July 14: a gr8 day for the diabetic community. Now what?
July 14, 2009 was the day that we held the test-in where we called on 14,000 people with diabetes to share their glucose reading at the same time: 4 pm ET.
We reached out to hundreds of media outlets through a press release that we got feedback for from a number of PR specialists. Although we did have one interview about today's event with a Hispanic station in Los Angeles, the result of the day's activities was really the fruit of the diabetic community coming together.
The call to action was easy:
* If you were a member of TuDiabetes (or EsTuDiabetes), you were invited to post your glucose reading @ 4 pm ET in the community.
* You could also post your reading on Twitter, using the #14kpwd hashtag (this is how "conversations" can take place on Twitter, with everyone "tuning in" to the URL for the same hashtag) and linking back to http://14kpwd.org
* Last, many people also posted on Facebook or their favorite social network, linking back to http://14kpwd.org.
As the time of the test-in approached, the excitement started to build up on Twitter as if the New Year were approaching. You can sense some of this, if you take a look at the progression of tweets associated with the #14kpwd hashtag.
It will be a few days before we can establish how many people in total participated in this effort, but I would estimate well over 1,000 people participated in this beautiful exercise of online diabetes awareness.
A few thoughts linger with me after today, for which I will borrow from the words of three of our members who posted about the experience on three different places:
* Khürt Williams (one of our first members) commented on Twitter:
"@Diabeticizme After today, I don't any of us can feel alone with #diabetes #14kPWD http://14kPWD.org"
* Kathleen commented here in TuDiabetes:
"To everyone that put a qualifier after their reading of "not too bad" or an explanation of why a number may have been above range....there are no good or bad numbers in diabetes. It's information to help guide us to make decisions. We have diabetes, we will have numbers above our range and that's ok. I guess I just want to ensure that we are not continuing to open ourselves up to judgment about our numbers. I want to feel good that I"m checking and being proactive regardless of the number. Frustration is ok, feeling like you did something "wrong" or that you have to explain yourself is not needed. Not here. Happy Checking!" (the bolding was mine)
* Brenda Bell (a.k.a. Tmana) shared on blogabetes:
"One of the most positive things that came out of this massive "test-in" demonstration is how many of us found other Tweeps (people on Twitter) to "follow" and to see as part of this organic, rapidly evolving online community of diabetics. Regardless of how visible we were to the rest of the Twitterverse, connecting up with others is always a Good Thing."
So what do we do next?
We have many more friends touched by diabetes, here in TuDiabetes and elsewhere. We have a renewed confirmation that WE ARE NOT ALONE. We realize that a glucose reading is a point in time, a point in our history of living with diabetes...
I had a couple of thoughts I wanted to run by you:
1) In Twitter, there are hashtags such as #musicmonday, #charitytuesday and #followfriday (if you don't have a clue as to what these mean, don't worry). What if we institute a "day" hashtag for #diabetes? For ex #bgwednesday or #testingthursday. If you have a Twitter account, join the Twitterbetics group so we can have a discussion about this.
2) Besides that, we should definitely follow this effort with a broader initiative that lets us break through the noise of Twitter and beyond, in time for World Diabetes Day, November 14. For now, join the World Diabetes Day Group so we can brainstorm about ways to do this.
We reached out to hundreds of media outlets through a press release that we got feedback for from a number of PR specialists. Although we did have one interview about today's event with a Hispanic station in Los Angeles, the result of the day's activities was really the fruit of the diabetic community coming together.
The call to action was easy:
* If you were a member of TuDiabetes (or EsTuDiabetes), you were invited to post your glucose reading @ 4 pm ET in the community.
* You could also post your reading on Twitter, using the #14kpwd hashtag (this is how "conversations" can take place on Twitter, with everyone "tuning in" to the URL for the same hashtag) and linking back to http://14kpwd.org
* Last, many people also posted on Facebook or their favorite social network, linking back to http://14kpwd.org.
As the time of the test-in approached, the excitement started to build up on Twitter as if the New Year were approaching. You can sense some of this, if you take a look at the progression of tweets associated with the #14kpwd hashtag.
It will be a few days before we can establish how many people in total participated in this effort, but I would estimate well over 1,000 people participated in this beautiful exercise of online diabetes awareness.
A few thoughts linger with me after today, for which I will borrow from the words of three of our members who posted about the experience on three different places:
* Khürt Williams (one of our first members) commented on Twitter:
"@Diabeticizme After today, I don't any of us can feel alone with #diabetes #14kPWD http://14kPWD.org"
* Kathleen commented here in TuDiabetes:
"To everyone that put a qualifier after their reading of "not too bad" or an explanation of why a number may have been above range....there are no good or bad numbers in diabetes. It's information to help guide us to make decisions. We have diabetes, we will have numbers above our range and that's ok. I guess I just want to ensure that we are not continuing to open ourselves up to judgment about our numbers. I want to feel good that I"m checking and being proactive regardless of the number. Frustration is ok, feeling like you did something "wrong" or that you have to explain yourself is not needed. Not here. Happy Checking!" (the bolding was mine)
* Brenda Bell (a.k.a. Tmana) shared on blogabetes:
"One of the most positive things that came out of this massive "test-in" demonstration is how many of us found other Tweeps (people on Twitter) to "follow" and to see as part of this organic, rapidly evolving online community of diabetics. Regardless of how visible we were to the rest of the Twitterverse, connecting up with others is always a Good Thing."
So what do we do next?
We have many more friends touched by diabetes, here in TuDiabetes and elsewhere. We have a renewed confirmation that WE ARE NOT ALONE. We realize that a glucose reading is a point in time, a point in our history of living with diabetes...
I had a couple of thoughts I wanted to run by you:
1) In Twitter, there are hashtags such as #musicmonday, #charitytuesday and #followfriday (if you don't have a clue as to what these mean, don't worry). What if we institute a "day" hashtag for #diabetes? For ex #bgwednesday or #testingthursday. If you have a Twitter account, join the Twitterbetics group so we can have a discussion about this.
2) Besides that, we should definitely follow this effort with a broader initiative that lets us break through the noise of Twitter and beyond, in time for World Diabetes Day, November 14. For now, join the World Diabetes Day Group so we can brainstorm about ways to do this.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Marsha Paulsen Peters on July 27, 2009 at 9:38pm -
I totally missed the July 14th event (pout) as I was taking a much needed respite from computer screens.
But reading KELLY's comment (below, July 16) , and I quote: "You know, testing yesterday and today after the #14kpwd event was a bit of a let down. I felt lonely. No one to share with. Then I realized that somewhere, at the very same time, several other people with diabetes were probably testing, too. There are millions of us. Every day, at every moment of living ..." (thanks, Kelly!) That made me sit up and realize a truth, that my Seeing a communal, world PARTY with each BG-check will help me to check more often -- Lord Knows I really need that qreater frequency. I very much dislike making public my numbers because of the inevitable (yes, even among you friends) resulting judgements , , BUT I look forward to another chance at a world-wide simul-check,, maybe on Nov. 14th?
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Comment by Dr. L.K. Shankhdhar on July 27, 2009 at 10:51am
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I appreciate high morale of Brian. With high spirits I have seen patients even winning deadly wars with diseases.
All the best
Dr. Shankhdhar
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Comment by Amanda Heikkinen on July 27, 2009 at 6:44am - I always felt I had failed somewhere along the way when Aleksi had a high blood sugar reading and then I read the comment from Kathleen that Manny had highlighted - Thank you ,now I don't feel quite so bad.
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Comment by Amy Widick on July 16, 2009 at 3:58pm - This was a great thing to do. Our family being new to T1D this was an overwhelming experience and to see the look on my 7 yr old's face with such relief that she wasn't the only one with a high at that time was priceless and gave her a better realization and proof that she is among many others in the world. I am so glad Lorraine told me about this site it has been nothing but a positive and inspiring experience for our family!
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Comment by Kelly Rawlings on July 16, 2009 at 6:30am -
Manny, you are an awesome social networking organizer! And, belated happy birthday!
You know, testing yesterday and today after the #14kpwd event was a bit of a let down. I felt lonely. No one to share with.
Then I realized that somewhere, at the very same time, several other people with diabetes were probably testing, too. There are millions of us. Every day, at every moment of living (and during all those self-care decisions and calculations) other people are doing the same thing. That's a real comfort and a source of inspiration. Looking forward to the next big event--whatever that turns out to be!
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Comment by Bernard on July 16, 2009 at 3:25am - Testing for this 'event' was really fun. I made many new contacts and felt very excited to be part of a huge global community. Thanks Kelly for the idea and Manny for organizing it.
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Comment by J.A. (Jeff) Neitzel on July 15, 2009 at 9:40pm - The whole day was too fun, moving, and inspirational for me .. Knowing that you're not alone w/ D is the best medicine money can't buy!
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Comment by MelissaM on July 15, 2009 at 6:01pm - after a week of ups and downs yesterday was the first day that I had numbers that were actually in range I seriously thought that I was going to have a BG of like 250 or something, but was shocked to see 136. :D
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Comment by Cathy on July 15, 2009 at 4:59pm - I test 8-10 times a day and I love that I had a day to share with everybody. They was doing the same thing I was. I did not feel as alone in it.
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Comment by Di on July 15, 2009 at 3:03pm -
I loved the fact that this event may have gotten some people who don't usually test often to actually test. It's great that people saw their # (whether it was low, high, or in range), and then decided which course of action to take as a result.
Bravo everyone!!
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