Twitter is a place of despair, hopelessness and namecalling… unless you’re in the Salesforce ecosystem 😁. Instead, it’s like the sun has been turned on and the darkness has been banished to the corners!

That said, today I’m going to write about a particularly bright light that shines across my feed on a regular basis. And I wanted to share that with you and how you can be part of the magic (especially if you act before 2nd August!).

Want to know more? Read on in the piece originally published on SalesforceBen.

In our reality, Twitter is a place where many of the most passionate and knowledgeable Salesforce advocates hang out, along with Salesforce themselves – advice is swapped, support given, and tips shared.

There’s more: today I’m going to write about a particularly bright light that shines across my feed on a regular basis. I want to share this secret with you and how you can be part of the magic (especially if you act before 2nd August!).

The secret is called SecretOhana. Started by Misty Jones MVP, it has the aim of fostering the Ohana spirit: to get to know others better, to share the swag-haul from a particular event with those that perhaps couldn’t attend – and to literally spread joy, happiness (and a bit of fun).

In case you don’t know what SecretOhana is, the concept is simple: every few months, someone anonymously sends you something in the post. So far, so… slightly strange. Well, this is the Salesforce Ohana! (we’ll come back to defining �?Ohana’ later). The recipient in turn, sends something else to someone too, again without leaving any hints about who they are.

I think most of us (ok, me, for sure!) occasionally need a friendly reminder to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground, so SecretOhana helps with that too!

In fact, SecretOhana can even be used to explain what Ohana means:

It’s the powerful concept of doing something without expecting a particular reward.

But, it’s not all in vain! Each year at WITness Success (just passed, as I type this), they’ll be the big reveal of the SecretOhana participations – so this year, 100 people will be discovering their mentors.

So, want to join in with the fun? SecretOhana 2019 is about to begin!

The Rules

It’s important to state that this isn’t limited by geography. Currently people from ANZ, India, UK, and the US have signed up. All it takes is a minimum of 3 people from a particular country to get the party started – SecretOhana will let you know that critical mass has been achieved – and then:

1. Please send one snail mail at least once a quarter (or more if you feel so inclined) between now and the end of July 2020. There is no $ specification on the gifts or mail. Encouraging or uplifting cards/notes are nice too!
2. Please remember to treat others as you would like to be treated. You will be receiving gifts as well as sending them – don’t forget about your #SecretOhana If for any reason you need to leave the program, please contact us via email (SecretOhana18@gmail.com) and we’ll work to make a reassignment. We don’t want anyone to feel left out!
3. Pretty please: Say Thank You! Each gift or note you receive should be posted to Twitter as a picture along with tagging (and following) the @Secret_Ohana handle and using the #SecretOhana hashtag. This will let your secret ohana know you are receiving things…and also spread #SecretOhana to others.
4. To help you keep your secret, you are more than welcome to use [one of the scheme organiser’s home addresses] for the return address on any package.
5. Any questions, comments, or concerns should be directed to: SecretOhana18@gmail.com
6. Most importantly, have fun – but keep your identity a secret!

So, are you interested? Fancy trying something a little different this year? Join before end of 2nd August be in this year’s cohort, or otherwise you’ll have to wait until the middle of 2020 for another opportunity!

And we’ll leave the leave the last words with RobSalesforce: “It’s been a lot of fun – cheesy as it may sound, I actually enjoy the giving most of all. Knowing about my “target” it’s a whole lot of fun finding interesting things to send them and use my creativity a little.” His admirer seems to be similarly aligned!