Connecting Manchester United supporters around the world
by connector on April 3rd, 2010
Social Media plays an essential part in the way tribes connect in an increasingly smaller world. One organisation MUST (Manchester United Supporters Trust) have begun utilising social media to spread their own campaign message. MUST have always existed as a tribe in their own right, but as we have seen throughout history the bigger your gang the more power you can exert.
MUST have wanted the Glaziers out since they took ownership of the club, but this season they have given their movement legs with the “Green & Gold Campaignâ€. These are the original colours of Manchester United, then known as Newton Heath, with the idea being that the fans will continue to wear Green and Gold until the owners go.
MUST are also aligned with another tribe, the Red Knights, who are the financial arm of the campaign. The Red Knights are made up of wealthy investors, some who are fans of the club, who are prepared to invest in Manchester United if and when the Glaziers agree to sell and then give 25% ownership of the club to MUST.
In February 2010 membership was 50,000 when it was announced that Blue State Digital, the same company who led the digital campaign for Barrack Obama during the presidential elections, were appointed to take the Green and Gold Campaign to the next level.
Membership of MUST, a month and a half later, has nearly tripled and currently stands at 134,440 at the day of writing (Friday 12th March). Using new media such as a Facebook page , a Youtube channel as well as providing easier ways for new signups to share information through their Facebook status is the reason the campaign has mushroomed recently.
Traditional media has caught onto the movement recently too, with not a day going by where MUST or the Red Knights don’t feature in the sports pages.
Every tribe though needs a tipping point and a figurehead. MUST’s tipping point and figurehead could have come on Wednesday the 10th of March after their game against AC Milan. Enter David Beckham, famous the world over for his football playing ability and consumer appeal, who made a clear expression of support when he donned a scarf in MUST colours after the 4-0 defeat of Milan on Wednesday night.
The MUST movement is now ready to explode and reach every corner of the globe and gain support of an estimated 75 million fanbase. This simple gesture by David Beckham is exactly what MUST and the Red Knights needed to cross over into the mainstream.
The power of Social Media in this movement should in no way be underestimated!
David Mulligan
Connect with NAMA
by Diarmuid ORiordan on March 11th, 2010
This is a bit Irish. The Facebook group “No to NAMA†has 11,369 members. I want John Joe from the late late toy show to fix my clock group has 47,415! In my opinion, Ireland needs to connect online to have a discussion about the most important piece of legislation in the history of the state.
Lets use social media to voice our opinions and lets get interested in what could potentially make or break our state. Why?
NAMA is purchasing loans at only a 30% discount from the banks. The lands these loans are based on are now priced back at agricultural value. Unless the farmers strike oil on this land, the actual underlying value will remain as low as 10% of the loan value. We’re screwed!
David McWilliams sums up the figures as “we see that there will be €51.5bn of land and development assets and associated loans transferred, based on what he has seen so far, we are looking at a hole of possibly €40bn, where we will borrow €51.5bn from the ECB, for assets worth a little over €10bn”.
A loss of €40 billion ladies and gentleman, puts Ireland in the red for generations to come.
Ireland should prepare for even higher increases in taxes to pay for the debt, unemployment and emigration should this happen.Â
Social Media was used as a primary method of communication among opposition supporters in the Iran 2009 elections. Tight state control of traditional media drove the opposition online to spread their message. In the USA, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign generated $60m dollars from social media channels.
Users of social media in Iran and the USA were able to establish a voice in important moments in their history.
Whether NAMA is a success or failure will decide the fate of the Irish economy for a generation.
This is an important moment in our history, and we can use social media to establish our voice and contribute.
Connector Tribal Love Invite
by Sarai Fernandez on February 25th, 2010
Connector Tribes Final Lineup
by Sarai Fernandez on February 23rd, 2010
Connector Weekly – 1st Feb 2010
by Sarai Fernandez on February 1st, 2010
This week at Connector … We are about to launch Connector Training Courses, to get more info click here.
Connector @ Events
Last week was great for Connector too! We had the Speed Connector, and we fundraised to support our pal Adrian Garry’s volunteering trip to Haiti. And now we’re looking for Tribes to parcitipate in our next event “Connector Tribal Love” on the 25th Feb at the Science Gallery
Conor was a guest for the Bootcamp at Stillorgan, the show run by the SFA which helps business to become more professional, more productive and more profitable, check their next venues on the website.We are going to the
ESB Des Bishop’s Gig at the Button Factory this Wednesday with 10 winners from Connector.
The second edition of the DublÃn Web Summit will be on thursday, and besides high profile speakers, Connector will organise the networking party after the workshops.
Cool things are happening in Dublin the next days: The Irish Film Institute is having a free movies day on January 8th, the Postgrad Fair on the 16th and the Dublin Central Library will host a free workshop for jobseekers on the 25th.
Connector Links
Some links we like on the Internet… : Business Chamber, a free tool for local networking; Sagespark, a platform with lots of tools and services for small business; Bump Technologies an application for your mobile to share contact details, and 2night a website and a magazine to help you decide where the fun is going to start.
Social Media
And some news about the Social Media: A special report on Social Networking by The Economist, new data about time spent in social networking sites and a webinar run by the Irish Internet Association.
Have a look at the latest appearances on the media: On Thursday, The Irish Independent published an interview with Conor and The Sunday Times tackled Social Networking with the Conor highlighting the issue. Besides that , Conor wrote his regular column in The Digital Times and we have sent out the January eNews.
Connector ‘Tribal Love’
by Diarmuid ORiordan on January 24th, 2010
Connector ‘Tribal Love’ – Thurs Feb 25 @ The Science Gallery, Trinity College
Connector and The Science Gallery are connecting to bring you ‘Tribal Love’. It will be an event themed around Tribal attraction in the digital age. As well as some prominent guest speakers, we will showcase some of the top Tribes from Dublin.
It’s really exciting to be connecting at this great venue. The Science Gallery ‘Love Labs: Science of Desire’ exhibition, runs from the 11th of Feb to the 12th of March 2010, and as part of this Connector ‘Tribal Love’ will look at the science of ‘group chemistry’.
Tribes are communities of connected people with shared interests & ideas. Whether its 5,000 Shamrock Rovers fans turning out to a windswept Tallaght Stadium for an Eircom League game, or 44,000 people joining a facebook group called ‘I want John Joe from the Late Late Toy Show to fix my clock’: its a human condition; to be connected to an idea; to a movement.
It promises to be one of our best events with a great mix of Tribes from the online and offline worlds featuring. Some of our old friends will be back, along with new tribes with passions for the likes of music, film, fashion and sports.
Please Click through to view our presentation and check back for more details before the event…
Synth Eastwood – Connector 'Tribe of the Year 2009' (Shortlisted)
by Conor on November 30th, 2009
As part of Tribes Week, we are featuring all of our shortlisted Tribes on the Connector Blog today. Each of these Tribes have been shortlisted for the Connector Tribe of the Year award. The winner will be announced at Christmas Connector.
Synth Eastwood is a music, art and technology based group that presents different artist’s work from around the world at a gig type exhibition.
As they say themselves:
Since the group’s first show in May of 2006, the number of artists submitting has doubled for each show. In addition to the submitted work bands are invited to play, along with the Synth Eastwood band who perform a set based on the show’s theme. In fact all facets of the show even down to the layout and structure of the exhibition space are considered in relation to the brief.
Check out their presentation at Connector Tribes:
Dartmouth Square – Connector 'Tribe of the Year 2009' (Shortlisted)
by Conor on November 30th, 2009
As part of Tribes Week, we are featuring all of our shortlisted Tribes on the Connector Blog today. Each of these Tribes have been shortlisted for the Connector Tribe of the Year award. The winner will be announced at Christmas Connector.
Darthmouth Square has been a huge success in 2009. From a standing start, this tribe has grown to almost 1,000 members of Ranelagh locals & fans who have reclaimed this green area and put it back to great use for the community. Darthmouth are using this public space for local events. Low impact, fun, educational, green, cutting edge, theatrical, non commercial, charitable, if you have any ideas, they want them! Donations at events pay for the parks enhancement and future events.
Dartmouth Square from late April to August 26 2009 from Peter O’Brien on Vimeo.
Funky Seomra – Connector 'Tribe of the Year 2009' (Shortlisted)
by Conor on November 30th, 2009
As part of Tribes Week, we are featuring all of our shortlisted Tribes on the Connector Blog today. Each of these Tribes have been shortlisted for the Connector Tribe of the Year award. The winner will be announced at Christmas Connector.
Funky Seomra is a non alcohol and drugs free event held every month in the Concert Hall in the RDS. These events involve people of all ages gathering on the dance floor or chilling in the lounge, listening to music from all over the world.
As they say themselves:
The monthly event is fast becoming a hot ticket on the Saturday night club scene. People of all ages, from all backgrounds enjoy the festival night together. One participant, Annette, at the last event said ‘this is without doubt the best night of dancing I have ever had, I’ll be back again and again…and I can’t wait to tell all my friends’ Another participant, Patrick said ‘Its more than just a night out dancing, its like a festival night in itself, and its such a friendly atmosphere, I feel I can just be myself here..brilliant!’ Jessica, another participant had this to say ‘ To get to dance and interact with such a rich variety of people is wonderful! nowhere else do I get the chance to be in such a great atmosphere on a Saturday night and feel comfortable, thank you so much for creating this important event for Dublin’
Check out Funky Seomra’s presentation at Connector Tribes:
Connector Tribes
by Conor on May 27th, 2009
I am a big fan of Seth Godin. He is an American marketing writer & speaker and has a huge international profile for his books and blog. ”Tribes’ is his latest book about communities of connected people with shared interests & ideas. I think it is his finest work and below is his excellent presentation @ Ted.com
The Connector No.10 event called ‘Connector Tribes’ is inspired by Seth’s new book and is a unique event I hope will work out as planned ! I will follow up with an Connector eMag about the Dublin Tribes and the Connector Tribe Awards are coming later in the year.Â
A great mix of Tribes have been confirmed for tomorrow’s event. We’re still waiting for a couple of confirmations but here is the line up so far …. Boards.ie, D-light Studios, Synth Eastwood, The Attic, Crewger, Funky Seomra, Edenbee, Nouveau Vadge, Dublin Streets so lots to look forward to !
If you’re a Tribe and not on the list, come along and I’ll see if we can fit you in! Big thanks to all the Tribes who are speaking on the night with a special prize from TheChurch.ie for one lucky winner. Which tribes are you in ??
Thanks to Alvin from Fresh Design for the Connector Tribes logo below.
