Archive for August, 2009
All Things (somewhat) Social Media- Upcoming Events
Monday, August 31st, 2009We’re mixing it up a little this week, with a couple of events that aren’t focused entirely on social media, but are near and dear to our Seattle-loving hearts.
dorkbot – People Doing Strange Things With Electricity
When: Wed, September 2, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Where: 911 Media, 402 9th Ave N. (map)
Description: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea/
We saw this crew when we were at SXSi, and they rocked the house. It’s a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students and other interested parties who are involved in the creation of electronic art (in the broadest sense of the term.)
The purpose of dorkbot is to give artists/programmers/engineers an opportunity for informal peer review, establish a forum for the presentation of new artworks/technology/software/hardware, help build relationships and foster collaboration between people with various backgrounds and interests, and to give us all a chance to see the cool things that our neighbors are working on. Definitely worth your time.
Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music and Arts Festival
When: Labor Day Weekend, September 5th-7th, 2009
Where: Seattle Center
Description: http://www.bumbershoot.org
North America’s largest urban arts festival and Spring Creek Group partner Bumbershoot is now in its 39th year. Since 1971, Bumbershoot has drawn artists representing the best in music, film, comedy, spoken word, dance, theatre, performance, and visual arts to the Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend. Over 150,000 visitors from near and far spend the weekend reveling in the world of Seattle’s Music and Arts Festival, experiencing everything from regional favorites to international superstars across all arts disciplines.
We never miss a Bumbershoot, so Spring Creek Group will definitely be there. If you’re planning on going, let us know via one of our social media channels – Twitter, Facebook, or our blog. You can check out the Bumbershoot schedule and buy tickets here. To stay up to date on all the latest Bumbershoot news while you’re at the festival (and for some sweet giveaways all this week), make sure you stay tuned to their Twitter feed.
As usual, for the entire list of all upcoming events check out the SCG All Things Social Media Calendar. And feel free to tell us about a social media event that’s not on the list. Drop us a line (or just post it in the comments) and we will be sure to add it to our calendar.
All Gnomedex, All the Time: Part One
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
You know you’ve got something going when porn bots on Twitter start using your hashtag to hock their fleshy wares. That’s exactly what happened as #gnomedex, the end-all of Northwest-based tech/geek conferences took place here in Seattle over the weekend.
The Northwest-based nod was simply that, as attendees came from all over the map to Chris Pirillo’s 9th Gnomedex conference – many of them being first-time attendees (where did all the vets go?). The following is a quick rundown of the presentations that caught our interest:
Warren Etheredge – Art of the Interview
Founder of The Warren Report, Warren Etheredge kicked off the conference with a look at how he attacks his interviews – completely unscripted. His talk focused more on journalists and bloggers, but he had a few moments that made me lean forward; the first being when he went on a rant about James Lipton and the second being these:
On pulling in readers…
- Get their attention
- Earn their trust
- Gain their respect
His thoughts, while not groundbreaking, are a good plan of attack for any type of blogging, whether it’s on a corporate blog, your little neighborhood e-zine, or a widely read online publication.
Chris Brogan/Julien Smith – Attention Wars and the Rise of the Trust Agent
I’m not going to spoil the book for anyone, except to say that if you’ve been reading, well, pretty much everyone’s blogs who have been talking about social media and word of mouth marketing, you’ve heard these ideas (although they may have been packaged differently).
Essentially, Brogan and Smith broke their talk down into five areas that pretty much speak for themselves (my explanations follow each area):
- Make Your Own Game – Essentially, stand out. Get noticed.
- One of Us – Online communities, while easily-accessed, are known to shun those who are different. Don’t be left out of the valuable conversations about your brand.
- Archimedes Effect – Leverage your previous success and position for the future.
- Agent Zero – Be the starter. Be the connector. Be that guy who knows that guy who everyone wants to know.
- Human Artist – Etiquette isn’t dead. Just because the Web might not have the same etiquette as the real world, doesn’t mean a code doesn’t exist. Learn it, live it, love it.
- Build Armies – Two people screaming can perk up some ears, but 2,000 people talking about you and your brand is much more valuable.
That’s it for now, but more to come. Stay tuned for skepticism online, personal manufacturing, cancer gone social, the nerdiest knitting you’ve ever seen, and how the guy who came up with #FollowFriday ended up as one of the most hated people on Twitter.
All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
Monday, August 24th, 2009There’s quite a few opportunities out there to get out on the town this week, so make sure you’ve got some open spaces on your calendar. Here’s a couple of get-togethers you shouldn’t miss:
Seattle Net Tuesday August: Volunteer Outreach via Social Media
When: Tuesday, August 25, 6pm – 9pm
Where: 1001 E Pike Ave, Seattle WA 98122 (map)
Description: Net Tuesday is a monthly event that features organizations using technology for social good. The August 2009 event brings speakers from Seattle Works and the Puget Sound Blood Center to talk about how to grow a volunteer base using social media. More info: http://seattlenettuesday.ning.com/profiles/blogs/august-2009-net-tuesday-event
NWEN Open House
When: Thursday, Aug 27, 2009 5pm – 7pm
Where: 2333 3rd Avenue (3rd and Battery) (map)
Description: Party people! NWEN is excited about its new world headquarters in Belltown, and is combining a housewarming with an open-house to bring you a “House Party” on Thursday, August 27. Enjoy a casual tour of our loft space in the SkB Architects offices, and take a stroll down memory lane with some vintage NWEN swag. . .door prizes for the first 50 guests to arrive! Connect and conversate, and throw your name in the hopper for drawings every half hour. Supporting sponsors: Atlas Networks, Venture Capital (wine, cheese and salumi). Also sponsored by Stanislaw Ashbaugh. Space is limited to 150 so don’t miss out! More info: http://www.nwen.org/
For the entire list of all upcoming events check out the SCG All Things Social Media Calendar. And feel free to tell us about a social media event that’s not on the list. Drop us a line (or just post it in the comments) and we will be sure to add it to our calendar.
Gnomedex 9.0 Opening Night and Morning Session
Friday, August 21st, 2009Most parties consist of all the attendees bunched around the punch bowl, jostling for a drink – but Gnomedex’s opening party isn’t most parties. While the drink tickets were flying around like ticker tape at another city’s championship parade (seriously, Seattle – are we allergic to championship rings?), the real action was on the other side of the event hall where attendees were busy looking at tables.
Granted, calling the Microsoft Surface a table is like calling an F-16′s ejection seat a chair, but the fact that these interactive pieces of furniture were the center of attention was pretty interesting. Even Robert Scoble took some time to play around with the event function that allowed users to put their conference card down on the Surface and trade contact info, store media and interact with other eventgoers.
Chris Brogan set up shop in the back of the room to sell copies of his new book “Trust Agents,” which hasn’t even hit shelves yet.
The most astounding thing wasn’t the fact that these “stars” of social media were in the same room, but the fact that they were just normal people. Yes, Scoble might have a bazillion followers and can make or break a company with a flick of the mousewheel, but you wouldn’t have known it.
At the morning session, Chris Brogan asked the audience members who were attending Gnomedex for the first time to raise their hands and about half the room had their hands up. That, in itself, shows the shift in thinking for communications professionals and industry minds – this isn’t a fad.
We’ll be tweeting, blogging and TwitPic-ing our way through the rest of the conference, so stay tuned and get any questions you want us to ask anyone here at the conference to us via e-mail, blog comment, or Twitter.
Here we go. . .
#Voluntweetup!
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
In conjunction with this year’s Gnomedex conference, Comcast is hosting a Social Media Conference for executives of non-profit organizations. Designed to help those who may be unfamiliar with the ever-expanding world of social media, It’s a half-day event that will feature an hour long presentation on the basics of social media sites for any and all interested. Following this, there’ll be smaller group breakout sessions on basic to advanced social media topics.
Social media experts from around the area are going to be moderating (including some of the SCG crew) these breakout sessions. If you didn’t get signed up for the actual event, you can either follow the #voluntweetup hashtag on Twitter, or just check out the live stream – it’s up and running right now.
All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
Monday, August 17th, 2009As usual, there’s a lot of social media things going on in Seattle this week. Be sure to look for the folks from Spring Creek Group at these events…
SMC Seattle Monthly Event – #SMCSea
When: Tue, August 18, 6pm – 9pm
Where: 3542 First Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 (map)
Description: Panelists: @Starbucks, @AlaskaAir and @ComastCares, Sponsor: HL2, Info and Registration: http://bit.ly/8iPTp
Gnomedex 9.0
When: Aug 20 – 22, 2009
Where: Bell Harbor Conference Center, Seattle, WA (map)
Description: Hundreds of the world’s leading bloggers, podcasters, videobloggers, and tech-savvy enthusiasts will once again descend upon the city of Seattle, Washington. http://www.gnomedex.com/
For the entire list of all upcoming events check out the SCG All Things Social Media calendar. And feel free to tell us about a social media event that’s not on the list. Drop us a line (or just post it in the comments) and we will be sure to add it to our calendar.
Social Media by the Numbers
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Percentage of British MySpace users aged 14-21 that found it easier to talk about themselves online than in the real world: 36
Number of lists in Interactive Insights Group’s list of lists of companies using social media: 23
Apparent minimum number of time we can use the word “lists” within a sentence before it gets a little awkward: 3
Average number of tweets per minute on April 28, 2009 that mentioned the Air Force One flyover of New York City, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Air Force: 3
Minimum number of Swedes who have joined the Facebook group “I am scared of the girl in the Apoliva commercial”: 100,000
Number of total online video streams viewed in July: 11,200,000,000
Number of Twitter followers that uSocial CEO Leon Hill claims Michael Jackson attempted to purchase from his company prior to his death on June 25th, 2009: 25,000
Date that the @michaeljackson Twitter account was actually activated: 7/8/2009
Number of Twitter-organized “mass participation meteor star parties” that occurred prior to this year: 0
Number of hours during these meteor mass participation parties in which #meteorwatch displaced #WeLoveYouMiley as the top trending topic on Twitter: 2
Increase in number of registered U.S. neighborhood watch groups since 2005, thanks in large part to an increased use of social media tools: 15,000
Year in which behavior similar to humanity’s current use and affection for Twitter, texting, and Google was first observed in lab rats: 1954
Percentage of tweets that can be classified as “useless babble,” according to a recent study: 40%
Maximum number of different categories of Twitterers that exist, according to a new Yahoo application that measures a user’s “social mojo:” 16
All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
Monday, August 10th, 2009It looks like a fun Social Media week is ahead of us. There are happy hours, ball games, speakers, tweet ups, breakfasts etc. For the entire list of upcoming Social Media events in the Seattle area check out the SCG All Things Social Media calendar.
Look out for some of the SCG folks at these events:
Mariners Pre-Game Social Networking Happy Hour
When: Tue, August 11, 5pm – 7pm
Where: Safeco Field Ellis Pavilion (map)
Description: Join pitcher @hyphen18, @ShaunaCausey + @elliottp.
Special-priced food & drinks. Free T-shirt.
Starting at $15. Info + Ticket: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/ticketing/special_group.jsp?group=social
The Social Media EDGE w/ Kevin Urie
When: Wed, August 12, 1pm – 3pm
Where: Lake Union (map)
Description: Info + RSVP: http://www.theedgegroup.org/thrive.htm SMC Seattle’s Founder, Kevin Urie, will be speaking.
ColdPavement Networking for PR/Comm Professionals
When: Thu, August 13, 6pm – 9pm
Where: Lava Lounge, 2226 2nd Avenue, Seattle, WA (map)
Description: http://twtvite.com/8bu6z6 Contact Jessica Randazza
If you’re hosting/attending a social media event that’s not on the list, drop us a line (or just post it in the comments) and we will be sure to add it to our calendar.
Social Media By The Numbers
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Current number of social networking sites allowed to be accessed on Marine Corps networks: 0
Number of Twitter followers of the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen currently enjoys: 5,000+
Number of fans on Admiral Mullen’s official Facebook page: 2000+
Articles written by Washington Post reporter taking offense to the fact that Gawker and other blogs regularly repost and “cherry-pick” reports originally published by newspapers: 1
Apparent minimum number of Washington Post Communication Managers that not only provide blogs like Gawker with “. . . links to its expensive reporting but even pulls out the most interesting quotes so as to make it easier to pirate”: 1
Percentage of words that appeared in original Post report that were directly transcribed to the Gawker piece: 15%
Sense of irony, on a scale of one to ten, that we feel when discussing this disagreement about newspapers/blogs and intellectual property while writing a blog post that consists almost entirely of links to other news sources: 8.5
Percentage of total daily tweets that are created by automated bots: 24%
Number of Twitter feeds set up as a means of broadcasting entries from John Quincy Adams’ line-a-day journal: 1
Year in which a special code was invented in order for people to circumvent character limits in their messages to one another: 1889
Number of patents that Texas-based firm TechRadium is suing Twitter for allegedly infringing upon: 3
Amount of fine issued by the San Diego Chargers to defensive back Antonio Cromartie for his tweeting that the food served at the team’s training camp was “nasty”: $2,500
Minimum number of adult film stars that Detroit Pistons rookie DaJuan Summers is racing to see who can get 4,000 followers on Twitter first: 1
Likelihood of a citizen of the European Union having never used the Internet: 1 in 3
Amount of loss for News Corp. last fiscal year that was apparently caused solely by investments in MySpace: $363,000,000
Number of partially successful hacker attacks on Twitter this week: 1
Visualize Whirled Tweets
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
We won’t tell you Twitter is the next wave of marketing. We will, however, tell you that there may be opportunities for you to use Twitter to extend your brand and connect with your target audiences more efficiently. Twitter is not the end all – there, we said it (in fact, we’ve said it before).
Just look at the graphic above from Information is Beautiful. It breaks Twitter down into a very real, very bite-sized 100 person chunk and suddenly, it becomes clear: Twitter is a little more complex than most thought.
With five of those 100 people producing ¾ of the tweets, how do you rise above the constant stream? You learn, you connect and you develop a plan for communicating with your audiences in a tone that’s right, at a cadence that’s right, and about the topics that are on the tops of their minds and the tips of their tongues.
Quantity doesn’t equal quantity in just about any life lesson, so don’t let it be your end game in your Twitter-based outreach. You’ve got that one guy (or more) that you follow who just turns the Twitter hose on full blast and dumps tweets randomly in your incoming tweet list, but you keep following him because eventually he says something that’s almost worth the toll on your API calls.
The next time you embark on a mind meld with your team, keep this visualization in mind and think about not only how you’re going to engage the under-engaged, but how you’ll rise above the din of those five loudmouths— and hey, while you’re at it, @mccandelish and find out what the heck is up with those grey bodies with no classification.
