Staying in touch in a global industry

In less than two weeks time the first of three MEI Conferences commences in Cape Town, and I will be reporting on these events daily via the MEI blog and Twitter.

MEI’s main aim is to disseminate information, and to bring together minerals engineers globally, via our small but highly focussed MEI Conferences, and through social and professional networking sites on the internet.

So this is an opportune time to remind you how you can keep in touch with all the latest minerals engineering news, and how to become truly involved with members of our industry around the world.

MEI Online
MEI Online is the world’s largest source of minerals engineering information, both current and archival, on the internet. Unlike most information sites, there is completely free access, and if you have news of people, innovations, meetings etc which you would like to share, then please send your material and photos to amanda@min-eng.com, and if we feel that the news will be of general interest, we publish free of charge. If you are not already subscribed to the free fortnightly newsletter of updates, then just submit your email address in the box in the right-hand column of the homepage.

MEI Blog
As you are reading the blog, I assume that you know what it is all about. Since I started this in early 2009, readership has continued to grow, and visitors now number over 3000 per month. I get a lot of satisfaction from writing the postings, particularly when they involve news and photos of people, who are our industry’s major asset. I am also pleased that there is increasing interaction, and I really do appreciate your comments on the postings. If you would like to comment on any posting, and aren’t too sure of how to go about it, then just send your comment to me at bwills@min-eng.com, and I will add it for you. If you would like to be alerted to new blog postings, then submit your email address in the box in the right-hand column.

LinkedIn
MEI’s Minerals Engineers group on LinkedIn now has over 3300 members, and is growing at around 100 members per month. This is not as fast as many other minerals industry groups on LinkedIn, perhaps because we vet each applicant according to a simple criterion- will he or she be interested in, or be able to contribute to, the discussions in the group? The group is essentially MEI’s discussion forum, and is often linked to blog postings. There is no Jobs section (Jobs can be posted on MEI Online with no charge), and each discussion topic is carefully moderated before publication, to avoid spam and blatant company advertising (companies can list their products and services in the Business Directory of MEI Online). Announcements regarding meetings, publications etc can be submitted to the Promotions section of the group, or directly to MEI Online.

Twitter
It is not easy to convince many people that Twitter has any real value, and I was once very sceptical about it. But the good thing about Twitter is that there are no rules, and you use it as you feel fit. If you follow MEI on Twitter, you will receive the very latest news headlines from MEI Online, LinkedIn and other sources. If you do not have a Twitter account, then these tweets are fed into the right-hand column of the MEI Blog.

Facebook
I am not an avid user of Facebook, but Amanda is, and she has done a superb job with the MEI Conferences Facebook pages. What I particularly like is the collection of photo albums from all MEI Conferences, where you can add comments and tag your friends. To follow this, all you have to do is visit the pages, and press the ‘Like’ button.

So do try to get involved with networking with minerals engineers via all the modern methods at our disposal. Since I became involved, life in the minerals industry, which was always good, has got even better!