Twitter and Social Media Advising

Posted on June 29, 2009
Filed Under Main, social media | 2 Comments

As you know if you’ve been to my professional site, I’ve been training businesses and individuals in the use of social media tools for almost a year.

Some of my clients have included the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Society of Professional Journalists and even local chambers of commerce.

I just ran across something a colleague of mine is doing and I love it. Truly.

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Week Ahead - June 29 to July 5

Posted on June 29, 2009
Filed Under Main, social media | 3 Comments

Monday - June 29

Boston Wordpress Meetup - 7-9PM
Microsoft Cambridge, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA
RSVP Appreciated

Tuesday - June 30

MediaBistro - 6-8:30PM
The Vault, 105 Water Street, Boston, MA 02109
RSVP and Preregistration Required

Realize the ROI of a Social Media Community - 6PM
FELT Boston, 533 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Eventbrite Link - Preregistration Required

Girls in Tech - 6-10PM
38 Cameron Gallery, 38 Cameron Avenue, Suite 100, Cambridge, MA 02140
Eventbrite Link - WOMEN ONLY (”Issues involved in being a professional women in today’s world”) - Preregistration Required

Subversive Supper Series at BetaHouse - 6:30-10{M
BetaHouse in Central Square
Eventbrite Link - RSVP, Payment and Preregistration Required (Sold Out as of Mon. June 29 - Waiting List started)

Wednesday - July 1

Open Coffee - 8:30AM-???
Cafe Andala, 286 Franklin St, Cambridge, MA 02139
Meetup Group - RSVP Appreciated

Thursday - July 2

Unemployed Networking Meetup - 4PM
Bloc 11 Cafe, 11 Bow Street, Somerville, MA 02144
Eventbrite Link - RSVP Appreciated

Sunday - July 5

Boston Media Makers at Doyle’s Cafe
3484 Washington Street Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA, 02130
Link - RSVP Appreciated - Bring Cash for Brunch

Please share events I might have missed in the comments.

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Social Media Events

Posted on June 29, 2009
Filed Under Main, New Media Friday | Leave a Comment

Here in Boston we have a few organizations that help you identify and track worthwhile events. But these tracking services still sometimes have gaps in their coverage due to their mission of only relaying Tweetups or Business events. Therefore, when it’s convenient and I remember I’ll be posting my Week Ahead notes right here on the blog.

Feel free to share these notes and to update my listings with your comments.

My notes for June 29-July 5 will be up soon. Yes, Monday to Sunday seems appropriate as this weekly listing will appear each Sunday - hopefully.

How do you keep your event calendar up-to-date?

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What IS next in Tech? I’ll find out Thursday.

Posted on June 24, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A while back I signed up to attend the What’s Next in Tech event at Boston University. The line-up of folks speaking was impressive and I thought it might be a nice networking event. Turns out, people are still signing up, so the night could prove to be one of the best of the year.

And that’s considering that this week I rubbed elbows with Alex Howard, Chris Brogan, Jack Nicholson, David Armano, Peter Kim and David Cutler.

Here’s the lineup for the BU event…

A networking reception will be held from 6:00-7:00pm followed by the program at 7:00pm. Speakers will include:

Michael Greeley, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
Mike Dornbrook, COO, Harmonix Music Systems (makers of “Rock Band”)
Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot Corp. and founder of The Droid Works
Brian Halligan, social media expert and CEO of HubSpot
Tim Healy, CEO of EnerNOC
Ellen Rubin, Founder & VP/Product of CloudSwitch
Bijan Sabet, General Partner, Spark Capital
Neil Sequiera, Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners

The conversation will be moderated by Scott Kirsner, Innovation Economy columnist at The Boston Globe.

I think there’s still room, so here’s the INVITE.

Hope to see you there. Here are the names already on the attending list…

Mr. Anton Yakushin,

VP of IT,

BongoBing

Website: http://www.bongobing.com

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Enterprise 2.0 Conference Jammed with Collaborative Business Tool Companies

Posted on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Column, For Sale, New Media Friday, social media | Leave a Comment

Have you ever had to edit a Word doc with a group of committee members? If so, you know that by the time you get the original document back, it’s every color under the rainbow and all shred of continuity has been extinguished.

That’s usually the power of collaborative tools. And that’s why there are so many jokes about large committees not being able to accomplish anything.

In fact, there’s a town north of Boston where the school committee chair allows everyone from the crossing guard to the custodian to give their thoughts on policy before making a decision. In that hamlet, the meetings regularly go for 90 minutes longer than scheduled and it’s taken them years to agree on topics as menial as school naming procedure.

But I digress. Technology now makes it possible - and has made it possible for years - for large groups to work together without being at the same table or even in the same hemisphere, and actually accomplish real work.

These tools, on display at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference at the Westin Waterfront Hotel this week, are proving to be the lifeblood of doing more work with fewer staffers.

For example, RollStream has a product that allows companies to build networks like Facebook for their clients. Essentially, the software creates a closed social network where teams can work together online, safely and easily.

Also at the show is a company called ThoughtFarmer. They’ve created a tool that’s used internally at companies for collaboration and information exchange. One interesting way people are using this software is to put up company alerts, HR info, and other internal forms and data - all inside the walls of the firm and presumably safe from prying external eyes.

Walking around the exhibit floor, I saw a dozen companies with similar products and that made me realize it might be the wave of the future. But why?

I think it’s got the promise of financial savings and ease of use. People are increasingly comfortable sharing their updates on Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook, so why not leverage that familiarity to create tools that work the same way at the office?

Are we hearing the bell toll for shipping, hard media forms like CDs and DVDs, and for business travel?

Well, products will still have to be shipped and people will still want to look at larger documents in hard-copy (architectural drawings, etc.). But as these tools get more popular, we are going to see fewer people jetting around the world to sit in a room with a useless committee. We’ll see less spending on shipping if people can just click and see a product or contribute their thoughts. And we’ll continue to see companies tightening their belts on resources.

One can only wonder what’s going to happen to conferences like this one when everyone finally buys into distance learning and collaboration. Why would you ever need to go anywhere to be AT a conference if you could be there just by sitting down at your desk?

What’s your take on new media tools for business? Are you marketing, collaborating and interacting only on line these days?

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