There was another great turnout at last week’s Social Media Breakfast 8, with around 90-plus people joining us at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge. SMB8 was all about video and using video to engage and build communities.
The lineup for the panel discussion part of the breakfast gathering was:
The presenters repeatedly mentioned authenticity when discussing why video is one of the fastest-growing media used in social media community building. It’s hard to fake being genuine and transparent when trying to connect through a visual medium. People can see through scripted, over-produced, and controlled messaging. They want to be engaged through raw, honest, passionate and creatively captured and shared moments on issues that they connect with and interest them. It’s important to remember, first and foremost, that consumers and communities are not demographics, markets or influence groups – they’re people.
Thanks again to Rob Lane and Overlay.TV for sponsoring the breakfast. (Want to create your own overlay for a video? Here’s how you do it.)
For a nice synopsis for each of the presentations, please check out Just Kate’s blog post.
Links to online conversations and mentions of SMB8
Also, Len Edgerly, one of New England’s finest podcasters, featured SMB8 in the most recent episode of his Audio Pod Chronicles podcast: “Breakfast of Videos.”
What’s next?
We’d like to keep the conversation going. How are you using or seeing video used to engage and building communities? Share examples of great works and good deeds in this area with us.
And of course, independent of the tools or media, what other community-building initiatives are you seeing that inspire and interest you? There are enough examples and time spent on programs gone wrong, so let’s focus on sharing initiatives done right.
Share your examples in the comments section below.
Speaking program: Making the business case for video SMB8 will feature four 5-minute presentations on the use of video in social media campaigns and in ongoing community building. The presenters:
Sponsor SMB8 is being sponsored by Overlay.TV, an Ottawa, Canada-based interactive media company that enables users to “overlay” contextual information onto online videos.
Some 90 social media experts, enthusiasts, and newbies packed the Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square, Cambridge last Thursday morning for Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 7.
The event featured four short presentations on the topic of “hiring and getting hired in the Web 2.0 world,” as well as Christopher S. Penn’s demo of his “power tools” for LinkedIn.
Big thanks to Owen Mack from coBRANDiT VIDEO for recording the main presentations.
April 29 update: I’ve added the lineup for the speaker program below. ***
Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 7 will take place from 8:00-11:00am on Thursday, May 1 at the Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square, Cambridge.
Program - “Hiring/Getting Hired in a 2.0 World”
We’ll follow a similar format to the one we used at Social Media Breakfast 5. We’ll have four presenters speak briefly about how social media is impacting the hiring process — from both the employer and employee perspective.
Video and you! Owen Mack, chief of strategy & development at coBRANDiT VIDEO, will record a short video of you and your projects that you can publish on your own site, blog, or social network.
Address: 212 Hampshire Street, Inman Square, Cambridge, MA 02139
Directions to the Ryles Jazz Club (Nearest T stops: Central Square and Harvard Square on the Red Line)
Cost: Free
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To attend Social Media Breakfast 7, please RSVP through Eventbrite.
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More than 80 members of Boston’s social media community came together last Tuesday morning for a social media breakfast co-hosted by Jeff Pulver and me at the S & S Restaurant in Cambridge.
While there was no specific agenda, Jeff did distribute his personal social-networking toolkits to everyone, ensuring the gathering was … social! He also hinted that the “Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends)” series he is hosting around the world might lead to a book.
The organizers of the “Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and Friends)” and Boston’s “Social Media Breakfast” series will join forces to host a mashup breakfast on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, from 8:00-10:00am at the S & S Restaurant in Inman Square, Cambridge.
Jeff and I welcome social-media and social-networking enthusiasts and newcomers alike to join us for a morning of good food and great conversation.
Please note that unlike previous Social Media Breakfasts, there will be a $20 charge — payable in cash at the door — for this event.
All breakfast attendees will receive a “Personal Social-Networking Toolkits,” conceived of and designed by Jeff.
Scott Monty, Doug Haslam, Jim Storer, and Laura Fitton headlined the ticket at yesterday morning’s Social Media Breakfast 5 at the S & S Restaurant and Deli in Inman Square, Cambridge.
Each of the four led a five-minute presentation on how Twitter has “changed our lives.”
Scott Monty (@ScottMonty on Twitter) reminded us that “Twitter is nothing if you don’t have the community,” and explained how Twitter was indirectly responsible for helping him land his current gig at crayon.
Doug Haslam from Topaz Partners used props — specially a ball of dough that matches his Twitter handle, DougH — to demonstrate how Twitter serves as the hub of much of his work online. He also shared answers from members of his Twitter community to the question, “How has Twitter changed your life?”
Jim Storer from Mzinga (and @jstorerj on Twitter) talked about the potential of Twitter’s under-used favorites tool; the bright future for microblogging (including inside the enterprise), which he termed the “gateway drug to social media”; the notion of “hunters and gatherers” on Twitter; and the importance of listening.
Pistachio Consulting’s Laura Fitton (aka “Pistachio“) delivered a deeply personal and moving account of the ways that Twitter has changed and enriched her world, both personally and professionally, since she moved to Boston last year.
A big thanks to Jim, Aaron Strout, and everyone at Mzinga (disclosure: Mzinga is a client of mine) for sponsoring Social Media Breakfast 5, and to Boston’s ever-passionate — and growing — social media community for making this breakfast series the success that it has become.
Your Twitter ID
Did you attend yesterday’s breakfast? Please drop a comment with your Twitter handle to this post, or to the one announcing the event. I’ll round up all the IDs and share by e-mail.
Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 5 is now set for Wednesday, February 13, from 8:00-10:00am at the S & S Restaurant in Inman Square, Cambridge.
Program (announced Friday, February
“How Twitter changed has changed my life — and can change yours”
Each of the speakers listed below will present for up to 5 minutes on Twitter , a social-networking site that many social media enthusiasts in the Boston area are using to start conversations, expand their personal networks, and land new business.
No PowerPoint allowed, but the presenters can use props … so things could get interesting!
After the presentations, we’ll open it up for questions.
Big thanks to Burlington-based Mzinga, which helps clients build employee and customer communities, for its sponsorship of the event (disclosure: I do some podcast production and consulting work for Mzinga).
Address: 1334 Cambridge Street, Inman Square, Cambridge, MA 02139
Directions/map to the S&S Restaurant (Nearest T stops: Central Square and HarvardSquare on the Red Line)
Cost: Free
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To attend Social Media Breakfast 5, please RSVP through Eventbrite.
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Boston’s Social Media Breakfast series marched on this past Monday at the Mooo Restaurant at the XV Beacon hotel when some 45-50 members of the city’s passionate social media community braved the frigid temperatures and came together for a morning of good food and great conversation.
Washington, D.C.-based buzzman Geoff Livingston was the featured presenter at Social Media Breakfast 4, and he used the analogy of Red Sox Nation to lead a thoughtful discussion about the differences between a community, an audience, and stakeholders.
For some further accounts from the breakfast, follow these links:
