I joined Slack this year when I became part of Spoon’s Remote Summer Intensive Writing Program. If you don’t know what Slack is yet, you have got to be living under a rock… or not keeping up with the times (or emails).
Slack is a communication platform that most of Spoon is using to communicate. It gets all of your social media—Twitter, emails, Instagram—under one communication umbrella. For a quick crash course, here’s a one minute video that should explain it way more efficiently.
Having got that down, here’s how Slack has helped me personally when it comes to Spoon and why it’s time you joined it so you can benefit from it too!
1. Communicating with ALL of Spoon is so much easier.
The “general” channel connects every single Spoon person on Slack. The channel currently contains 4000+ people. Channels allow you to chat with lots of people at once or in a private group. You can also switch channels like you would switch T.V. channels, from “social media” to “study abroad.”
Slack also allows you to start a follow up private “thread” of conversation which the rest of the channel doesn’t have to see, if you want to follow a comment up with someone which makes it a fun way to get other people’s opinions.
#SpoonTip: Slack also allows you to react (with all the emojis possible!) to people’s comments and messages. It’s a wonderful way to make someone feel like they have been heard and have not been ignored!
2. It makes contacting HQ so much easier.
Slack helped me get over my hesitation of contacting our HQ team. I used to wait days on end (even if I had a major problem) before contacting anyone from HQ, which would delay my work and deadlines a lot. Because of the Summer Writing Program, I joined Slack and eventually started direct messaging Sam Dilling (Shoutout to Sam for being so supportive!) whenever I had any issues with the articles or pitches. I also overcame my fear of them eating my face if I spelt a word wrong (I have issues).
I later became a SNAC (Spoon National Advisory Committee) member. SNAC members are contributors who absolutely crush it in a certain area in Spoon, such as writing, photography, social media, recruiting, event planning, etc. They know all the tips and tricks and want to share these pointers to make the Spoon community even stronger. They also want to further the Spoon community’s experience by tackling Spoon challenges first by driving the conversation on improving members’ experiences, creating new resources, and laying down the foundation for the future of the Spoon network.
This program got me in touch with Jocelyn (Shoutout to Jocelyn for always welcoming ideas and helping me out!) and the rest of the SNAC-ers from different campuses. I have now almost got over my habit of thinking about a hundred times before I message anyone from HQ.
Slack also allows a level of informality and is much quicker than a mail that you would send HQ. With Slack, you can expect replies almost within the day (true story). It also helps you utilize Spoon HQ as professional mentors!
3. Spoon Slack helps you not slack.
That was a bad pun but I meant it! My Slack app keeps me up to date with all that is going on in the Spooniverse. Announcements reach me just a bit faster than it reaches through emails and Facebook groups.
There are also channels like “pitches” and “jobs” on Spoon Slack which allows me access to new pitches and job opportunities (such as internships and actual paying jobs) other than Spoon. There was one involving Cosmopolitan and a food associate editor position once and I legit screamed.
4. It makes collaborations and talking to off-campus Spoonies easier.
Virtually, of course! It’s easier to message someone in the U.S. (aside from HQ members) and just talk to them about an idea I am working on or they are! It was through Slack that Sarah (fellow SNAC-er, Internship buddy and a Spoon Star) contacted me for a collaboration first. We wrote articles on McDonald’s and Taco Bell and finally one on global friendships!
While I am sure you discuss ideas and memes with your campus members all the time, Slack allows you to share these ideas, memes and opinions on a global platform that Spoon has created. It makes it easier to collaborate on an article with someone sitting in Wisconsin, in the U.S., all the way from India because I can just send them a message on Slack.
5. It’s a space for multiple channels and perspectives.
If you look at the above picture closely, you’ll see that I am a part of channels other than “general” and “jobs.”
I am a part of “study abroad” where we have all these conversations with people applying for a semester abroad in Rome or Greece, there is one just on “memes” (hehe), one of our SNAC-ers started a Healthier channel and there is one called “food for thought” which is my favorite because it shares interesting developments on the food front.
It has multiple perspectives, articles, ideas, opinions, and memes from people all over the world spread over specialized channels for the subject you want to discuss.
6. It’s another article distribution platform.
Other than Facebook and your regular platforms of publicity for your articles, Slack allows you to share your articles with Spoon friends which they might have missed. Besides a channel called “almost famous,” Slack allows for shoutouts, so you can show appreciation for fellow article writers and direct message other Spoon members to ask for personal feedback.
7. It’s your alternate Google.
This was an idea I got from someone on Slack! They said that Slack helped writers get in touch with multiple photographers and writers for position specific information. It becomes especially useful over the winter or summer break when people might not be checking their emails.
Articles like “Best Mac N’ Cheese in Every State” or ice cream or sushi could really use the help of contributors sitting in every state. Slack hence becomes the perfect tool to access the same.
On the note of better future articles, I am going to end and say give yourself an early 2018 present and join Slack! It’s fun and useful and if you ever get bored, you can hit me up because I am almost always online. BRB, going to go check my Slack messages now.