Atlanta Media Bloggers

Where to go to get your Social Media Fix

Well, if you have not noticed - the Atlanta Media Bloggers Group does not 'officially' meet anymore.

There are several other groups that have sprung up since SoCon07 and Podcamp Atlanta - both of which are scheduled to return in 2008

For nonprofits, Tim Moenk has organized a monthly NetSquare meetup

I have two groups running
Social Media for PR professionals
Connecting Writers

There is the Atlanta chapter of Social Media Club

and MANY of the other associations around town have started exploring and discussing social media.

Please add your comment here if I missed anything.

Power to the people!

If a band of renegade podcasters has its way, the No. 1 song Thursday at Apple's iTunes site won't be by a major-label star such as Fergie or Fall Out Boy.

Instead it will be ``Mine Again'' by Black Lab, an independent rock band formed a decade ago in San Francisco that was cast aside by two major labels.

That's the goal of Bum Rush the Charts, a movement that seeks to demonstrate the power of new media by making the Black Lab song No. 1 at iTunes for one day. Organizers are hoping for 50,000 purchases of the song Thursday at 99 cents each, a figure they believe will secure Black Lab the top spot.

A spokesman for Apple declined to detail how the chart is compiled, but said, ``It's a lot more complicated than just taking a snapshot of the previous 24 hours' worth of sales.''

Nonetheless, organizers say response to the movement so far has been positive.

Read: Podcasters aim to push song to top of iTunes chart

Attention Atlanta Bloggers!

Jon Gos has launch his bloggers meetup which I wanted to let everyone know about.
http://blog.meetup.com/375/calendar/5471619/

RSVP for Ethics and Social Behavior Online

Sunday, March 4, 2007, 7:00 PM

Where:

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant
1401 Johnson Ferry Road
Marietta , GA 30062-6495
770.565.7018

Description:

What are the ethics of Citizen Journalism?  Are there any?  Should there be? 

Anonymity seems to bring out the worst in some people. If you haven't noticed just take one look at the comments section of your favorite blog. This is a characteristic of human nature that we can't completely understand in one meeting but we can meet-up to discuss it over Japanese food!

 

Getting back in the game

Edit: This post was composed with and posted from Google Docs.  The plan was to post it to my personal blog, and it ended up here instead.  Rather then delete it, I figured I would just cross post.  It seems appropriate.  My apologies for any Rss Reader weirdness!  Sherry, stop laughing.

So I've been gone for a bit. The past few months of my life have seen some shifts in my life. First off, I've gone back to school. After a year and a half of exploring the tech industry and trying to figure out where we are all going, I feel I've learned enough about the new information/attention economy to go back and do it right. I'll be taking all the lessons about social learning I've learned from the web these past few years and applying them to how I approach academia this time around.

From the months of November through January, I held my first retail position. (*Gasp!* Say it isn't true Tim, a 'real' job?!) It was an absolutely amazing experience working for Apple Inc.: what was once Apple Computer Inc. once upon a time when I first started out. I learned a bit about work ethic (namely how to better segment my time), but more so I learned about how more consistent income leads to a clarity of mind I'd never experienced before. Go figure.

So now I have all these different pieces and experiences behind me, where is my life headed? Should I continue to go the entrepreneurial route? How about the academic route? My parents seem to like that idea. And then there's the option working a 'real' job: a job wherein the role and responsibilities required have been previously determined within an already existing and self-sustaining system.

Perhaps the most important lesson I've learned the past few months is that I put too much pressure on myself.

Here's a question I've never asked myself: Why can't I have everything?

Oh, hell. It's worth a try. School, work, extracurricular entrepreneurial ventures? Bring it on. What's the worst that can happen?

I'm throwing my hat in! I'm getting back in the game.

Don't miss out by delaying

In the first week of taking registrations we already have 25% of the seats filled! Go to www.socon07.com and register before it's too late!

Oh! and don't forget to tell all your friends...

Registration is now open

February 9th and 10th Kennesaw State University will be hosting the premier social media mash up. You can view the jammed packed schedule of events here.

Thanks to the many passionate people who invested their time, energy, and resources, this event will be free, however registration will be limited, so register now!

Other events...

Savannah bloggers are gathering for a mixin' and minglin' on Jan 26 and 27th to discuss ideas, strategies, trends, and such. I will be leading a discussion about how to set effective goals and measure your success when embracing social media. Josh Hallet will be leading a discussion as well, which is not to be missed. Josh was the first person I saw speak in depth about blogging and I guess you can say he inspired me...

This event is also free, so sign on up...

If podcasting is more your thing or you want to learn more about what all the hype is, Atlanta has Podcamp coming to you on March 16th and 18th.

And a little later down the road, CRMA (Customer Relationship Management Association) will be hosting a 2 day conference, April 17th and 18th. I will be on a panel with Jeff Hilimire from Spunlogic and Lisa Aloisio from AutoTrader.com titled "Embracing Web 2.0 – The New Way to Interact With Customers." More details to follow soon.

Sherry tagged me

So I'm supposed to write five things about myself?

This 'blog slam' is a tagging game where you write 5 things about yourself and then tag 5 bloggers to do the same.

1. Soon I am moving to NYC to start a new job.

2. I think I hate packing and moving more than any human being on Earth, because I have a Grand Fixed Cross in my astrological chart, which means I'm incredibly stubborn, and am always pulled in four stubborn directions. So instead of sitting still, it means I've moved all over the country all my life. And every time I do it, it's so wrenching, it's a bit like being drawn and quartered as a torturous punishment in a medieval town. And I wouldn't NOT do it for anything.

3. I just watched "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, and Senator McCarthy, again, and I'm so intensely moved every time I watch it, it leaves me gasping and speechless. Maybe that will pass after I get some distance from similar circumstances.

4. In my past life, I was a Christmas Elf! Santa Claus was berry berry good to me this year, and for that I am deeply grateful. Merry Christmas, all!

Oh, and Tag, You're It!

Chip
Joshua Kucera
Wally
Crowpoet
Tim A Gem

Chris

p.s. Sherry I'm very sorry to hear about your dad.

 

My five

I was recently slammed, so now I must comply. Here goes...

1. I used to play the trumpet in grade school.
2. I love comics and have several boxes of comics collecting dust in my attic. 
3. I was once a prolific screenwriter.
4. I used to publish an ezine of bizarre crime fiction.
5. I have directed several music videos.

Okay, so now I have to tag 5 more bloggers. Let me see, hmmm...

Amybeth Hale
Sherry Heyl
Cheezhead
The Chad
Gretchen Ledgard

slam blog

I just read about a little blogging game going on that kind of reminds me of high school slam books. Did you all have slam books? It was a book someone would create asking basic and sometimes embarrassing questions, and then they would get all their friends to fill it out. The fun part was to read everyone's answers.

This 'blog slam' is a tagging game where you write 5 things about yourself and then tag 5 bloggers to do the same. The point that Charlene Li makes is how it even broke through to corporate bloggers and the joy of getting to know the real people within the corporations. Now, I personally think everyone already knows everything about me. But I'll give it a shot....

1. I played Cello in the 7th grade...and was quite good.
2. I was on the waterpolo team in 9th grade...but I swim like a rock - so I passed towels out.
3. I have successfully written 2 songs with my husband in the past 16  years...neither of which we have anymore :(
4. The very first piece of writing I ever published for all the world to see, is under another person's name.
5. I once out ran a cop - by accident...

OK...so now I tag 5 bloggers to write their 5 things.

Kevin Howarth
Amber Rhea
Grayson Daughters
Jim Stroud
Chris Boese

SoCon07 - Connect Because You Can

We had a very productive planning meeting last night! Here are some of the highlights...

In attendance:
James Harris
Sherry Heyl
Jeff Haynie
Leonard Witt
Raghu Kakarala

Name: SoCon07

Tagline: Connect Because You Can

Message: The Premiere Social Media Mashup in the South
Shape the future of social media in the south

Date and Time: February 10, 2007 8:30 am - 3:30 pm (with a little after conference get together)

Venue: Kennesaw State University

The format will follow along the guidelines in
http://www.bloggercon.org/iv/format

Schedule:
Opening Introduction by Sherry Heyl
Featured Discussion Leaders
Leonard Witt
Chris Klaus

Lunch

Break out Sessions with:
James Harris
Josh Hallet
Jeff Haynie
Jonas Luster

Registration will be limited! We should have the registration site up soon, now that we have a name ;)

Contact me about press releases, podcasting schedules, and video production.
sherryheyl[@]gmail.com

We are Bloggers, hear us roar?

Link: Blogs becoming force in advertising | Reuters.com.

Whoo hoo! How about this new research in the Reuters article below?

What does this mean, tho? My immediate thought is that there is a great warning embedded here. Take a study like this and mindlessly apply the results to your thinking, and shift the massive advertising persuasion push to blogs, and you risk killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

You see this happen all the time in television. They get a piece of research that says audiences like "X," and without thinking about WHY audiences like "X," they just turn around and run "X" into the ground, until audiences absolutely HATE "X."

So here's my logic. Advertising is wholeheartedly NOT persuasive. With emotional branding (pathos), it does OK, but audiences are far too savvy to expect advertising to be logical (logos), and most importantly, audiences have been conditioned over time to distrust the source (ethos).

Audiences DO trust close family and friends, word of mouth, MORE THAN ANYTHING.

Insofar as blogs appear to be as trustworthy as close family and friends, audiences will treat them on par with word of mouth recommendations.

However, if bloggers by and large sell out, or if the trust/credibility link-love system fails, if scam-blogs and splogs proliferate and drown out all the signal for their noise, the truths of this study will evaporate as surely as people stopped believing the boy who cried wolf.

It always amazes me how business these days takes a scorched earth approach in pursuit of profit, instead of looking at how longevity and trust matter more than quarterly returns. I mean, what self-respecting capitalist would actually hype a lie or corrupt a source that reaches an actual audience (what should we call blogging payola? blogola?) if it means destroying his or her own future customer base or ability to reach that customer base?

What this research tells me is that when given a choice, people choose authenticity. Sales pitches don't feel authentic, so they are disregarded. Blogs feel authentic, so they are tentatively trusted. Those who promote rampant pitching without regard for authenticity will probably rush in and exploit this source.

Will authenticity be strong enough to win, or will the pitches drive the real audience out of the blogosphere?

Link: Blogs becoming force in advertising�| Reuters.com.

Blogs becoming force in advertising

Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:27pm ET

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Blogs are becoming a force to be reckoned with as a means of advertising products, according to a survey.

An Ipsos MORI poll found that the Internet journals are a more trusted source of information than TV advertising or e-mail marketing.

[...]

Ipsos MORI found a direct link between blogs, or user-generated content, and people's intentions to buy goods or services.

Any company that fails to come up to standard should beware. The blog is replacing word of mouth for endorsing or condemning a product or service.

[...]

Blogs, or weblogs, are a more trusted source of information (24 percent) than television advertising (17 percent) and email marketing (14 percent), the survey commissioned by Hotwire, a technology public relations consultancy, said.

But they still lag behind newspapers (30 percent).

[...]

"Word of mouth is no longer restricted to close friends and family, it can have the same level of influence upon millions of people across the world."

Still seeking a name

We had a successful white boarding session on Friday for the conference.

But we still need a name. The goal of the conference is to show how all of these components (blogs, wikis, open source, social networks, video, podcasting, RSS, community building) are interrelated and how they affect each and every one of our lives. The bulk of trusted information is no longer coming from journalist and advertising, but from consumer generated content and ongoing online conversations.

For businesses, when we listed the roles/departments of those who should come we came up with PR, Marketing, Advertising, Management, HR, Legal, IR, CRM, Sales...you get the point I hope.

The next question was how do we tie all these different roles together so they each walk away from the conference with relevant information. The answer came with the fact that each of these roles work together as a team to protect and/or enhance the company's reputation both internally and externally. Each of these departments are also always looking for knowledge, which the collaborative,  open nature of these tools increase the ability to effectively gain knowledge if leveraged appropriately.

The conference is on a Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 and will be free to attend, though there will be pre-registration. The goal is to get the conversation started or turn up the volume about what these trends mean in our lives and how to start embracing them.

Ideas for names needed please!

Reminder about meeting tomorrow night

We are meeting at Buffalo's on Mansell at 7:00 PM (just east of 400 on the right) - to go over some of the creative details of the conference.

Look forward to seeing everyone there.

Sifry's Alerts: State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006

Link: Sifry's Alerts: State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006.

Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size approximately every 230 days.

* About 100,000 new weblogs were created each day, again down slightly quarter-over-quarter but probably due in part to spam fighting efforts.

And to think there are still a lot of people who wonder what a blog is and why they should care...

wikiHow - The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit

Link: wikiHow - The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit.

This is cool - but when you get into things like car repairs or home repairs there could be consequences for following the wrong information. I mean using a word incorrectly is one thing, hooking the wrong electrical thing up - quite different.

What do you all think about this project?