Latinos in Social Media: I was part of panel workshop “Web 2.0 Social Media, Advocacy and Being Latino"

Latinos are a community of diversity, of many races, cultures, ideas. We have Indigenous, African, European, Asian heritages but we also share commonalities, ways of lives, cultures, and beliefs.

Those were my first words yesterday in front of dozens of legislative professionals participating at a workshop on Latinos in Social Media. I was part of the panel workshop "Web 2.0 Social Media, Advocacy and Being Latino" organized by Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association (LISTA).

There I was talking about my experience as a blogger and online activist, what moved me to start blogging, how do I use social media to express my voice as an immigrant, a gay man, a person of Indigenous heritage. How I currently use social media tools to promote social justice and advocacy, what advice I could give to others.

It was a great conversation that I shared with savvy and sharp fellow social media activists Kety Esquivel [read Kety's blog post] and Lance Rios of Being Latino, a successful Facebook group for Latinos with over 33K members.

This event was part of the 3rd Annual Tech Latino 2030 Legislative Forum, hosted by LISTA, Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association, an organization founded in New York City in 2000 [see LISTA's website]. The panel was held at Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

I am more than grateful to Jose A. Marquez- Leon, the national President and CEO of LISTA for inviting me to participate in this event. Also to Kety Esquivel, who has all the skills to be a good politician, and Lance Rios who I think should be on national TV.

We all agreed on the need for more Latinos to participate in social media, blogging and online activism, especially in issues that affect our communities directly, as immigration reform, racism, public health, education, etc. regardless of our races or nationalities. In this sense, we can't forget the importance of corporate media especially when there are not a single TV station in the U.S. owned by Latinos.

At the end of my participation someone asked about how we bloggers make money. I responded from my personal experience: money wise I’m poorer today because of blogging, but I’m richer in experiences, opportunities and knowledge learned. This to me is truly a work of love.

Thanks to the LISTA staff for taking these photos.

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