Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. The videos are meant to encourage dialog between PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

During a recent trip to Austin, socialTNT met up the lovely Connie Reece, founder of social media marketing consultation firm Every Dot Connects. She’s also the Executive Director of Social Media Club, and Twitter friend to all. In today’s interview, Connie outlines her definition of social media and explains how she has been using new media tools to put the “fun” back in fundraising.

I can’t really remember exactly how I met Connie. It was either when someone responded to her on Twitter and I looked her up, or after Jeremiah Owyang’s piece on building a Twitter community. In either case, I’m so happy I met her; Connie’s warmth shines through ever Tweet. Whether someone is tweeting about the death of their cat or a knee injury, Connie is always there to send words of encouragement. That’s why I lovingly call her the Twitter Mom.

When Twitter friend and future business partner Susan Reynolds was diagnosed with cancer in December 2007, Connie decided to use her connections–and Twitter–to help. Twitter users created PEAvatars to show solidarity with Susan while raising awareness. The Frozen Pea Fund, founded by Susan and Connie, sprang up organically to raise money for breast cancer research. [For a great case study on the Frozen Pea Fund's effective use of Twitter as marketing/pr strategy, check out this piece by Michael Allison.]

More About Connie

• Recently purchased a beautiful island on Second Life
• Had to cut her RSS feeds from 300 down to 50
• We are both alums of University of Texas at Austin
• Is on Facebook, Flickr and Utterz

Connie’s fascinating, sociological Venn-Diagram explanation of social media is not to be missed. Find it–and more on the Frozen Pea Fund–in the video below.

How do you define social media? Do you agree with Connie?

Over the last few days, Connie has been very ill. Please send her your well wishes.

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[Above photo, "Inspired by Color," by Connie Reece"]

[This post was originally published Thursday morning, but was taken down because YouTube kept registering the video as not available. I uploaded the video again this evening and re-published the post. Sorry for the delay.]