Social Media and its Club

Last night I went to the January edition of the Social Media Club , a for profit ("but not a lot of," as co-founder Howard Greenstein noted) event that took place at Fleishman-Hillard. The night was recorded -- no link at this time -- but for now you can check out my pics. I think it has improved since the last of their monthly events I attended, albeit I came late to that one. I liked that after a few of the topics that were discussed we broke into small groups and discussed various issues -- fake blogs, transparency, and authenticity (see: all i want for xmas is a psp and walmart edelman scandal). Howard rightly predicted that all four groups would approached these topics differently.

The notable quote of the night was from Eric Skiff, "moo cards are the social media secret handshake". I actually have a personal limited edition set (that I got for free from skype), and once photogami picks a logo, I will order a batch of 100. I received one last night from Brett who is working on a new site called, Esprsso which is trying to be a Flickr for news. It's a social and collaborative twist on the ol' web-based feed reader with an emphasis on simple sharing, filtering, and conversational features. I'm going to test it out and give my two cents in the future. If you want an invitation, you can send me an email or leave a comment here.

Final thoughts: Howard and Chris have created a solid startup that will educate the masses on social media. But will the masses engage in social media? Only time will tell.

For a more detailed write up check out Monetizing the conversation: Social Media Club goes pro by ZDNet's Donna Bogatin -- Social Media Club's entrepreneurial venture.