SMCRVA: What I Love about Social Media

Posted: June 12th, 2009 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

This post is a delayed reaction to the June meeting of the Social Media Club of Richmond, Virginia.  This was the second meeting of the club and the first full “regular” meeting.  It was held on Tuesday, June 9 at the Science Museum of Virginia and was attended by perhaps 125 nearly 250 of the biggest social media enthusiasts in Central Virginia.  The picture below was taken at the height of the revelry.  Click it for a larger version.

smcrva-june09The thing that I’m loving about this club is that it isn’t owned by one industry or group.  Unlike the Public Relations Society of America or the Ad Club, it’s not populated by one type of person.  While there are, of course, many in the club who are part of the marketing industry, the Social Media Club is incredibly … almost frighteningly … diverse.  During the course of this week’s meeting I talked with traditional journalists, new media journalists, a real estate agent, a department store employee, a barista, and even the owner of a store that sells scooters.

Obviously, this is an all-inclusive club.  No one owns social media, and that’s very exciting.  All that’s required to start a blog is a desire to write.  All you need to start a Facebook or Twitter account is an email address.  All that’s required to start a podcast or video blog is some equipment and the desire to broadcast.

While it can be said that it much more is required with all of the above activities if you want to be successful, the word “success” is a relative term.  For some, it means “rich” or at least “self-sustaining”.  It can also mean “proud of my work” or “having fun”.  For others, it means using quotation marks less than five times in the same paragraph.  The fact is, there are as many reasons for taking the time to engage in social media as there are types of people engaging in it, and that’s a wonderful thing.  I’m a little tired of homogeny.

Congrats to the Social Media Club and particularly its hard-working organizers on the early success of the endeavor.  May the club long stand as a group that can be joined by anyone with a Twitter handle.  If you’re interested in coming to the next meeting, please check out the SMCRVA Wiki and join the SMCRVA Facebook Group for more information.  You can also join in the fun chats among group members on Twitter by searching the hashtag #SMCRVA.

Local PR Community’s Message to Southwest Virginia re: Virginia Tech

Posted: April 18th, 2007 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments

I received an email today from the president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Richmond Chapter. I thought I’d excerpt it here:

It is with tremendous sadness that I express our chapter’s deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I hope and pray that your children, families and friends are safe.

As a graduate of Virginia Tech who lived in the Ambler Johnston residence hall in the early 90s and a PR intern in Tech’s University Relations department, these events have hit very close to home. As I’m sure you are aware, Central Virginia boasts a huge number of loyal Hokies. I know that the university community, the alumni family, the Commonwealth and the nation will pull together to heal and try to understand this horrible tragedy.

Of course, let’s not forget our PR colleagues in Southwest Virginia and our friends at the Blue Ridge Chapter of PRSA. I contacted Blue Ridge President Jennifer Faulkner and communicated that our chapter is thinking of them and can support them in any way if needed. Please keep the Blacksburg-area PR professionals in your thoughts and prayers as they deal with the international media onslaught.

[snipped: chapter news]

Gratefully,
Jill Vaughan, APR

Jill is the Director of Communications for the Virginia Lottery.

Thoughts and Prayers for Virginia Tech

Posted: April 17th, 2007 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments

As a Virginia resident, I obviously have some ties to Virginia Tech. It’s shocking to think that what happened yesterday happened at Virginia Tech, or anywhere for that matter. My heart goes out to the families of those who were senselessly killed.  I’ll be displaying the school logo on my blog for a while, even though I graduated from rival Virginia Commonwealth, as a show of solidarity and to remind myself of what they must be going through.  I invite you to copy it over to your own server (please don’t file leech .. I don’t have much bandwidth) and display it to show we’re all thinking of them.

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