SMC Phoneix covered in AZ Republic

December 25, 2006

Francine Hardaway, one of the organizers for Social Media Club in Phoenix, Arizona, us this link to an article in the Arizona Republic about their recent Social Media Club meeting.

An excerpt:

If podcasts, wikis, blogs, and vlogs sound like sci-fi movie characters to you, you are not alone.

Yet even the handful of the 40 or so attendees at a recent Social Media Club-Phoenix meeting who could not define these Internet communication methods saw the value in learning about them.

“It’s where things are going,” said Rex Reynolds of HQ Quotes LLC. He said he attended to learn how to market his business and receive more immediate public feedback through online communication like blogs or online journals.

But the key item in the article for me was this:

He said he saw the meeting as a free tutorial. “The intellectual capital in this room is amazing,” he said.

Yes. This is what we see in every meeting in every chapter that is running for Social Media Club. The power of the group to teach, train, inform, and assist others for the benefit of all.

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating today, and Happy Holidays to everyone!

UPDATE: This link takes you to the Phoenix event page for January, if you want to sign up for the meeting.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under Events · 1 Comment  

Quick 5 minute Audio - “What is Social Media?”

December 22, 2006

Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com did an audio interview with me (scroll down a little bit) on the floor of the NY XPO last month. The audio quality is a little scratchy because it was a trade show floor of over 10,000 people, but you can find me answering some basic questions around “What is Social Media,” “Why is Social Media relevant to a small business person” and “Are Blogs just for Geeks?”

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under About SMC · 1 Comment  

Social Media Club Phoenix: December Wrap Up

December 14, 2006

Tonight was the second meeting of the Social Media Club Phoenix. I gotta say, it has generated a lot of buzz here in Arizona. First of all, bloggers are coming out of the woodwork; I didn’t know there were so many “professional” bloggers in town, and so many people creating tools for sharing content. Once again, I have found out that Phoenix
is underrated for the amount of tech activity and energy here.

And there seem to be so many people who need to connect with others who are already active in this space. They were calling me all afternoon for the details on the meeting. Quite a difference from other meetings I’ve tried to convene, where we have had difficulty
getting those butts in seats.

What was really crazy was that people came into the room who had read each others’ work or used each other’s tools but had never met in person. It made me realize that we connect with so many more people over the Internet than we could ever meet face to face.

Tonight’s meeting was an attempt at a definition of Social Media. Next month, the group will have a discussion of the “Social Media Press Release,” a concept that is going to change marketing significantly. For a long time, people in public relations have realized that the old style press release no longer generates significant interest, and the press conference is even worse. These are terribly outdated and inconvenient tools for both the client and
the journalist. And now, because of the collaborative nature of social media, we are finally developing new marketing tools. Not that there is really anything new under the sun; Steve Epstein brought up the point that the Mike Roykos and the Jimmy Breslins of the past, columnists who wrote about whatever was happening in their worlds from
a unique perspective, were the equivalent of today’s bloggers.

After January, I have received a request for a meeting on all the little tools we social media nuts use: Technorati, tags, RSS, feed readers, etc. So I guess that brings us up to February. We will continue to meet on the 2nd Thursday of every month.

I am so hot on the potential impact of this whole social media thing that I want to make the next entrepreneurial mini-conference, which we will have on March 1 at Grand Canyon University , about “The Revolution in Marketing.” Save the date. Also save November 8 for the Second Annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference. Some big surprises coming there, too, but no firm plans yet so no revelations.

Man, we are a far cry from the 90’s, when people were afraid that Internet addiction was a lonely, solitary pursuit. I can remember when people spoke to me very seriously about the amount of time I spent online Now, everything on the Internet is interactive, and we can
share every moment of our lives if we want to. I, for instance, brought my Blackberry to the hospital and started blogging about my hip replacement as soon as I came out of the anaesthetic.

Tonight, the group decided that the mantra of social media is “it’s the people, stupid.” Social media is a way to collaborate and share information, to empower individuals, to create untold numbers of writers, publishers, communicators, and videographers, to find
friends, compatriots, and customers. From an individual perspective, it grants power to the consumer, who now controls the brand (as I did, when Scottsdale Healthcare North found out I was a blogger and began to treat me like a VIP). From a corporate perspective, it creates new channels to communicate with customers.

However, what really struck me tonight is how powerful social media can be for non-profits. We had some representatives in attendance from the Foundation for Blind Children, and I could see immediately how parents of blind children would make use of blogs and wikis to
strengthen their ability to cope with difficult situations, in much the same way that breast cancer survivors have banded together to spur on the research and treatment options. And I could also see how the charity itself could communicate with its donors about the mission and the programs.

Through social media, every non-profit can develop a mission-driven community, harnessing the power of many and ending the isolation that comes with affliction. That, in itself, is enough of a reason to foster the development of these tools.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under About SMC, Events · Leave a Comment  

Social Media Club NY January Meeting

December 14, 2006

Our next meeting will be January 23rd at Fleishman Hillard.

Here’s the link to register.

We’ll be accepting topics for the agenda over on the Wiki page.

I hope to see you there!

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under Uncategorized · Leave a Comment  

NMRcast #12

December 13, 2006

In this episode, Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, Brian Solis and Tom Foremski discuss the entries of Fleishman Hillard and Edelman to the social media news release party; Chris provides an update on the integration of microformats into the social media press releases standard; Tom responds to a colleague’s question about whether journalists want a new type of press release; Chris covers progress toward planning a social media new release summit.You can download the file here (MP3, 12.9 MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Related items:

A big ‘thank you’ to Shel for hosting and managing the NMRcast for us!

To listen to previous NMRcasts, please check out the For Immediate Release website.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under Podcast · Leave a Comment  

Keep your friends close and…

December 7, 2006

The old saying from Sun-Tzu’s Art of War is “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
But on Social Networks, some folks like to create fake friends, and that’s earning them enemies. Bruce Schneier posts today about a service that creates fake friends on MySpace and other SN sites. (Thanks and link back to Pito Salas of the excellent BlogBridge RSS aggregator tool for the pointer).

It seems “Fake Your Space” (no link because they don’t deserve the search engine points) allows you to have fake friends on SN sites that look pretty and send you fake notes about having great fake times.

I guess I’m making an obvious assumptions about the value of popularity contests - ie that I don’t like them. But this goes deeper than that.
The comments on Bruce’s site are wonderful too. Someone noted “If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?”

My favorite is:

“Where will this all end up?”  Cory Doctorow’s Whuffie I would guess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhuffiePosted by: Mike Stanczyk

Yes, Mike is smart guy. We need reputation management.

There’s some great reading over at First Monday  by the very talented Danah Boyd on how people choose friends on social networks. From the abstract:

“Are you my friend? Yes or no?” This question, while fundamentally odd, is a key component of social network sites. Participants must select who on the system they deem to be ‘Friends.’ Their choice is publicly displayed for all to see and becomes the backbone for networked participation. By examining what different participants groups do on social network sites, this paper investigates what Friendship means and how Friendship affects the culture of the sites. 

Good reading, and well thought out.

Other folks I like to read include Terrell Russell at ClaimId who talks about how to “claim” your online ID and ensure that you are managing what info is available about you online.
Social Media Club management is working on some ways that people can show they are who they say they are, and create verified reputations. We’ll work with, and support, those who are working on OpenId and other great efforts. I don’t want to announce vapor or anything, just put out an intent on our part to make the situation better.

It’s also a great topic for future Social Media Club monthly meetings, in any of the 10 or so places we’re meeting now.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under Uncategorized · 1 Comment  

Social Media Club NorthWest Round Tables

December 4, 2006

So the bag is not packed yet, and I have a ton of work to get done, but that is not stopping me from leaving in about 12 hours for a week on the road talking with insightful people about Social Media. These are straightforward round table discussions, with everyone being encouraged to participate. Primarily I want to hear what people are thinking about around Social Media, talk a short bit about what we are doing with Social Media Club, and then jump into what I think will be a very interesting conversation. It is that time of year again, when we begin to reflect on the year past and look to the year ahead. I think a good way to think of this is with a clear question:

“A lot of great things happened with Social Media over the past year - some expected and some surprises. What are the most important things that have happened in Social Media during the past year? Imagine yourself sitting here one year from today - what do you hope you would say about what happened in 2007?”

On Tuesday night we will be in Portland at Fehrenbacher Hof, on Wednesday night we will be in Seattle at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and on Thursday we will be at Bryght offices in Vancouver, B.C. So if you are in any of those towns and have an interest in talking with other Social Media peeps who get it, please register for a Round Table near you (Portland, Seattle or Vancouver) and join us with your experience and insights. There is no cost to attend and we will most likely be heading out for some food and drink afterwards.

On a more personal note, many thanks to my friends who are helping to make this whole thing possible. Tomorrow (TUE DEC 5, 2006) Alex Williams of Podcast Hotel and Feedia is my gracious host and lead organizer in Portland, along with his other friends from Portland Social Media Portland (PDXSOCIALMEDIA) Tim Germer (Northwest Noise) and John Hartman. Not only did he line up the venue and get several cool, smart people to join us, he is also letting me crash at his place so I dont have to put money into the hotel system. It sounds like they have found a really kick ass place to host the gathering and have some great food and beer options for afterwards.

On Wednesday, I am in Seattle crashing at Randy Stewart’s suburban jewel (thanks to his wife and young baby for opening your doors). In addition to Randy, both Chris Pirillo and Mitch Ratcliffe have been helping get things underway up there - I am really looking forward to seeing who all might have some time to really help push things forward in Seattle.

Then I am in Vancouver on Thursday, being hosted by my good friends up at Bryght (who host BrainJams and have an all around kick ass Drupal hosting environment). I am actually staying at a hotel that night, though I could have had a couch somewhere - I just figured after all the airport time this week, I am going to need some real rest and quiet.

While I have a few meetings lined up and a ton of work to do from the road, I am happy to set aside some free time during the day to meet with folks for a chat. I will most likely be working somewhere near the evening venues, but I have a rental car which makes me somewhat mobile. Just let me know if you are interested through my blog or call my cell or email.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under About SMC, Events, The SMC Organization · 1 Comment  

NMRcast #11

December 4, 2006

In this episode, Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, Brian Solis and Tom Foremski discuss reactions to the Social Media release concept, announced an upcoming Social Media Release summit and invited PR pros to post their case studies to the Social Media Release wiki.

Download the file here (MP3, 13.4 MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Additional information available:

A big ‘thank you’ to Shel for hosting and managing the NMRcast for us!

To listen to previous NMRcasts, please check out the For Immediate Release website.

Sphere: Related Content

Filed Under Podcast · 2 Comments  

NMRcast #10

December 4, 2006

NOTE: I realized I had not posted this last month. Whoops!

———–

In this episode, Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz and Brian Solis wrap themselves around Social Media release metrics.

Download the file here (MP3, 29.1 MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Additional show notes:

A big ‘thank you’ to Shel for hosting and managing the NMRcast for us!