Milestone: 3,000 Posts on the BDPA Foundation Blog

Wow! Just noticed that this humble blog reached the 3,000 blog posts mark yesterday! We began this blog when I wanted to say something nice about Joe Smialowski back on August 7, 2007. We've stuck around long enough for BDPA to create a 'Hall of Fame'!

It has been a fun seven years ... who knows where this will take us over the next few years ... but, I hope that many of you will come back and visit with us. Take a moment to subscribe to the blog. It is a good way to stay informed of BDPA and BDPA Education and Technology Foundation information.

Anyhow, I hope you'll accept my thanks for being part of the first 3,000 blog posts!

BDPA Groupsite Milestone: 2,000 Members

I created the BDPA Groupsite (formerly known as CollectiveX) on December 24, 2007. It was part of my effort to leverage Web 2.0 tools in support of the fundraising efforts of BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF). It helped that Groupsite is a Black-owned and operated business!

Anyhow, it has been very rewarding to see the continued growth and evolution of the BDPA Groupsite. We hit a significant milestone over the weekend when BDPA Detroit chapter member Damon Bryant became the 2,000th member to join the BDPA Groupsite. The benefits of being part of this network are obvious:

• Centralized BDPA calendar of events
  
• People are making recommendations of one another
  
• Discussion forums on a wide variety of BDPA, technology and other topics
  
• Centralized portal for BDPA-related files
  
• Photo Galleries

We live in a new world in which it is important for us to connect with each other via cyberspace. BDPA Groupsite supports this effort. Our hope is that all BDPA members and supporters will add this social networking tool into your arsenal.

We also hope you will consider making an online donation to our nonprofit foundation! Your donation is used to support continued use of Web 2.0 tools in the future as well as provide scholarships for our students around the nation.

BDPA Group on LinkedIn Network

• 6/3/2009 - 1,000th Member - Vanessa Miller (BDPA Atlanta)

There are hundreds of BDPA members on the LinkedIn Network. I have my profile on LinkedIn. I shared my thoughts on the LinkedIn Network in the past.

Anyhow, I want to invite all current and former members to join the BDPA Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other BDPA members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help you:

1. Reach other members of BDPA
2. Accelerate careers/business through referrals from BDPA Group members
3. Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow BDPA Group members

Click here to join.
Hope to see you in the group. Please post a comment below if you are currently a member of LinkedIn. What has been your experience to date with this professional network?

Milestone: 600 People in BDPA Facebook Group

Raymond Person (Cincinnati) became the 600th person to join the BDPA group on Facebook.

BETF and 16 BDPA chapters (Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Hartford, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Richmond, Southern Minnesota and Twin Cities) have a presence on Facebook.

Are you on Facebook? Do you see upside for BDPA to market to past, current and future members via social networks like Facebook?

BDPA Foundation Blog Milestone: 500 Posts

Our BDPA Foundation Blog hit the 500-post milestone this week. We began on this blogging journey on August 16, 2007. This is my second blogging effort. I created the Electronic Village (BBR #23) back in January 2007. Admittedly, the BDPA Foundation Blog (BBR #606) has a smaller niche audience than the Electronic Village.

I'm pleased with the growth over the past few weeks since our live-blogging at the 2008 National BDPA Technology Conference. Hopefully the progress will continue over the next 100 posts...

My overall goal with this blog is to provide information and discussion about BDPA that gives people a reason to financially support our non-profit foundation. BDPA exists to advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry from the 'classroom to the boardroom'. The BDPA Foundation wants to fund BDPA programs and services ... especially those related to our youth.

I encourage all of you to subscribe to BDPA Foundation Blog so that you won't miss our positive growth over the coming weeks and months! Currently, we have 28 subscribers to our blog. I hope to increase that number to over 100 by the end of the year. If you like the flow of our blog ... then I encourage you to subscribe today!

Our favorite topics over the past 500 posts have focused on program meetings, BDPA Cincinnati chapter and BDPA Philadelphia chapter.

One of the best things to happen recently is the addition of a guest blogger. Callie Herd and I talked at the annual BDPA Technology conference last month. She agreed to share information about scholarships for IT professionals, IT students and African Americans here on our blog!

This blog averages 53 visitors a day right now with 85 daily page views. I'm told that BDPA members appreciate the information that is shared here. I want to thank each of you that takes a moment of your day to view our blog updates. Personally, I believe you get what you measure. We track our metrics to show when we've done our best (see date in parenthesis):

• Highest Feedburner Subscribers - 28 (9/13/08)
• BlogCatalog Ranking - 46.6 out of 100 (6/30/08)
• Highest Technorati Authority Ranking - 23 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Between BETF-Blog and #1 Blog in the World - 360,865 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Linking to BETF-Blog - 115 (9/7/08)
• # Bloggers listing us as a 'favorite' - 10 (9/3/08)
• Top Daily Visitors - 101 (3/3/08)

We're not TechCrunch, but, we do our best! I have no idea where the next 500 posts will take us. However, I pledge to be consistent in efforts to grow our BDPA Foundation blog community.

I hope that you will regularly visit with us and POST COMMENTS so that we know what you're thinking. With your support we can grow our organization, our foundation and our blog! Asante sana!

BDPA Foundation Blog Milestone: 300 Posts

Our BDPA Foundation Blog just passed the 300-post milestone this weekend. We began on this blogging journey on August 16, 2007. This is my second blogging effort. I created the Electronic Village (BBR #27) back in January 2007. Admittedly, the BDPA Foundation Blog (BBR #448) has a smaller niche audience than the Electronic Village, however, I'm still disappointed in the results from this blog to date. I'll need to do much better over the next 300 posts...

My overall goal with this blog is to provide information and discussion about BDPA that gives people a reason to financially support our non-profit foundation. BDPA exists to advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry from the 'classroom to the boardroom'. The BDPA Foundation wants to fund BDPA programs and services ... especially those related to our youth.

I encourage all of you to subscribe to BDPA Foundation Blog so that you won't miss our positive growth over the coming weeks and months! Currently, we have 19 subscribers to our blog. I hope to increase that number to over 100 by mid-year. If you like the flow of our blog ... then I encourage you to subscribe today!

Our favorite topics over the past 300 posts have focused on program meetings, BDPA Cincinnati chapter and BDPA Philadelphia chapter.

This blog averages 29 visitors a day right now with 56 daily page views. I'm told that BDPA members appreciate the information that is shared here. I want to thank each of you that takes a moment of your day to view our daily blog updates. Personally, I believe you get what you measure. We track our metrics to show when we've done our best (see date in parenthesis):

• Highest Feedburner Subscribers - 22 (2/20/08)
• BlogCatalog Ranking - 41.3 out of 100 (12/6/07)
• Highest Technorati Authority Ranking - 23 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Between BETF-Blog and #1 Blog in the World - 360,865 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Linking to BETF-Blog - 72 (4/8/08)
• # Bloggers listing us as a 'favorite' - 7 (12/1/07)
• Top Daily Visitors101 (3/3/08)

We're not Bossip.com, but, we do our best! I have no idea where the next 300 posts will take us. However, I pledge to be consistent in efforts to grow our BDPA Foundation blog community.
I hope that you will regularly visit with us and POST COMMENTS so that we know what you're thinking. With your support we can grow our organization, our foundation and our blog! Asante sana!