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Lessons on joining the social media party
 
New Yorker journalist, Susan Orlean thinks of all social media platforms as different kinds of parties, with Twitter being a “noisy cocktail party, with lots of chatting and quick interactions, a kind of casual free-for-all”, and Facebook being a “combination high school and college reunion and therapy group.”
 
So, if Twitter and Facebook are the parties, your business’ goal as new party-goers is to become part of the popular crowd by tapping on the shoulders of all the ‘cool kids’, and attempting to ride in on their coat tails.
 
As a social change movement, Chief Executive, Minnie Baragwanath and her Be. Accessible team are delving into the world of social media to spread their message of creating a 100% accessible society for us all. One in 5 New Zealanders live with a disability of some kind, and we will, in fact, all have access needs at some point in our lives as we age, have children, or travel the world. So the dream of a fully accessible world is one that will benefit every single one of us.
Having only launched officially in May 2011, Be. is still trying to find its place in the social media party, but would like to share what they’ve learnt so far, from getting sucked into the gossipy people at the party, to the disadvantages of sitting in the corner not talking to anyone. 
 
Lesson #1: Remember your brand
Never before have so many people and businesses come together in one place to compete for attention in the form of ‘likes’, ‘followers’ and ‘retweets’. So it is absolutely crucial that your brand stands out from the crowd by always looking and sounding impeccable. (Picture that guy at the party with the perfectly pressed suit, and smooth-talking charm). Whether your brand is intellectual and serious, or witty and light-hearted, the most important thing is that it is consistent. 
Be. Accessible has aimed to pitch itself as the inspirational voice of accessibility issues, always providing optimistic and positive stories, rather than bagging the status quo. Recently, our ability to stay true was challenged when a frenzy of tweets and articles were posted about Mojo Mathers (Green Party MP who is deaf) potentially being denied funding for an electronic note-taking device to assist her to participate in Parliament. We were faced with a dilemma: join in with the #sacklockwood trend and potentially gain more likes and followers, or stay true to our brand values. As an organisation, we made a decision to provide information to the public that is constructive and looks towards a brighter future, and in this circumstance, without any official reports or decisions coming from Parliament we had to freeze our fingers and hold fire until more facts were available.
www.beaccessible.org.nz