(This post is sponsored, and I’m relieved to say that it’s going to help pay my internet bills. It has been sponsored by Nuffnang and of course, Telstra.)

This is your chance to have a laugh, maybe win a new mobile phone, and see me in a video! But first, you have to think up the idea for the video.

Telstra Digital Mum 2.0 Facebook Page

Telstra Australia has launched a new and very charming program to help mums become more digital savvy – Digital Mum 2.0 Facebook Page.

The Facebook page has a fun series of videos that give mums of digitally savvy children the right advice and confidence to connect with their families and friends in an online world. The videos are superbly produced, as you would expect from Telstra mega-corp, and I found them to be quite funny – which is why I was happy to be involved.

What makes these videos humorous is that you can immediately recognise someone, or some situation you know (or fear) from your real world!

As part of developing this program, they’ve asked me to get involved – including ME being filmed as part of their next series of videos – and this gives my readers an opportunity to win some cool prizes.

And so you, dear reader, will be able to see what I move like and sound like. If you have ever wondered what kind of accent an ethnically Chinese girl born on a remote tropical island in the Indian Ocean who has been raised in Australia has – well, now is your chance to find out.

Your Ideas Turned into a Video

YOU get to think up the idea for the video!

1) Pop over to the Digital Mum 2.0 Facebook Page, and become a fan.

2) Head over to the contest page and then answer this question:

What would be a useful mobile or online tip for pre-digital mums to know?

It could be anything related to mobile phone usage – SMS texting, using emoticons, mobile phone decorations, using appropriate ring tones, suitable mobile phone cases or decorations, talking on speaker phone, playing games on her phone, hanging up, voice mail messages, leaving a voice message, tweeting or updating her Facebook status using her phone.

Or it could be anything related to online usage – scam emails, stupid forwarded email warnings, updating her Facebook status, doing Facebook quizzes (and sharing too much information!), creating a blog, sharing embarrassing photos, being addicted to twitter, safe modes for Google searches, adding comments to blogs, not believing everything she reads on the internet.

(There! I gave you guys some ideas to work with!)

Feel free to share any funny stories, tips or pearls of wisdom! I’ll be popping in and out over the next few days to check out your responses.

Telstra and I will choose the 3 best entries and the winners will receive a free mobile phone.

Winners will be announced on the 22 February – you have one week! Go Go Go!

Then the clever people in Telstra’s creative team will take one idea and turn it into a video, and I will be videoed as the host introducing the idea!

ARGH! VIDEO! I am intensely uncomfortable with being videoed and being directed. I have no sense of timing or physical grace, and I can’t remember anything I am supposed to say! My mind goes BLANK and I can’t even read from paper! So it shall be…an interesting experience.

I don’t think Telstra’s creative team have any idea of how much of a challenge this will be for them. They might be better off with a paper-doll cut-out of me. Never work with kids, animals, or Karen Cheng!

So far there are 6 videos. You can check them all out on this Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/DigitalMum?v=app_11007063052

These cover Facebook usage, and they are all pretty funny. My favourites are:

Lesson 6 – Privacy Settings (Haha I love the French guy!)

Lesson 2 – Adding Friends

Lesson 5 – Adding Applications

As for My Mum….

So here is my story about my own mum. Bless her cotton socks. She’s not exactly the most digitally accomplished person, but I love the way she has embraced the internet and discovered the goodness of all things online.

I helped her connect to broadband, set up her account, help her choose her password, held her hand as she learnt about email and web browsing.

Now look at her!

She does online banking and online flight bookings. She emails me warnings about pepper spray guns, she Googles for organic pest control for fruit flies, she even goes online shopping to redeem frequent flyer points in the form of cooking appliances!

*I’m SO proud of my mum*

But there is one area I have kept quiet from her. FACEBOOK.

Mum: “What’s this MyFacebook thingy I keep hearing about?”

Me: “Oh that? Aw, it’s no big deal.”

Mum: “But Aunty Doris says she has MyFacebook. She said I should sign up for one too.”

Me: “Really mum, it’s just for people with too much time to spend in front of the computer…”

Mum: “Oh like you?”

Me: “Ehh… maybe. Yeh, like me…”

And then I change the subject by asking her to teach me a favourite family recipe.

So why have I kept it from her? Well. Um…

Possibly for all the reasons in these Digital Mum videos!!!

I don’t think that my mum is ready for Facebook. Or perhaps, I am not ready for the awsome phenomenon that my mum and Facebook together would become.

I just couldn’t stand it if my mum ended up with more Facebook friends that I have!

And because she’ll obviously want me to be her friend, and then I’ll end up being friends with all her friends… who are my aunties, who knew me before I was born, who have pictures of me nude in the bath with my cousins when I was two… it’s just too dangerous!!!

Love ya mum, but your on your own with this one!

So, do pop over to Digital Mum 2.0 Facebook Page, send us your ideas, and I’ll try to work out what I am going to wear in my first ever video appearance. I’ll try and make it something FABULOUS to try and make up for my awful performing skills!