Social Media Club workshop

The workshop held by the Social Media Club was a gathering of MarCom pros and bloggers. The discussion focused around integrating social media in to the corporate media channels. Jeremiah Owyang has a super roundup from the day. Giovanni has video.

Chris introduced the Strategy Cafe a process learned from the WorldCafe.  

 The goals were to 1. Promote media literacy 2. support ethics and standards (such as a social media press release) 3. share best practices.

Chris posits there are 7 roles for social media: 

1. Transparency and Authenticity
2. Talk “with” instead of “to”
3. Can’t manage microsegments
4. Participation is marketing
5. Can’t control the message
6. Listening is more important than talking
7. Engagement is genuine

The Pew Interactive Study was mentioned – 60% of readers do not realize they are reading blogs.  

Successful uses of social media today? EasterSeals, Dove, SUN’s CEO, WholeWheatRadio

The attendees and presenters included professional technologists, Marketing/Communications and PR pros:

Lisa Stone - founder of Blogher and social media strategist

- 4 things a blog should answer 1. who are the bloggers? 2. wht are they blogging? 3. why are they doing it? 4. why do i care?

- Addresses blogging ethics with the Walmart-Edelman example

Robert Scoble - An A-list blogger, presented the power of the blogosphere and using video instead of a press release

- Traffic comes from search engines

- The #1 stragegy for getting noticed-google keyword acquisition

- Need to upload enough new links out there to keep competitors from usurping your search

Giovanni Rodriguez - see videos from the session

Daniela Barbosa 

Deborah Schultz

Brian Solis

Mark Ivey

Jeremy Pepper

Workshop – From Social Media to Corporate Media

PALO ALTO, CALIF. 10/17/06 – Social Media Club today announced its first workshop for high tech communications professionals.  On October 23^rd, From Social Media to Corporate Media (SM2CM), will offer an interactive workshop for high tech communications, PR, and advertising professionals to better understand Social Media.  SM2CM will be held in SAPs conference center in Palo Alto from 1 to 6 p.m.

This workshop is a unique hybrid of a traditional conference and an unconference. During the course of the afternoon on, attendees will hear short talks from leading Social Media practitioners and engage in conversations with other Silicon Valley professionals, leaving the workshop with an understanding of how their company can benefit from producing Corporate Media using Social Media tools.The event has an all-star line-up consisting of those helping to define the Social Media landscape, including: Robert Scoble, PodTech.net Lisa Stone, co-founder of blogher Giovanni Rodriguez, co-founder of Hubbub Chris Heuer, Social Media Club and BrainJams.orgAfter the workshop, participants are encouraged to stay for an evening cocktail reception hosted by SAP and Social Media Club.  Registration costs $150, which includes the reception. For those unable to attend the workshop, tickets for the reception are available for only $25.

Chris Heuer, founder of Social Media Club, observed, “Social Media is already a critical component in some of the most effective communications strategies, and those who get it will far outpace those who don’t.  If you are a Communications Professional in Silicon Valley, this is exactly the sort of opportunity you have been seeking to learn all about Social Media Strategy and Tactics.” Links SM2CM – http://www.socialmediaclub.com/sm2cm/ Purchase tickets – http://www.eventbrite.com/event/37277498 Social Media Club – http://www.socialmediaclub.com Why attend – http://www.socialmediaclub.com/sm2cm/?p=5 Robert Scoble – http://scobelizer.wordpress.com/ Lisa Stone – http://surfette.typepad.com/ Giovanni Rodriguez – http://hubbub.typepad.com/blog/ Chris Heuer – BrianJams and SocialMediaClubBrian Solis – FutureWorks and PR 2.0The event is sponsored by PR Newswire, Fleishman Hillard, and SAP.

SF TechConnect covered at Wireless Internet Institute

San Francisco has generated considerable attention from broadband-wireless stakeholders around the world ever since EarthLink and partner Google bid to provide the city with an ubiquitous Wi-Fi infrastructure, in part through a two-tiered advertising-based model supporting free public access.

Chris Vein, Senior Technology Advisor to the Mayor of San Francisco and Executive Director of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services, is heading up the City’s  negotiations with EarthLink. At the W2i Digital Cities Convention in London, Olympia Exhibition Centre, September 25–26, 2006, he joined participating IT professionals and field practitioners from municipal agencies from the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. presenting their plans and experiences deploying broadband-wireless applications and services in their communities. The following is adapted from his remarks.

SanFrancisco’s Digital Inclusion Strategy

The City and County of San Francisco is developing a comprehensive Digital Inclusion Strategy in order to bridge San Francisco’s digital divide.  We invite you to provide comment and feedback on the initial draft document:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/tech_connect_index.asp?id=47976

The document outlines approaches that the City proposes to address the technology needs of its underserved residents including:

• free and affordable internet access
• affordable computers and equipment
• training and support
• relevant content and applications

We are soliciting initial feedback through November 11, 2006 and using that initial feedback to update the document for release by December . However, we welcome input throughout the process.

Comments can be sent to:

Digital Inclusion Programs
Dept. of Telecommunications and Information Services City and County of
San Francisco
875 Stevenson St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
techconnect@sfgov.org

CNN covers Upwardly Global

Congratulations to one of my fellow ZFellows – Camille. Her organization, Upwardly Global was covered on CNN.

Upwardly Global is a nonprofit organization that helps highly-skilled immigrants, refugees and asylees reclaim their careers here in the United States and helps American employers discover and understand this hidden talent pool.

Debating the social web

There is a debate about the merits of social web tools in our society. The SF Chronicle hosts a discussion between Andrew Keen author of “The Cult of the Amateur” and Chris Anderson author of “The Long Tail“.

 They discuss wikipedia, democracy (direct v. representative), the masses vs. the niche, groupthink, advertising, citizen journalism and much more.

I am particularly interested in their discussion of filtering. Anderson talks about how he gains access to a million voices by layers of filters “I have time for perhaps two hundred voices…but collectively I’m filtering a million voices…as a result I get a richer, higher-quality diet of inforamation better suited to me from a wider pool adn wider variety of sources.” Keen contends that these layers are what more mainstream media does for us – filer, edit.

Anderson counters that the mainstream media is not interested in addressing individual narrow interests, but that others are and when they are found, it’s a benefit.

That makes sense. But, for some reason I want to know what the NYT finds important too and I’m more likely to spend my limited time there than sifting through layers. These layers, choices and bounty of content also can overwhelm and after an hour frustrate.

As we develop the project and progress in our learning we may want to include this discussion.

Listen or read

Gist vs. Swing

The american heritage dictionary describes

gist as “the central idea; essence”

swing “…to manage or arrange successfully…”

I can safely say I get the “gist” of developing an online community and identity and a blog however, getting into the “swing” of it certainly is a different sort of learning.

 Set up has taken a bit of try and try again. I’d say don’t give up on the complexities of the technology. With “stick-to-it-ness” there will be success.

Picking tools? Confused? Need help?

A trail has been blazed and it’s called SocialSourceCommons. Here, you can find out what technology tools other nonprofits and NGO organizations are using and their ratings of each tool.

1.Don’t spend a dime without checking here first.

2. Don’t invest your precious time in free tools without checking here first.

In their words…

The ultimate goal of the Social Source Commons (SSC) is to create a “knowledge commons” that maps the NPO/NGO software space and makes sense of the collective expertise related to that software. It aims to provide those who need information on NPO/NGO software access to lists of what’s available, with each list item linked to relevant documentation, localization tools, services and events, user reviews and a place to request the tools and features they can’t find. It is envisioned to catalyze a network of shared resources and contributors rather than simply building a single comprehensive web site or database, connecting the rich but relatively unlinked array of NPO/NGO-focused software information resources that already exist and builds upon it.

Connections for ECC Connected!

Last night was the One Economy (OE) Annual Gala (OE6), I bumped in to an ally for our project.

Gail McGuire of East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation’s Neighborhood and Economic Development Department.  Once she heard of our project she offered ideas for community issues and involvement. As we put together the program, we will call on her and her organization to participate.

As we move forward we ceratinly will want to reach out to partners.

 At the gala, Mayor Gavin Newsom was honored for his work to create free wireless access for the entire city of San Francisco.

“San Francisco will be the first city in the nation to provide FREE wireless access to every resident,” exclaimed Newsom. He told the story of how a meeting Rey Ramsey, the CEO of OE, inspired the mayor’s competitive spirit and provide free access as opposed to Philadelphia’s access at a price. He celebrated the relationship with Google and Earthlink. 

I bumped in to Emy Tseng, who is now working for the City’s TechConnect initiative. Emy was with the Community Technology Foundation of California when we first became aquainted. Now, she works on behalf of making free wireless a reality.

BTW, NTen is holding a day long conference on municipal wireless, November 10th.

San Francisco’s municipal wireless project will mean that you can create social change in new, bold ways. Soon, your organization, your clients, and your stakeholders will have access to free and low cost wireless Internet access through San Francisco’s TechConnect project.

Proposal Submitted

It’s 4:59 and I just submitted the proposal for  the ECC Connected project to the Community TEchnology Foundation of California. Keep fingers crossed it is accepted and we’re notified soon.

If all goes well, the team will be lining up for action in putting the project together. Stay tuned!