Entries Tagged 'SMB Houston' ↓

I was thrilled to lead a discussion on “sponsored conversations” at yesterday morning’s Social Media Breakfast Houston, held at Coffee Groundz, THE hangout for social media events in the city.

A crowd of 25 or so braved the morning rain–and a fire across the street!–for the occasion.

We broke the attendees into small groups to tackle these four questions:

1) Should bloggers (and podcasters, Twitterers, etc.) create an official disclosure policy around sponsored content?

2) What considerations should brands and PR agencies have in mind when approaching bloggers about a sponsored post or experience?

3) How might sponsored blog posts break the trust of the community, and what should bloggers do to keep the relationship with their readers intact?

4) Bloggers vs. Journalists: Are the rules any different?

The wide-ranging discussions that ensued indicated that the ethics and accepted norms of sponsored conversations are still very much in flux.

We also tried an experiment in “storystreaming” by crowdsourcing event photos to a new SMB Houston blog on Posterous.

The next SMB Houston is tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 2. To join the e-mail listen, contact Jennifer Texada: Jennifer – AT – yahoo – DOT – com.

On Friday August 6th we gathered a modest crowd of 40ish  people at  Coffee Groundz, a local social media friendly coffee shop for our 4th Houston Social Media Breakfast event.   This month there were a few less people in attendance because  Entrepreneur Camp that was happening at the same time, just a few blocks away. From what I understand Entrepreneur camp was great, but those who missed this event missed some really good information and some really great coffee.

This month we had Erica O’Grady from Peanut Butter Media in to present Van Wilder’s Guide to Social Media! Her comparison to the life lessons proposed by the professional college student, Van Wilder compared frighteningly well to the issues many corporations and organizations face when attempting to examine social media as a communications strategy. Through the wisdom of Van Wilder Erica helped the audience to understand how to manage  issues like dealing with worry,  making mistakes, doing good deeds and taking things too seriously. She gave good examples of social media failures, and ideas on how to make your social media relationships more meaningful and productive.

In Houston, Social Media breakfast is on the first Friday of the month at Coffee Groundz.

To keep up with what is going on and receive regular invitations to the events join our facebook group http://www.facebook.com/houstonsocialmedia

The July edition of Social Media Breakfast Houston will be held this Wednesday morning, July 8 (update: sorry for incorrect date in the initial post!), from 8:30-10:30 at Coffee Groundz.

The event will feature Dwight Silverman | @DSilverman from the Houston Chronicle and Ryan Cayari | @RyCayariKPRC from KPRC; the pair will discuss social media from the perspective of traditional media.

Register for the event on Facebook.

• Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009
• Time: 8:30-10:30am, Central
• Location: Coffe Groundz, 2503 Bagby St., Houston [Google Map]

Social Media Breakfast Houston is organized by Jennifer Texada | @JennTex and Kami Huyse | @KamiChat.