Social Media & Websites
The internet is increasingly becoming the primary resource people use to connect with community and to find information and events related to their interests. The Dances of Universal Peace, and your local circle, can bring benefit to the wider community on the web by sharing the beauty we love via social networking media such as Meetup.com, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google buzz, Craigslist, Flickr, and many other online networking sites.
Additionally, having a website of your own ensures that folks can always look up your Dance meeting times and locations from the convenience of their computer, and you can share other content, like picture albums and videos, special announcements, and much more.
(Note: Dances of Universal Peace North America does not specifically endorse, nor guarantee the efficacy or safety of, any external websites. We offer the following as suggested resources. Use at your own discretion.)
Social Media Sites
In this section, find a brief overview of some social media sites, offered for your further exploration. Note that this is by no means an all-inclusive list. Today’s internet is rapidly growing and changing and new social networking sites are cropping up all the time.
Facebook is one of the most widely-used, free online social networks. Many Dance circles and Dancers have Facebook pages where they share comments and content, pictures, and videos about the Dances and other interesting things. It is an increasingly popular way to keep in touch, find old friends and interact online. Visit facebook.com, sign up for free, and discover what folks are up to.
Meetup.com is a good online resources for announcing your Dance meetings to folks in your area. Meetup’s mission is to get people off of their computers and into gatherings with people who have shared interests. The monthly fee may be offset by the new dancers this method can attract to your circle. Sign up for free to see what other “meetups” are happening in your area, or start your own Meetup group.
Visit our tutorial page about Meetup.com
Instagram is a free photo and video sharing app available on iPhone and Android. People can upload photos or videos to our service and share them with their followers or with a select group of friends. They can also view, comment and like posts shared by their friends on Instagram. Anyone 13 and older can create an account by registering an email address and selecting a username.
Keeping in Touch
Professional looking newsletters can be sent to your circle’s list of contacts to keep everyone up to date and informed about your events, including the latest photos and articles…anything you like. And, these can be integrated with other social media. Check out the terms and features of services like MailChimp. Another less expensive option is YMLP, Your Mailing List Provider.
Forming a Group Chat on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or as a phone text can be a very effective way to communicate with your dance circle. Members of the group can also reply or add comments visible to the entire group, without any of the spam associated with email.
Does Your Circle Have a Website of its Own?
Having a presence on the internet broadens the exposure of your Dance circle and the Dances of Universal Peace, in general. (Have a website already? Be sure your circle is listed here at DUPNA (Go to the “Find the Dances” section where you can add or update circle listings).
Creating a website – Some excellent options:
You may enjoy the flexibility of creating your own website with any of the vast number of free “site builders” available online.
Many people don’t realize that most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer free site builders to their customers. You can make your own website now, in a matter of minutes, with the free site building tools that come with your account. Most other providers offer similar services. Check with your ISP for details. In order to see what else is available, search online for: “free wesbite builders.”
One example is Weebly, where you can create free websites. These are real websites, where you can set up different pages for different subjects, something you can’t do on a blog. Weebly makes creating and sharing a group website easy. Other recommended website builders are Google and http://www.wix.com/
Blogs
Blogs are another excellent way to get exposure on the web and to share content, pictures, videos and more. Many popular blogging sites offer free access to creating your own blog. A blog (short for “web log”) can effectively serve as a website, and as blogging becomes more commonly used, your blog may achieve wide exposure. Among the blogging services available are: Blogger (free!), WordPress, Windows Live Spaces, and Community Server. Look them up and check their terms and features to see what may work best for your circle. A number of regional circles have created blogs to list their circles’ activities and content. Here’s a nice example: http://www.peacedancemn.com/
“Tags,” Topics and Titles
Search engines or social media sites may look for or connect via “tags” or “topics.” These are usually words arranged in a list, separated by commas or spaces, that relate directly to the content of the website. Here is a list of topics, or tags, that relate to the Dances of Universal Peace (You can actually select, copy, and paste this set of topics into your own website, or place them in the “tags” section of your social media site):
dance, universal, peace, spirituality, spirit, music, interfaith, meditation, mantra, sacred phrase, singing, chant, movement, community, personal growth, consciousness, wellness, enlightenment, self-improvement, stress-reduction, self-empowerment, bliss, joy, love, harmony, beauty
…and any others you can think of!
The actual title of a website or webpage is another important element search engines may use to find websites and content on the web. A well-named site can rank high in search results quite quickly. Relevance to the topic is key to creating a good title, and common sense is often the best guide. “Dances of Universal Peace” is a good name for a DUP site. (Note: While there can only be one domain name of any kind, any number of website pages can share the same name, and many do.)
Embeds and Embedding
Want to include a video on your web page or site? Many social media sites and blogs allow “embeds,” which means “embedding” html source code into your page. Html is one of the hidden “languages” that drives a webpage. YouTube offers embed code with each video. You can copy and paste that code directly into any page that allows html. Here is the embed code for the video, “Invitation to the Dance.” You can select, copy, and paste this code into your website:
<object width=”640″ height=”505″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5ZjW4s-r0Lk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5ZjW4s-r0Lk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”640″ height=”505″></embed></object>
Adding video embeds can substantially improve the “feel” of your website or page. Visit any video at YouTube.com for other versions, smaller views, different videos, etc.
Take your circle’s site to the next level on the web: purchase a domain!
A “domain” is a URL (a web address, like: “www.dancesofuniversalpeacena.org”) that can describe your circle specifically. A domain name may be chosen as a likely match for what people might type into a search engine or address bar when looking for something on the web. An example of a domain name purchased by one of our local Dance Circles is: “phoenixdances.org.” (Take a look at what other regional Dance circles have created at “More Dance Listings….”)
Even if you already have a webpage, you can purchase a domain name and “point” your website to it. That way, your concise and topical URL address appears in the address bar, instead of what may be a more cumbersome one. It’s easy to tell dancers and friends to visit something like, “Springfield DUP dot com.”
Domain hosting companies can tell you more about purchasing a domain and optional web space, pointing existing pages to domain names, and many other topics related to websites. When you purchase a domain with web space, you may gain access to a variety of website builders that will enable you to build a website for your circle. (For example, see what GoDaddy offers: Go to GoDaddy.com).
When your new site is ready…
Whichever method you choose to build your website, once it is up and running, be sure to add your new site to your circle’s listing here at DUPNA (Go to the “Find the Dances” section where you can add or update circle listings.)
Link up!
As we move forward together as a Dances of Universal Peace community, we further connect throughout our North American region via “reciprocal linking”: Please be sure your current website is listed on this site (Go to the “Add Your Dance Event” section.)
Then, in order to ensure your visitors have easy access to the full set of resources at the North America and International DUP websites, please update or add these links at your website:
Dances of Universal Peace International http://dancesofuniversalpeace.org
Thank you!
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