What is Social Media Club?
In cities across America, people are gathering at least once a month (for free) to learn about and discuss “the purpose of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media. This is the beginning of a global conversation about building an organization and a community where the many diverse groups of people who care about social media can come together to discover, connect, share, and learn.”
Benn & I went to our first SMC meeting early this year and have been to every one since. We have met some of the industry’s biggest and brightest names in social media and new technology and are always amazed at their generosity with sharing their knowledge. Social Media Club gatherings attract bloggers, website designers, coders, media insiders, programmers, graphic designers, and more and the wealth of insight is simply astounding.
Why Get Involved?
I find that surrounding myself with people more advanced than I tends to be more challenging, humbling and most of all, inspiring than being the tech genius in the room (which I am far from being but do stand out when people haven’t heard of blogs, twitter, etc). In Austin where technology is still one of the biggest industries locally, it is not hard to find people that aim to improve upon and learn about social media. Advancing your business by being on the forefront of technology only improves your practice and this is one exceedingly awesome way to do it.
How to Get Involved?
Several cities already have people leading Social Media Club meetings but there are many many cities missing. I suggest either getting involved in the pre-existing SMC in your city or getting in touch with @someone to learn how easy it is to bring SMC to your town! Visit the SMC wiki for the most information, the blog to learn current events or message me on Twitter or message Connie Reece, Austin’s SMC Queen if you’d like an introduction to anyone involved in SMC!
Where?
The following cities already have SMC:
Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Dallas, TX
Louisville, KY
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Seattle, WA
St. Louis, MO
Research Triangle, NC
Washington DC
The following cities are working on their chapters and need involvement:
Atlanta, GA
Ann Arbor/Detroit, Michigan
Birmingham, AL
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
New Orleans, LA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Rochester, NY
San Diego, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
South Florida, FL
Tampa Bay, FL
If you’re already involved in SMC, tell us how it has helped YOU! If you’re not, let us know if you’ll be pioneering SMC in your hood!
Bill Lublin
June 10, 2008 at 5:30 am
Hooray – there is an SMC in Philadelphia – Will I have to do any math to enter a comment at their meeting? 😉
Eric Blackwell
June 10, 2008 at 5:52 am
Interesting Lani…thanks …looking into it a bit further!
Dru Bloomfield
June 10, 2008 at 7:08 am
I’ve been going to the SMC’s in Phoenix for the past several months. I love connecting with all the people, ideas, and energy that fly around the room. The next one is this Thursday night, June 12th.
Paula Henry
June 10, 2008 at 8:39 am
Looks like Indianapolis needs a social media club – doesn’t surprise me…. Once I acknowledge this, does it make me responsible to do something about it? Mmmm…
Laura
June 10, 2008 at 8:59 am
HI Lani!
Can’t wait to hit up the next meeting. I actually found you on Twitter from your messages during the last meeting. 🙂
https://tweetscan.com/index.php?s=asmc&de=1
Laura
Shailesh Ghimire
June 10, 2008 at 9:06 am
Hey is this is great! I’m glad there is already one in Phoenix. Looking forward to going to their next meeting! Thanks for the heads up.
Ken Smith
June 10, 2008 at 10:29 am
Interesting, will have to see how close they are to getting the one in Chicago off the ground.
Rudy from Trulia.com
June 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Awesome Lani.
I haven’t been to this one but I do frequent lots of local business and technology gatherings in the tri-state area. These types of local gatherings provide invaluable networking opportunities. Everyone should be taking advantage of them in their hometown.
I missed a great one last night here in NYC – the mydealbook event. As a father of 3, I got priorities ya know 😉
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
Sam Chapman
June 10, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I’m glad I found this blog. I had no clue about a social media club in Austin and really need to check it out. Thanks!
Kristie Wells
June 10, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Lani, thank you so much for writing about SMC. We are fortunate to have some very active chapters (Boston, Austin, Phoenix, Paris) and are working to help others cities launch and/or grow to expand the sharing of knowledge across the world. Lofty goal, but I think one we can, and are, accomplishing.
We have been pushing the company forward slowly, almost at a turtle’s pace, wishing to get infrastructure in place that will really help the cities communicate with one another and expect that to [finally] launch this Fall. Until then, it is managed wholly by the wiki and through the SMC main website, http://www.socialmediaclub.com. More antiquated than we like, but better than nothing I say.
If you are interested in helping launch SMC in your city, shoot me an email at kristiewells [at] gmail [dot] com and I can rally some folks around it to help you. /looks at Paula and Ken (smile)
Cheers.
Jennifer Wilson - Agent Solutions
June 10, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Nope… Can’t find a Social Media Club in my area. Maybe it’s time Calgary had one. 😉
Kit Mueller
June 10, 2008 at 4:27 pm
We’re working on getting one off of the ground, here in Chicago.
Any / all help is welcome / appreciated.
– Kit
312.636.8409 – mobile
Ken Smith
June 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Kit giving you a call now.
Ricardo Bueno
June 11, 2008 at 2:52 am
Mid last year I got involved with some local bloggers who held bi-weekly “office hours” (that’s what they called their little gathering…). The meetings were never anything short of insightful! Frankly, I think there’s always something new that you can learn…
I’ll give SMC in Los Angeles a look since I’m local to the area. Dustin Luther, Jeff Turner, Irina Netchaev & other local bloggers hosted our very own Tweet-up not too long ago…maybe I”ll give them a nudge and see if we can head on over.
Connie Reece
June 11, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Lani, thanks so much for writing about the great work Social Media Club is doing. The knowledge shared is just phenomenal and it’s great having the opportunity to meet peers and industry leaders. I’ll look forward to seeing you and Been soon. I don’t even know what the program committee has cooked up for the next event here in Austin, but I’m sure it will be good.
Tampa Real Estate
April 15, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Hi Lani,
This sounds extremely fun and worthwhile. I’m researching it further. Thanks!!
Rick Durand