Vote or Die (for Me!): SXSWi and the BWAs

Today I have two things I need you all to gear up and vote for.

First, I am working with two lovely gentlemen, J Brotherlove (@jbrotherlove) and Brandon Sheats (@sheatsb), to get our panel picked at SXSW Interactive next year. The name of our panel is:

Online Gatekeeping: Who Died and Made You King?

As the web becomes more open via social networks, we're adopting new rules of communication. But who creates these rules? How much does class, race and gender figure into social media policing? We'll discuss how identity affects social networks, as well as look at how online communities police themselves as participation expands. [More]

When J and Brandon approached me about collaborating with them on this panel I thought it was such a GREAT idea! We would really appreciate it if you could create a little SXSW account and vote for our panel (click on the thumbs up icon) here. Voting will close at the end of the day on Friday, September 4. SXSW was pretty freaking fun (and educational) last March, it would be awesome to be able to be on another panel next year.

Secondly, I need your help with the 2009 Black Weblog Awards. My blog (not this blog, the other blog I co-founded and manage), Very Smart Brothas, is a finalist and up for four awards this year:

• Best Group Blog
• Best Sex and Relationships Blog
• Best Writing in A Blog
• Blog To Watch

The boys and I are happy to have made the finalist list this year (four times!!), and our blog keeps growing every day. You can go on ahead and begin the two step (and quick) voting process here. Voting ends September 1.

If you love me, you'll vote! Thanks for reading!