PodCampWest Unites Podcasters, Video Bloggers, Bloggers in San Francisco

The first Podcamp on the West coast will be held in San Francisco on November 18-19, 2006 at the historic Swedish American Hall. Inspired by PodCamp Boston, PodCampWest San Francisco will connect individuals, businesses and institutions interested in new media.

Podcamp San Francisco is an UnConference in the tradition of BarCamp. PodCampWest is free to attend for the community.

The event will attract influential Bloggers, Audio and Video Podcasting pioneers, content creators and distributors, mainstream media, enthusiasts, businesses, hobbyists, musicians, marketers, PR pros, and people who generally want to understand more about the new media space.

“The power of an UnConference is that attendees get direct access to ideas, thoughts, best practices, and the wisdom of real experts simply by attending and participating at no cost,” said Vic Podcaster, the event organizer and podcasting evangelist. "With the advertising landscape shifting to new formats such as podcasts, social networks, and blogs, it is already having a significant impact on traditional media, marketing outlets and the entertainment industry. And, the new media market will only continue to grow.”

Visionaries, leaders, and celebrities from the world of new media will be in attendance, placing them in an approachable environment for those who want to learn and share ideas. Dave Winer is the first guest speaker to be announced, with others to be announced shortly.

Sessions spread over two days will focus on planning for content, content creation, content publishing and subscription models, production quality, tools, recording techniques, video composition, editing skills, audio & video post production techniques. Also included are sessions on Monetization of New Media formats, Podcasting and Video Blogging and impact of new media on business, Directly communicating with customers in Web 2.0 world, New Media marketing and public relations. The sessions are held in the format of a conversation with the people in the room participating actively.

Click here to register.

Links:
PodCampWest Blog - http://podcampwest.wordpress.com/
BarCamp - http://barcamp.org/
Unconference - http://podcampwest.pbwiki.com/UnConference

Tags: BarCamp Blog Blogging PodCamp San Francisco PodCampWest Podcasting UnConference VLogging Vic+Podcaster Video Videocasting Vlog Web2.0 Weblog Zune iPod briansolis Brian+Solis PR2.0 Media davewiner dave+winer

Web 2.0 "Bubble Free" Bar Crawl in San Francisco on Nov. 10th.

My good friend Greg Narain and I are hosting a "network free" and "bubble free" bar crawl in San Francisco on 11/10.

The Crawl will take place on November 10th, 2006 at 6pm.

Here are the details:

The Bubble-Free Bar Crawl is a celebration of our sacrifice. This event is for everyone toiling late at night to launch their own startup and take a piece of the pie. Most importantly, it’s a time for you to bring all those who are supporting you out for a good time and a thank you.

The Crawl will focus on the emerging tech corridor in downtown SF. There seems to be a huge number of startups cropping up and down 2nd Street. We’re starting at the Embarcadero and moving our way towards Market.

We’ll be hitting these places:
6:00 pm - High Dive
6:45 pm - 21st Amendment
7:30 pm - Bacar
8:15 pm - Thirsty Bear
9:00 pm - House of Shields

Hope to see you there. RSVP here.

Tags: web2.0 web+2.0 socialroots socialtwister greg+narain gregnarain barcrawl sf sanfrancisco futureworks briansolis brian+solis

The Evolution of Social Media Press Releases - NMR Cast #9

Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, and I recorded the latest edition of the New Media Release NMRCast for Shel's award-winning For Immediate Release (FIR) podcast.

The New Media Release Podcast, episode 9 can be downloaded here, heard directly from the FIR page, or subscribed to via the NMRCast feed. Also, the Apple iTunes subscription is now available here or by searching for NMRCast at the Apple iTunes store under “podcasts.” If you subscribe to the FIR “everything” feed, however, this podcast will not be included.

Show notes for Oct. 25, 2006:
Welcome to NMRCast episode #9, a 25-minute podcast recorded live from the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC.

Content Summary:
Chris Heuer, Brian Solis, Shel Holtz. talk about about Edelman’s woes and the notion of disclosure; we catch up on Social Media Release working group progress; and we talk a bit more about tags.

Download the file here (MP3, 11.6 MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

The series was inspired by Tom Foremski's original post, Die Press Release, Die Die Die, where he tells the PR industry that things cannot go along as they are . . . business as usual while mainstream media goes to hell in a hand basket. Foremski has even offered advice on how to create a better press release:

• Provide a brief description of what the announcement is, but leave the spin to the journalists. The journalists are going to go with their own spin on the story anyway, so why bother? Keep it straightforward rather than spintastic.
• Provide a brief description of what the announcement is, but leave the spin to the journalists. The journalists are going to go with their own spin on the story anyway, so why bother?
• Keep it straightforward rather than spintastic.
• Provide a page of quotes from the CEO or other C-level execs.
• Provide a page of quotes from customers, if applicable.
• Provide a page of quotes from analysts, if applicable.\Provide financial information in many different formats.
• Provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources.
• And tag everything so that I can pre-assemble my stories.

In This Edition:
Google Groups mailing list for New Media Release discussion (please join!)

Please vote for this story at NewPR!

Tags: social+media, pr, onlinepr, newpr, pr2.0, socialmediaclub, chris+heuer, chrisheuer, briansolis, brian+solis, futureworks, publicrelations, public+relations, todd+defren, chris heuer, technorati, socialmedia, smpr, seo, smo, shelholtz, forimmediaterelease, fir, socialmediarelease

Web 2.3 and Beyond, What's Really Next?

Chris Heuer, host and event organizer of Web 2point2, has requested that participants write blog posts to facilitate topics for the board to consider for the Main Talks or the "How To" sessions. Here's another idea:

As more and more events spring up and parties become the new business mixers, we can't help but scream, "the bubble is back."

But, I'd like to learn about what really lays ahead for the new Web. With the barrier to entry so low, who can predict what's really next? What are the views for social software, SaaS, Office 2.0, social networks? Which 2.0 apps rock? Which features are lacking to make these apps even better? What are some of the next killer segments that have been overlooked? Let's talk about what's next, what's cool right now, what are the best kept secrets, what's going away...and why.

Contributing Topics to Web 2point2

If you want to lead a Main Talk (in the big room) write a post and tag it with “web22talk“. If you want to lead a "How To" session or serve as a Technology Coach, write a post and tag it with “web22howto“.

About Web 2point2

Web 2point2 is an 'unconference' that is driven by participants and based on conversations, not powerpoints. It is run as a project of BrainJams, Inc. a California Non Profit organization that is also organizing Social Media Club http://www.socialmediaclub.org/.

The people who will be in attendance are the influentials of the Blogosphere and Web 2.0 movement who are in the trenches doing the real work, starting up new companies and sharing their understanding of what they learn through Social Media such as blogs, vlogs and podcasts. In short, the crowd will be largely made up of peers and contemporaries in the resurgence of the Web.

Event Details

Thursday, November 9th and Friday, November 10th, 2006

Registration starts at 9:00am, sessions start at 10am and each day ends around 6:00pm

For only $32.95, registration provides you with one of the 200 spots available and includes refreshments, two lunches, a t-shirt, entrance to the Web 2point2 Release Party on November 9th, and dozens of incredibly powerful conversations with other passionate people



Web 2point2 Release Party

The event is listed on Upcoming (upcoming:event=106074) - if you are interested in seeing some of the other folks who may be attending.

If you register for the unconference, you get into the Web 2point2 Release Party FREE, through the VIP line. If you can’t make it, but you're interested in joining the party, you can purchase a ticket in advance for $15 (plus service charge).

Join the real movers and shakers who mash it up everyday for some fun and live music on Thursday November 9, 2006 from 730pm till midnight.



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Tags: web+2.0 web2.0 unconference web2.2 web2point2 web22talk brainjams socialmediaclub socialnetwork siliconvalley socialmedia tags web2.3 gregnarain bluewhalelabs

Tags, Tag Beacons, Naming Conventions

Since Chris Heuer, host and event organizer of Web 2point2, has requested that participants write blog posts to facilitate topics for the board to consider for the Main Talks or the "How To" sessions, I thought I'd keep the ideas flowing.

I'd like to see a discussion of new opportunities for Tags outside of Technorati.

Greg Narain of BlueWhale Labs and Social Roots and I were speaking about the idea of Tag Beacons recently during the Webguild Web 2.0 event and how they could benefit conference organizers during pre- and post- show blogosphere coverage. For example, in this case, we came up with "webguildweb20," but the idea would be that Webguild would provide that info proactively on their site and in media kits issued to writers. At the recent SocialMediaClub meeting about disclosure, we asked everyone to use the tag beacon "blogger+ethics."

Of course the idea of Tag Beacons can be used in almost anything. For example, I recently read a post over at Stowe Boyd's /Message that discussed the concept of using tags in the support industry - based on his discussions with Chris Carfi and Alex Barnett.

On another note, there is (or, is there) also a need for a collective, searchable tag cloud, online social app, or widget that helps day-to-day bloggers standardize on tag formats as well as capturing popular tags in a given segment - wihtout having to manually figure it out?

Contributing to Topics to Web 2point2

If you want to lead a Main Talk (in the big room) write a post and tag it with “web22talk“. If you want to lead a "How To" session or serve as a Technology Coach, write a post and tag it with “web22howto“.

About Web 2point2

Web 2point2 is an 'unconference' that is driven by participants and based on conversations, not powerpoints. It is run as a project of BrainJams, Inc. a California Non Profit organization that is also organizing Social Media Club http://www.socialmediaclub.org/.

The people who will be in attendance are the influentials of the Blogosphere and Web 2.0 movement who are in the trenches doing the real work, starting up new companies and sharing their understanding of what they learn through Social Media such as blogs, vlogs and podcasts. In short, the crowd will be largely made up of peers and contemporaries in the resurgence of the Web.

Event Details

Thursday, November 9th and Friday, November 10th, 2006

Registration starts at 9:00am, sessions start at 10am and each day ends around 6:00pm

For only $32.95, registration provides you with one of the 200 spots available and includes refreshments, two lunches, a t-shirt, entrance to the Web 2point2 Release Party on November 9th, and dozens of incredibly powerful conversations with other passionate people



Web 2point2 Release Party

The event is listed on Upcoming (upcoming:event=106074) - if you are interested in seeing some of the other folks who may be attending.

If you register for the unconference, you get into the Web 2point2 Release Party FREE, through the VIP line. If you can’t make it, but you're interested in joining the party, you can purchase a ticket in advance for $15 (plus service charge).

Join the real movers and shakers who mash it up everyday for some fun and live music on Thursday November 9, 2006 from 730pm till midnight.



Add to del.icio.us

Digg This!

Tags: web +2.0 web2.0 unconference web2.2 web22talk brainjams socialmediaclub socialnetwork siliconvalley socialmedia tags technorati tagcloud tagbeacon tag+beacon stoweboyd stowe+boyd gregnarain greg+narain bluewhale tagging chriscarfi chris+carfi alexbarnett alex+barnett

From Social Media 2 Corporate Media - Part I

I ran this post over at Social Media Club and felt it relevant to share with you here as well. I've also added a few additional pieces to keep it fresh and interesting for those who may follow both blogs.

It’s easy to get caught up in the rapidly evolving world of social media and sometimes I have to stop and remember that there’s a whole other world out there that thinks social media is a group of friendly journalists.

Over the last several months I have had the opportunity to help start and participate in the Social Media Club along with Chris Heuer. In the last six months, I have learned more than I have in practicing traditional PR for years. It’s one thing to practice it in your own bubble, but it’s another to learn and share with each other; and that’s the point of Social Media Club, “If you get it, share it.”

On 10/23, we held our first event, From Social Media to Corporate Media at the SAP offices in Palo Alto.

Me

Social Media Club was formed to help share all things social media and how it applies and benefits the world of marketing communications.

The goals are simple:

Promote media literacy – production and consumption

Promote ethics and standards

Share best practices around the emerging area of Social Media

Chris Heuer kicked things off with a profound assessment, “There is more wisdom in the room than what stands in front of you. And it’s this collection of shared wisdom that will help us collectively learn.”

Chris Heuer

He quickly reviewed the differences between strategy and tactics, as keynote Robert Scoble was focusing on SM Strategy and co-keynote, Lisa Stone of BlogHer discussed SM tactics.So to recap, strategy is about goals and the plans to reach those goals and tactics are the activities and attitudes to execute.

Daniella Barbosa

So what does from SM2CM mean?

The cost of production has dramatically reduced the price of admission, which is opening the door for the masses to produce and share content on their own.

Jeremy Pepper

If you look at the Cluetrain mantra that says “markets are conversations,” then it has definitely been manifested in the form of social media. Social media represents the opportunity to engage with customers, potential, stakeholders, employees and anyone else that shares relevant content. In the corporate world, businesses can apply social media in the form of blogs, podcasts and video blogs.

Deb Schultz

Why? Because it opens up the corporate kimono and allows customers and company executives to enter a forum of productive dialogue. Transparency is the new honesty - instead of its old meaning, hollow or fake - and at the root of social media, we’re quickly learning that we don’t market “to” anymore, we “talk” with those who make up the market.

It’s about being human and being connected.

According to Heuer, "you can’t manage micro segments in the long tail." He's right. The segment manages itself, although you can do your part to reach them using SM tools that interact with them directly or with those around them.

In today’s social media world, it’s all about people and listening. Participation is marketing nowadays, and the goal is not to focus all efforts on controlling the message, but simply trying to be part of the conversations that are taking place with or without you.Again, listening is more important than talking.

Jeremiah Owyang

True engagement is genuine and value driven, and not focused on sales! To reference Heuer, it is the “because of” effect. I’m here “because of” my desire to learn about social media. I purchased your service, “because of” my trust in the company’s honest and open door communications policy. Remember, as social media marketers, we’re not here to sell, we’re here to share and we’re also here to listen to our customers.

Giovanni Rodriguez

So, coming back to social media and what it means to corporate media…

By integrating social media tools, we can reach our customers in a whole new way that also encourages them to in turn, socialize your company and its products/services. It's all about opening up channels to listen, participate, and befriend and help markets.

More to come…

Deb Schultz, Chris Carfi, Greg Narain

For additional coverage on the SM2CM event, please visit Jeremiah Owyang and Giovanni Rodriguez. Also read posts at Hyde Park and Community Technology.

Other interesting people I talked to onsite include:
Daniela Barbosa
Deborah Schultz
Mark Ivey
Jeremy Pepper
Greg Narain
Chris Carfi
Robert Scoble
Lisa Stone

For more pictures, jump to one of the several SM2CM flickr streams. Additional Social Media Club event pictures, including a collective repository of pix from SM2CM, are also available here.

Please vote for this story at NewPR!

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Tags: socialmediaclub chrisheuer briansolis futureworks robertscoble lisastone blogher pr pr2.0 publicrelations sm2cm giovannirodriguez debshultz chriscarfi christophercarfi gregnarain socialroots

Social Media Club Makes TechCrunch re: Our Initiative on Blogging Ethics

Tonight we're hosting a roundtable entitled, "Talking About Disclosure" to discuss honesty, ethics, and disclosure - the things that will serve as a solid foundation for blogs as well as helping to escalate credibility in the blogosphere, among consumers, and among traditional journalists.

The event even made TechCrunch today. Thanks Mike!

Arrington (along with many other important bloggers) have been both in the spotlight and the hotseat in regards to blog posts and how, why, and when to disclose business investments and potential conficts.

According to Mike, "I am a blogger with a lot of opinions, and because of that I’ve been involved in a number of heated discussions around journalistic integrity and ethics. Mainstream media defines journalistic integrity as a lack of financial interest in the subject matter of their reporting. I think integrity goes far beyond financial interests; in our subjective world conflicts of interest are nearly impossible to define around money alone.

But the friction destruction and market efficiency qualities of the Internet are leading blogs in particicular to face a serious credibility challenge, and I believe this must be dealt with in a direct and open manner. The WOMMA guidelines are a good start, but I think more practical and far reaching advice is also needed. I also think that we need more than a set of principles. There have to be consequences when journalists stray."

When
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Where
CNET
235 2nd StreetSan Francisco, California 94105

Hope to see you there tonight! Sign up here...or just come on down. Oh, and thanks to Joel Sacks for helping us with the venue! And thanks to Chris Heuer for always looking ahead!

Update: Social Media Club's Disclosure event posted on ValleyWag. Thanks Nick.

Tags:
socialmedia socialmediaclub mikearrington michaelarrington michael+arrington techcrunch ehtics disclosure blogging blog blogs chrisheuer, womma, ValleyWag

WebGuild Annual Conference - Ram Schriram Keynote

It was billed as an alternative to O’Reilly’s upcoming Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

Was it? No.

Was it related to Web 2.0? Not really.

Was it still useful? Yes.




Bambi Francisco and Roland Vogl, Esg.

For a “Web 2.0” event however, it had a completely different group than I’m used to seeing. It seemed to mash veteran Silicon Valley professionals with up-and-coming Web 2.0 entrepreneurs. But, that’s OK. It was still, for all intensive purposes, a valuable event; partially from a content perspective, but mostly from “lobby” leverage – meaning that there were some great people and interesting conversations taking place around the coffee bars and rountables.


Jared Spook and Vic Podcaster


Chris Heuer

Some of the more interesting folks I met with onsite, include:

Greg Narain, blogger at SocialTwister, partner at BlueWhale Labs, and CEO of Social Roots
Vic Podcaster, HotFromSiliconValley.com
Chris Heuer, SocialMediaClub, BrainJams, and Web2point2
John Furrier of PodTech
Ivaylo Lenkov, CEO of SiteKreator
Sunny Madra, founder of PostSticky
Jessica Hardwick, CEO of SwapThing
Mital Poddar of SwapThing
Ranvir Gujral, Partner at BlueWhale Labs and CEO of InsightPath
Joanne Wan, internet entrepreneur
Marissa Mayer, Google
Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering
Lawence Coburn, founder of Rateitall
Ben Wan, angel investor
Roland Vogl, co-founder of a new startup with Bambi Francisco
Bambi Francisco, CBS MarketWatch and also a new start-up, stand by for a follow up post





Marissa Mayer, Vic Podcaster


Greg Narain and Vic Podcaster shooting a segment for Bambi Francisco’s new project (nice flyer placement Greg!)


Jessica Hardwick and Greg Narain


Roland Vogl videotaping my elevator pitch for his new startup with Bambi Fransciso

For this event recap, I’m going to focus on the keynote address because it held the greatest value. It captured the history, state and future of the Web, but then again, it was Ram Shraram, so of course it did.

The event was kicked-off by Daya Baran, WebGuild president.



The panel was moderated by Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray and the keynote was delivered by Ram Shriram, Founding Member, Google Inc. and Sherpalo Ventures.


Ram Shriram

Disclaimer: What lies ahead is a summary and is not verbatim.



Q. What stage of the Web are we in? Everyone talks about 2.0…is that relevant, accurate or even a true description?

RS. The web is more evolutionary than revolutionary. The first wave was about information. The second wave is about enabling consumption and commerce.

Web 2.0 is representative of a whole new set of technologies and new programming tools.

Q. Has there been a change in the user point of view and what they’re doing?

RS. In the developed markets around the world the focus will be on usage growth, email, and new technologies and platforms for search.

In emerging markets, such as Brazil, India, China, and Russia, the markets will be similar, but online virtual communities, vertical applications and gaming are the top current and growth opportunities. Usage growth comes with maturity.



Q. We have had 10 years of popular internet usage in the U.S. Are the emerging markets going to learn from the us?

RS. It’s wrong to look at emerging markets through a U.S. prism. Search has made the world flat. Users now have instant ability to access information. Search will be the primary application driving new capabilities on the Web in both developed and emerging markets.

Q. What are the key factors that determine which applications becomes highly popular?

RS. Viral is the least expensive way to grow a business. In the world of the web, it’s not about first mover advantage.

Let’s look at Friendster, which did execute well, but it’s about open versus closed. Myspace gave freedom to users to customize and personalize their experience. When users are excited, they want to share it with everyone.

Viral growth is preferred, and with a few lucky breaks along the way, sites can take off.

Soft controversy is a good thing too - definitely not like Napster. But sites today, should leverage the blogging community to carry their messages.

There are hyper opportunities out there, but there is also hyper competition. The barrier to entry is so low these days, which opens up the market opportunity to almost anyone.

These days you don’t need a lot of capital to get your idea on the web. In fact, the greatest challenge for start ups is the tremendous shortage of talent.

The primary network effects of these business drivers are the users that flock to the sites.
More users = more content. This helps create community which can advance the cause to succeed.

It’s also important for sites to incrementally role out features instead of dedicating all resources to a never-ending cycle of feature development prior to public BETA release. It’s better to at least get half a product out, rather than a half-assed product



Q. Let’s talk about social networking and your view on why it’s popular?

RS. The primary driver of social applications consists of lots of blocking and tackling.

Users enjoy any form of self expression. The younger generation uses the Internet to communicate. And this is a group that uses the web as their personal community for
self expression and entertainment.

As a developer of social network applications, it’s useful to look at history to understand previous failures and successes. Their competitor is one click away. It’s not enough to define the franchise and stickiness. It’s not like the PC market, you can lose your franchise in an instant.

Q. What determines success?

RS. Let me say that there will not be one winner across the globe.

If you look at Web 1.0, with companies such as ehow and geocities, and countless others, they were, at one point in time, perceived as clear winners.

What creates sustainability? Some say it’s the dynamic nature of the content which lures and keeps visitors there.

These social networks today, such as Myspace, are like the People magazine for users.

Now, with dynamic content through ajax, RSS, and widgets, the experience is more dynamic than ever.

Q. Now let’s talk about monetization. Is it possible for a company to lose focus on its business model in favor of users?

RS. If you build a field of dreams and users come, then ½ the job is already done. If not, move on.

If they come, focus on their needs because if a site is user centric, then monetization is easier.

Consumers have competing things out there to attract their attention, so try to understand the their need and focus on it.

There’s no need for a grandiose idea, just focus on a simple idea. If it works, then it’s a great place to start.

Q. What about advertising revenue as a business model?

RS. I’m seeing a trend in user subscriptions for premium and branded content – sort of like a la carte payments, where you pay one off for whatever you want.

Q. Why should anyone pay if it’s free on something like Youtube?

RS. Software as a service (SaaS), will prove the model for pay-for services online. In the business space, salesforce.com is a perfect example.

Over time, large businesses will deploy online applications to streamline workflow.
The notion of SaaS is not new, but its development and deployment today is unique for today’s market.

Technology has come full circle. It’s still the same premise as a client/server relationship with the whole idea of data sitting out there on cloud.

Q. Let’s talk video. Do you believe video is next killer app on web? Who will be the leaders?

RS. I know I’m not giving a direct answer, but it’s too early to predict. Who would have predicted that Youtube and Myspace would be category leaders 12 months ago?

Nowadays, content is user generated. The creators of the content are also consumers.
Content sharing all morphs into one big conglomeration a la social applications.

With every new medium that comes along, everything else (those that understand innovation) will co-exist.

Look at it this way: there are 200-300 sites for podcasts, social networking, and video sharing. They all co-exist, but their competition is always one click away.

Somewhere along the line, though, you’ll end up with new winners. They’ll just emerge. It’s the power of viral marketing.

Q. OK. Let’s take e-commerce. It used to mean Amazon or ebay. What are the challenges and what does it mean to users today?

Search has made the world flat - like I said before. Brick and mortars and the longtail of commerce are more readily available to the user, compared to 7 years ago.

Do you know which online business had the fastest growth over the last 12 months? The answer is JCPenny.com. No one saw that coming.

It’s no longer about having a pure internet brand. Today, ecommerce building blocks are so readily available, even bricks and mortar companies, and ma and pa shops, can get online.

By the longtail of commerce, I mean that there are lots and lots of companies selling fishing rods and specialized books now, and they all have the ability to bring their products to the world.

The next big opportunity may lie in the vertical sites. For example the average transaction at BlueNile is $4,000. Zappos, for instance, is succeeding online only selling shoes. Many more emerging companies will succeed in vertical silos of commerce.

# # #

Well, that's a wrap. Special thanks to everyone who took the time to speak with me at the event. I'd also like to send a thank you to Daya Baran, president of the WebGuild.

Jump to the flickr stream for more pictures from the WebGuild event.

Tags: web2.0 web+2.0 google marissamayer marissa+mayer bambifrancisco bambi+francisco vc venturecapital webguild bluenile ramshriram ram+shriram jcpenny friendster myspace jaredspool seo sem vicpodcaster bluewhalelabs gregnarain chrisheuer

Blogger Relations - Forward Features My Latest Chapter in the Series

The latest installment of "Blogger Relations" has run over at Forward. Thanks to Erin Caldwell for publishing each chapter.

The previous article discussed, “Reaching the Blogosphere – Finding Bloggers in Your Market” using tools such as Technorati, Sphere, Google’s BlogSearch, Blogpulse, Alexa, CyberAlert, BuzzMetrics, Cymfony, and Umbria.

The new article explores how to identify the right bloggers for your market and how to best reach them and why they should even receive your news in the first place.

Please vote at NewPR!

Tags: pr2.0 pr+2.0 newpr onlinepr smpr bloggerrelations blogger+relations blogs bloggers pr publicrelations public+relations forwardmoving forward erincaldwell briansolis brian+solis futureworks

October 2006 SF Beta Web 2.0 Mixer

Photo Credit: Beau Liening

Grab a bottle of bubbles at your local Longs or RiteAid, get outside and commence blowing.

Try to make one very big bubble, gander, marvel at its size, call all of your friends to see it, and then, pop. Pop? That's so 1.0.

Now, do it again…but, be careful…don’t let this one pop. Instead of filling it with air, try injecting a bit of hope and enthusiasm into each blow.

Nice work….I can see the beginings of a new bubble too.

The difference is that this is Alpha Bubble 2.0. We’re not really in a full bubble yet, because the only tangible commerce, is knowledge capital and enthusiasm. Oh, and a bunch of dedicated people boot-strapping their way into geekdom. The numbers aren't really there yet.

Interesting intro for a monthly Web 2.0 meetup? If you list a handful of events held the night before and this evening, you might see what I’m talking about.

Wednesday = Dogster party and jangl party.
Thursday = Webguild Web 2.0 event, StyleHive party, SF Beta, Macys’ Fashion Show (yes, I know…not tech, but several attendees of SF Beta arrived late because they stopped by Macys.) I’m sure there were more, but let’s get into why I was in the city.


Alison McNeill of Silicon Valley 2.0 and Irina Slutsky (as the interviewee!)

Aside from videocasting a new installment of Rebooting Silicon Valley for PodTech.net, I have a genuine interesting helping any event that focuses on helping emerging companies leverage public forums to share, grow, network, mashup and learn.


The scene

On to October’s installment of SF Beta...


Brian Sullivan of Civic Evolution and Christian Perry, SF Beta Host

When I arrived, Christian Perry greeted everyone with their choice of badges, foundr, bloggr, and providr (I’m guessing on the last one, couldn’t quite see the other options).

Irina Slutsky, host of Geek Entertainment TV was the guest MC for the evening and let’s just say, she kept the crowd pumped-up and chatting.


SF Beta Guests

What sets SF Beta apart from the other events is that it is more of a social mixer rather than a business networking mixer. The other thing that’s unique here is its presentation format. Rather than traditional elevator pitches, companies must highlight their value proposition in Haiku Pitches – in 17 syllables, no more, no less. Although Haiku in English just isn’t in the same…


Artistic View of SF Beta

The lucky seven for the night included:

Meetro (Vinnie Lauria / VP)
CivicEvolution (Brian Sullivan / Founder)
Rooftop Comedy (Will Rogers / Co-Founder)
ShopCastTV (Eric Swan / Founder)
The Forbin Group (Cindy Phung / Worker Bee)
BuzzShout (James Yu / Co-Founder)
Diigo (Maggie Tsai / Co-Founder)

Stand by for the video cast…we have each of the presenters sharing their Haiku on camera.

It was a bit difficult to hear, but judging by the applause and the quantity of guests, I guess it didn’t matter much. I’m estimating that the event drew well over 100 people and many raved about its success. Although, there were some requests to have a system in which SF Beta can qualify its attendees, opting more for quality and caliber rather than quantity.

The lucky few were able to score a spot on one of the vinyl benches, while others bogarted the bar stools for the duration of the event.

Other than the people who were simply excited to be part of a Web 2.0 party, the common things I heard all night was that it was too hot, too crowded, impossible to move, and most importantly, too difficult to get a drink! Most of the people I was able to speak with stood outside the front entrance. At one point, there must have been 30+ particpants all vying for fresh air and audible conversation.

There, I was able to engage in compelling conversations and learn more about what they were up to.

Khalid Shaikh, Yousendit
Sol Lipman, Sticky, Inc.
Lawrence Coburn, Rateitall and SexyWidget
Eric Ferraro, Jacobs & Ferraro (event co sponsor)
Dennis Yang, TechDirt
Ben Wan
Irina Slutsky, Geek Entertainment TV
Scott Beale of LaughingSquid
Paul Pattison, PictureCloud
Vinnie Lauria, Meetro and SF NewTech Meetup
Joanne Wan
Greg Narain, BlueWhale Labs and SocialRoots
Sarah Meyers, host of Party Crashers on D7tv.com aka StoryToday.tv
Rafe Needleman of CNET
Joel Sacks of CNET and BuzzShout
James Yu of BuzzShout
Brian Sullivan, CivicEvolution
Angie Chang, TheMintPages
Jessie Friedman, Zaptix
Dakota Sullivan, BlueLithium
Maggie Tsai, Diigo


Kevin Burton of TailRank and Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV


Scott Beale of Laughing Squid and Irina Slutsky


Kevin Burton holding his own with the mischievous and funny Sarah of D7TV


Khalid Shaikh and Vinnie Lauria of Meetro and SV NewTech Meetup

That’s it for now. The event grew by leaps and bounds over the September Beta Meetup and I’m anxious to see what November holds. Kudos to Christian Perry for pulling it together!

I’ll take us out with a little Haiku of my own:
SF Beta’s night
Seven presenters spoke out
PR two point oh

For more pictures, please jump to the flickr stream.

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