Social Media in the Triangle!

Social Media for me began with MySpace; which I no longer have. Once the spam became overbearing I made the switch to Facebook and I am now on LinkedIn and Twitter as well.  I have a Google profile set up and use Google Latitude. Also, I have a Foursquare account and a Gowalla account, with TriOut soon to follow.  I have tried and will try many, many more!  To the average person this may seem a bit overwhelming; to me, it’s all about the connections you can create and build.

Some of these platforms are more business-oriented and some are for fun, but all of these platforms can be used to create and maintain solid relationships with people in your community.  These relationships do not have to occur online alone. In order to enhance the social media experience, get out and meet the people you communicate with online in real life!  The past couple of weeks in the Triangle area have been a great example of how to leverage these online connections into something greater for you and for the community as well.

Photo by: Brian McDonald

While I won’t go into the details of all the events that I have attended in the past couple of weeks, I will go into some of experiences at the events and ways that meeting up has helped the local community as well as myself.

It may be nerve-wracking for some to go from sharing links with people online to meeting these same people in real life; I’ll tell you it was for me! At my first event I went with a couple of people from the office to make sure I wouldn’t be an outcast and get shunned to the corner at the event.  When we arrived at the event I was pleasantly surprised to immediately recognize people I have talked to online.  After a couple of impromptu introductions and conversations I was off on my own talking to people as if I had known them for years! After numerous events, I no longer have a nervous feeling when entering the event venue; I have this feeling of excitement to see people that I’ve meet at past events and meet new people that may be out for their first one!

Once these relationships are formed the ideas begin to flow, especially at events like Ignite Raleigh, Fizzled Durham and TEDxTriangle.  These events had an allotted amount of time for a presenter to present their idea in slide format. Once complete, the next presenter started their presentation.  Throughout the event there was ample time provided to discuss the ideas being presented, the event and even just to socialize.  This is a great breeding ground for open discussion on the ideas being presented while meeting new people.

These events can also prove to be very valuable to businesses in our community.  A lot of planning money goes into organizing these events.  When organizing an event you need to choose a venue to host. This can be valuable for local businesses.  With the events I have attended in the past few weeks I have discovered over five new restaurants in the area and plan on visiting these places again.  It also helps to have sponsors for your event; this can prove to be a great help to both the organizers and the business that is sponsoring the event with advertising and cost.  As the News & Observer proved, you can also leverage an event to get to know your clientele in the online world, but also listen to ideas that they have to help out your business.

This proves to me that Social Media in the Triangle can be fun and can also provide a great avenue for engaging real life relationships.  Keep the events coming Triangle!

Event Recaps by others:
Raleigh Media Leaders
TriOut Launch Party
The First Triangle #FreezeUp Recap!
Ignite Raleigh 2 blog recaps, slides and media coverage
TEDxTriangle (Pictures and Video)
Fizzled Durham Does Not Dissapoint
The N&O held a tweetup!

Upcoming Events:
March 17, 2010 – Web Analytics Wednesday – Raleigh
March 20, 2010 – Pecha Kucha Night #2, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
March 30, 2010 – Heath Switch Tour – Durham
April 6, 2010 – Raleigh Media Leaders

If you would like connect with me click here!

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Posted by Mike Adams Web Developer
Friday, March 12, 2010 AT 9:00 am

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