga clothes and apparel are now at over 100 stores across Canada, the U.S., Australia and Hong Kong.
http://www.facebook.com/lululemon
Social Media Canadians
9. Sharon Hayeshttp://www.twitter.com/SharonHayes, listed now as no 305 on Twitter, is the Top Canadian Female, one of the first people to get out there and discover the power of Social Media for Businesses. Sharon runs an incredibly successful b2b marketing service. She understands the concept that social media shouldn’t be taken in isolation. It is about strategy and implementation of marketing objectives through social media, community development, e-mail marketing and domain names. I suggest you do if you are not following her, which is unlikely.
10. Mitch Joel
http://www.twitter.com/mitchjoel Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and called him “one of North America’s leading digital visionaries.” In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. Again if you are using Social Media to promote your business and need to follow him, I suggest you do.
http://www.twistimage.com/about-mitch/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchjoel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Joel