The Best in the Southeast Talk Social Media
by Amani Channel #socon10
What started as a vague concept four years ago has developed into an emerging industry in the Southeast according to some. The leading thinkers in the Southeast’s social media scene gathered in Atlanta over the weekend to network, share strategies, and ways technology is changing the way we communicate at Socon10.
This was my fourth SoCon, and the best yet. I’ve been there from day one, and like many of the originals, I had no idea what social media was back in 2007. I had this blog, a few videos on YouTube, and a passion for video production, news, and an interest in learning more about how new media was impacting our lives.
Fast forward to 2010. Twitter and Facebook are household names, just about everyone is a SM expert, but still many are trying to figure how to use SM to maximize its benefit.
Here’s what stood out to me:
Social media is now on the political radar. Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall attended for the second time and presented a proclamation from the city of Atlanta during the opening session. Hall believes that SM is an emerging industry in this region and said that he wants to support the community and businesses.
News broadcasters are getting active in the community. I noticed a couple of local broadcasters including Chris Sweigart who works at 11AliveNews, and CNN anchor Tony Harris attended. In addition, I had the honor to meet a former CNN executive named Mike Klein who attended for the first time. I’m still not sure why more news pros aren’t more engaged, but I’m sure more will follow suit. As a news broadcaster myself, I could go on and on about the value of SM, but perhaps on a later post.
Community building can be challenging unless you’re Coke: Keynote speaker Carol Kruse, the Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for Coke shared valuable insights into how the company leverages social media. She admitted that Coke is still figuring it out, and said that Coke fans have taken the lead in helping to build Coke’s online presence. She also said that technology is changing so rapidly that it’s easier to use popular free platforms like Facebook to engage the community.
Analytics is essential: Keynote speaker Dan Siroker, the Deputy New Media Director for Obama’s Presidential campaign shared his secrets on how he helped the President raise 300-million dollars. Tests, tests, and more tests…
Meeting IRL (in real life) is better than a tweet: I met more than a few people at SoCon, many of whom I’d already had some back and forth over the Internets. As valuable as sending a tweet, or message on FB is, nothing is like a handshake, a smile and a little conversation.
It’s hard to trend on Twitter: Last year #socon09 trended nationwide on Twitter, this year it trended in Atlanta only. I think that speaks to the growing popularity of Twitter.
SoCon and Video:
I’ve become the unofficial video producer at SoCon (though it looks like I may have some competition from Steve Burns 
. The first two years, I produced MUR episodes about the event. Last year, I live streamed the morning session, and this year I did both (well I’m still working on the video). I also hosted a breakout session on creating mobile media with your cell phone.
Sounds busy right? I had a few challenges with the live stream, and ended up using my MacBook Pro. For some reason UStream only recorded the tail end of Carol Krues’ presentation, but it looks like Siroker’s entire keynote is there.
Producing the Live stream: I set up in the back of the room because the audio feed was there. Initially, I was going to use my Canon camcorder to live stream. There was some kind of video glitch however, and I had to use my laptop instead. My Mac’s iSight camera worked pretty well. The audio was acceptable, but the video was a wide shot with the backs of heads, and the speakers faces weren’t distinguishable. Overall, it turned out better than I expected. About 40 people tuned in.
The video glitch was actually a blessing in disguise because it freed me up to shoot broll during the opening session. I basically “sprayed” the room, gathering wide, medium, and tight shots of the audience and the spreakers. I also interviewed several of the main players with my Canon XL1 later in the day. It will probably take me a few days to edit the final video. Stay tuned.
My Breakout Session: I once again used my blog to present this breakout session. I showed some videos, used SlideShare, demonstrated how to use Qik, Kyte, and UStream to share video with a cell phone. In the spirit of an unconference, I entertained questions and encouraged conversation the whole way through.
Finally, I’d like to thank SoCon organizers including Leonard Witt, Ellen Miller, Carole Arnold and everyone else who helped make this conference a success. Thanks to everyone who took a moment to shake my hand or attend my session. And thank you for taking a moment out of your busy life to stop by my small piece of the digerati.
What did you think?
Links:
Carol Flammer: Social Media The Ultimate Open Source
SoCon10: The Social Media Unconference
SoCon10: Part of the Crowd
SoCon10 Recap
If you’ve made it this far, please take a moment to watch this wrap up video. Leave your comments below.
