Are you ready to be the Voice of the Day?

Are you ready to make your voice heard? As the US elections approach, many of us here in the US are having to make some tough decisions. One of the things we here at allvoices hope to do is to help you think about and talk about all the issues. Everyone needs a place where they can hear all the voices – not just on the big issues, but on the small ones too. There is a great saying, “think globally, act locally”.

As you prepare to vote, the big issues will be the ones that everyone is talking about – that’s the “think  globally” part. I know that the coverage of the nominees for president and vice president takes up most of the time and effort of the traditional news sources.

So far, here at allvoices, that has been the case as well. But, there are many more issues and offices you need to decide on when you go to vote in November. I am hoping to hear your voices on those issues as well. After all, the local elections are the ones that impact your day to day life – that’s the “act locally” part.

To help encourage you to share you voice, allvoices is announcing the Voice of the Day. If your voice is chosen as the “Voice of the Day”, we will help you get heard. We will publicize your piece here on the blog and elsewhere around the web. We will work with you to make sure that what is in that piece gets heard.  We will be bi-partisan. We are not pushing any specific agenda. Instead we are going to push well thought out, well communicated ideas.

Share the ballot initiatives that are up for consideration in your town. Share the issues that are influencing your choice in the local and state offices.  Share how you have come to decide what spots you will mark on the ballot. Share which local elections were easy for you to decide on and which you haven’t been able to decide on. Share what matters to you in the election. Ask for input from others around you.

Voice of the Day Criteria

1. To be considered, you must attach at least one story, image, video, and blog entry to your piece. The items must all relate to the issue you are discussing. Make them interesting and insightful.
2. Content submitted must be original. While the links may be to items that exist elsewhere and have been written by others, the main content and all images must be yours alone. We want your voice, so that means give us your words and your images. 
3. Videos can be links to YouTube videos or videos uploaded to the site. However, if the video is not your video be sure to add value to it by putting information in the description that says why people should watch it. Original videos will get you extra credit!
4. The items must be clear and well written. Spelling counts. If you want to change the world with your words, your words must be understandable.
5. Conversation improves your odds. Get people talking and commenting on your news – expressions of both sides of the issue will help keep the conversation going and enhance the chance your piece is selected for promotion.
6. You must provide a link to the story on allvoices by Private Message  or email to Kathy Jacobs, allvoices community guru.
7.  You must tag your stories with Election2008  so that they can be found easily.
8. Stories will be considered on a daily news cycle. The story to be promoted will be picked based on stories submitted before 4:00 pm California time each day. One story a day will be picked from now through the 5th of November. Once the story of the day has been picked, it will be promoted by the allvoices team. You will be informed if your story is chosen.
9. Your news item must pertain to an issue or election that will be directly voted on during the elections on November 4, 2008.

 What do I get besides views?

Each allvoices member who has a story picked as a daily story will receive an allvoices t-shirt. These shirts are being designed and created now. After the election, we will choose one of the daily winners to receive a $50 gift card.

Any other hints?

When you create your pieces, be sure to tag them with “Election2008″ so that they are picked up for any special system wide promotion we may do.  Other good tags include your location, the election issue, the people involoved, etc.

If people voice up your piece as a well written and insightful piece, that might influence the judges. Therefore, if you want us to pick your piece, you might consider having people vote it up. Remember – if  20  people register so they can voice up and comment on your piece – you could receive one of the Flips!

Things I would love to see reported on allvoices

Hitting writer’s block about what to report? I know how that goes. Living in Phoenix and working from my home, I often feel that I am disconnected from the news of the day. To overcome that, I follow a lot of people on different social media sites to learn what people are talking about, caring about, and reporting across my corner of the net.

I thought that it might help some of you out there to know about some of the lesser known corners of allvoices. These are places that don’t get as much reporting, so you have a greater chance of getting eyes and visibility on your content.

Entertainment

We get quite a few reports on the big stories from the entertainment world. But did you know that no one seems to have submitted a single user report on Emmy fashions? We have a few general pieces that the system grabbed, but we don’t seem to have much on the fashions worn – the hits and misses, the shoes, the jewels.

Another example is reality TV. I haven’t found anything user contributed on the site about Survivor, reality TV, Amazing Race, Biggest Loser or Project Runway (to name a few of my favorites). I know that there are people in the world who are interested in these shows. And I don’t just mean the US versions of them. But no one yet reports on these on allvoices. Pick up the reality stream and you will get views.

Sports

I am a huge women’s basketball fan. The only WNBA contributed story on the site appears to be the one I posted during the Olympics. No news on the playoffs. No news on the award winners. (My favorite, the Phoenix Mercury are out of all of that, so I am not the one to post it.) Do you follow the new Australian league? Report on it! Nothing has been contributed there either.

What about baseball? Believe it or not, there is little there either. There is a story on the end of Yankee Stadium… But little else. Follow football or soccer? Tell us about it! We do seem to get some international news on the soccer world, but not nearly what I would like us to have.

Another area you can report on and have a pretty much monopoly on the eyes are your local school sports events. Tell us about the events at your college, your high school, your kids’ schools. You will get picked up by not just the current attendees and parents, but also by the alumnae and the staff.

Sports news is easy to report too. Find out what happened with the stars of your favorite team and provide your opinion on how they are doing. Tell the world why your team is great or why they aren’t so great this year. Give us something good to read and we will.

Science and Technology

We do get quite a bit of science news. The tech stuff seems to come in waves. If you have the latest gadget, let the world know why they need it (or why they should stay far away). Tell us what you think the next breakthrough will be. Tell us why people should care about the scientific and technological breakthroughs you find important.

Are the kids in your school doing something great for science projects? Tell the world. You would be amazed at how big your local audience really is! Tell the world about a research project or study you know something about. Reach out – people will find you.

Conflict and Tragedy

We get lots of big event stories. What really catches people are your pictures and videos a from the ground. Don’t believe me? Check out the Islamabad pictures from earlier this month. They really have power and punch. And they got views!

Business

Business news is a bit harder normally. Right now, with the world economy where it is, anything you can share that helps people see how you are getting through or how you are helping others – that’s good content and will get viewers.

Is your company taking a new approach to health care costs? Tell us about it. Others can learn from you. And the better it is, the more people will see it.

Politics

National and international politics are easy to see and find things to write about. BUT just as important is the local news. Find out if you can report on the city government meetings. Find out what is happening locally around the debates. Start a discussion about what your area needs and what it does well. Politics will always bring people to your work.

The unreported stuff

Finally, report on the stuff that matters to you. Are you attending a conference? Report about it live and let people know. Tell us about the conversations and the people who are there. Talk to the attendees and learn more about why they are there and what they can contribute.

Are you a volunteer with a national organization? Tell us what that organization is doing right and what it is doing wrong. Tell us how you feel about changes being made. Tell us about changes you feel should be made.

In closing…

I want to read what you write. If I am not already a fan of you, let me know. If you fan me, I will fan you. If you write something you think should be given more visibility, let me know. I’ll do what I can.

What does this have to do with my job as community guru? Everything! If I don’t know what people are reporting on the site, I can’t get people to the site to check things out. The more you tell me, the more I can tell the world.

If there are other things you would like to see reported, but don’t feel you can report on, comment away – I’ll see if I can find someone to write on it! Also, if you have a story on something mentioned here, but I don’t know about it – tell me in the comments. I’ll be glad to check it out!

What’s News?

allvoices.com is all about your news told your way. Great. But what is news? News is anything that is happening in your world that you are interested in. We want to hear your voice and learn what is important to you.

National and International News

The first thing that comes to mind for most people when they think news is the big things. Elections. Wars. Disasters. Mergers. Things that affect millions of people either around the nation or around the world. And that is definitely news. And we want you to report it.

But… we don’t want just someone elses take on it. We want your view of it. We want to hear how the news event effects you and your family. We want your images and videos of what is happening.

If you are where big news is happening, report it in your voice and your images.

Mid-level news

If it is big enough to make the local news, but not the national and international scene, it is mid-level news. Tell us if it happened in your backyard. Fires near you? Share your stories. Company in your town shutting down? Tell the world. Better yet, talk to some of the people directly impacted and share their view on it as well as your own. Keep the people angle going and people will view it.

Local news

Something happening in your neighborhood or at your school? Report it and then get others to comment. Chances are, if it is happening in your neighborhood, it has happened elsewhere as well. Local news matters to the people near where it happened, but it also matters to those who used to live there.

A Scout troop doing a service project may seem to only be local news with only local impact. But if other troops around the world are looking for projects to do, reporting that service project could have an impact on millions of Scouts around the world.

Remember…

The news you report should be what is important to you. If it is important to you, it is important to us. Let your voice be heard here on allvoices.com.

You never know what you might get out of it…