Kau Inoa: Outreach in 2009 and Beyond
This year, Kau Inoa outreach touched Hawaiians at 60 events in Hawai‘i Nei and on the continent. As of the end of November, 108,118 people have placed their name and indicated their commitment to build and raise a nation. That means that 5,877 Native Hawaiians have signed up this year.
One new project for Kau Inoa this year was embracing and managing a social media outreach initiative. While Kau Inoa has been on the micro-blogging service Twitter (http://twitter.com/kauinoa) since 2008, this year was the year Twitter was fully utilized. You can “follow” us at the service for the latest updates relating to Kau Inoa, Hawaiian Governance, and nation-building. For those who may not use it, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to share “tweets” or messages of up to 140 characters with their followers and the world. Tweets allow users to provide brief updates and information to others, both quickly and easily.
The social media initiative continues with the Kau Inoa Newsblog (http://www.kauinoa.org/blog) that you are reading. A blog, or “web log,” is a type of website that is updated regularly and can share events or other information. Like Kau Inoa’s Twitter account, this blog is meant to keep people up-to-date with what is going on in the Hawaiian community in the governance arena. Because the blog does not have the character limit that Twitter does, more detailed information can be shared here.
Both of these services are interactive. On Twitter, anyone with an account can “reply” to a post from @kauinoa to share an opinion, ask a question, or repeat a message (called “retweeting”). At the blog, anyone can leave a comment – no account required. However, users must provide an email address, for verification purposes only, although it is not shared when the comment is posted.
With both of these undertakings, Kau Inoa is able to let anyone answer the question, “What’s on your mind?”