Deb's SM Survey:

What could be better than spending a post-snowstorm Saturday in the company of friendly people who are excited about social media? NewBCamp in Providence, Rhode Island, was a great experience on many levels. It was great to connect with friends old and new, like Len Edgerly and Maria Thurrell.

As usual, there were too many presentations I wanted to attend and not enough time. Organizer Sara Streeters’s “speed mentoring” was a great idea and I got some great advice in a very short time.

I found Steve Malloy’s presentation on the pros and cons of privacy vs openness online thoughtful and a topic of great interest.

Sadly, I missed Christopher Penn’s presentation, but he has video on his blog post recapping the day, so I watched the second hand version this morning.

Beth Dunn had a great point about the democratic nature of UnConferences like NewBCamp in her write up:

It’s telling that one of the first “spin-offs” of Podcamp was not to create a more advanced version, not to rope off the elite and create some sort of VIP section, but to create a less advanced version, to welcome the newcomer and encourage the beginner. It’s in keeping with the underlying ethic of widening the gate, of lowering the barriers to entry, that is so pervasive in the world of social media.

I’m honored that my presentation got a mention in Beth’s entry as well. It was my first time speaking in public about social media and I enjoyed the opportunity and the interest of the audience. Len Edgerly streamed the video live on UStream so I had a couple of remote viewers as well.

At the after party it was great to hear Matthew Ebel live at last. Sadly my ride was leaving early, so I missed much of the show. Still, I have no doubt I’ll be catching up with the wonderful people I met both virtually and in person in the near future.

I’ve fallen victim to the dreaded cold/flu season, so all my brilliant ideas have been blown out my nose in one of my multitude of sneezes. Instead, here are some quick hits from the week past:

Yahoo still independent as they turn down Microsoft’s bid, but pondering other offers.

The Boston-area Social Media Breakfast was great fun, with several local luminaries discussing how Twitter has changed their life. Tech PR gems has video. Also attending was videoblogger extraordinaire Steve Garfield, who has been experimenting with live streaming video from his cell phone using a service called Qik.  (Note: corrected the spelling of Qik)

Steve also caught video of the conversation between Berkman Center fellow David Weinberger and Canadian independent musician BradSucks about the future of the music industry that took place on Monday, February 11th. It’s fascinating to hear the opinions of people who have grown up with digital technology. Brad has a very different attitude toward his work – he’s not as possessive. If someone did a cover of one of his songs and made a it a hit, he would be amused, not litigious. And he may rightly consider that there would also be benefits coming his way from that kind of publicity. It was also exciting to learn that one of Brad’s songs, via a remix and a video, was the inspiration for the character Milgrim in William Gibson’s novel Spook Country.

In another transmedia twist, the Poetry Foundation has been asking graphic novelists to interpret poems. There are currently six installments of this project online.

Have friends who just don’t get what social media is all about? Bring them to NewBCamp, held Feb. 23, 2008 at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode island. I’ll be presenting some cases studies based on my “Marketing Your Media on the Web” project and demonstrate how they can be applied to anyone. Hope to see you there!

Couldn’t resist the title. This is a week in review, since I’ve somehow become busier than I intended.

Too busy to keep an eye on Twitter properly, but I did make it out to the local Boston “Tweetup” Tuesday night. Close to thirty people in the social media scene were hanging out, from videoblogger Steve Garfield to presentations consultant Laura Fitton to multi-talented musician and artist Matt Searls. I bowed out early – I was useless once the Super Tuesday results started coming in and went home to read the blogs like a good political junkie.

Twitter and Google Maps had teamed up for a Super Tuesday results map that popped up tweets about voting or the election as they came in. In addition to the map, I had my regular Twitter feed open, Daily Kos in another tab and flipped between various other blogs and boston.com for a mix of local and national results. I loved the sense of community, knowing I was watching and speculating with so many others about the path our country will take. What did I do for election coverage before the internet? I guess there’s that rectangular box called a television.

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