Project 52...ish and how The Long Push will utilise social networking

So that’s the Christmas and New Years festivities over with. I’m just about to pack ‘Christmas’ back into its two plastic carrier bags and Christmas tree box, and put it back in the wardrobe and that space under the bed that 'Christmas' lives in until next year. And hope that the Mayans weren’t right about December 21st 2012! http://www.december2012endofworld.com/mayan-calendar-2012

Time to really get this ‘Long Push 2012’ er…rollin’!

I’m very much aware of three things:

1. How much I need to clear my desktop and work station!

2. That I’m going to have to do a LOT of training in order to complete this journey

3. That I need to promote it really well to achieve my two goals, of raising autism awareness and raising £2000 or more for the chosen charity.

So starting, typically, with number 3, this is how The Long Push is going to use the social networking sites to promote the journey.

www.thelongpush.blogspot.com/

This here blog is the main focus for detailing the ride. This is where I intend to write up all the build up to the ride and help increase awareness among readers of how much impact an autism diagnosis to a family member can have within a family, and the difficulties it can pose for the autistic person themselves. Of course, the general idea of blogs is to personalise or diarise events and share them with the world, and that’s fine about the ride itself. I’m very conscious however that, although I want to get a message across, that I DON’T personalise it too much, because it’s not actually about me, or mine or my partner’s situation. Each family’s experience of autism in the family is unique and the LAST thing I want is to appear as though I’m an expert on the condition. I’m not. It’s a continual learning process. But I will give examples of situations from personal experience, but change the names of those involved. I’m sure you will all understand that.

So, this here blog is the PROJECT 52…ish element of The Long Push 2012. I’ll post a blog at least once a week, with others when I have something to say. I can see the blogs building up in the weeks leading up to the journey too. So please bookmark this page and follow me here at www.thelongpush.blogspot.com/

www.facebook.com/303916856296557

Facebook: A modern day necessary evil! But useful for promoting events like this. The Facebook page is there to lead people to the Blog page more than anything else, but it’s also useful for quick updates and sharing relevant longboarding and autism links. And the ‘all pervasive’ nature of Facebook means it’s great for reaching people, so it’s great to promote the journey. Please go ‘LIKE’ the page and share it with anyone you feel will be interested. www.facebook.com/303916856296557

www.twitter.com/#!/TheLongPush

I’m quite new to Twitter, and don’t use it very much at present, but I’ll post a tweet when a new blog post is up and Twitter will be good for posting live updates on the days of the ride itself. So please go and add @TheLongPush and follow me on Twitter.

www.youtube.com/user/TheLongPush

I’ve started to film as much as I can already, so that I can make up some decent videos for Youtube. This will by my first experience of video editing though, so I’m not sure how well they will turn out! I know I need some help with the filming process itself. Kinda hard to do ALL the filming myself without it turning out in a nausea inducing ‘Cloverfield’ stylee! So for now the Youtube channel is mainly showing ‘likes’, but when anything does up there I’ll post a link. www.youtube.com/user/TheLongPush

So there you have it. More social networking than you can shake a stick at! All I have to now is find to time between the weather, work, family and updating all these pages to skate!

Wish me luck!

Next Blog: 'The Long Push 2012 - Route Plan (First draft) coming real soon.

Chris