Latest Posts

When we launched this Social Media Club chapter earlier this year, the goal was to create a volunteer-based network of professionals who could come together to share best practices in New Hampshire, and contribute to the development of the local community. Together we held some events, hosted weekly Twitter chats Sunday at 9pm, and learned a thing or two about the opportunities and challenges we all face. Some went as far as to chastise us for providing for free what they think their business plan is to charge for, others took the opportunities to become lead contributors in their own local communities. All in all, we had a great time doing it and hope you did too.

With reluctance, however, I am leaving New Hampshire again to pursue my career, and will no longer be President of the chapter. The good part is that this fact doesn’t matter in any way, because the organization is designed to be a community effort above the individual efforts (and egos) of any one, two or more people. The important value even stretches beyond even the brand name of the chapter, which is just a name, and resides in the ideas and efforts of all of you.

Jason Boucher, @BoucherMedia, is coming on board to help lead efforts with Brian Dekoning, but as you know this cannot be done alone. Ultimately you will decide the success or failure of the community by asking what you can contribute by participating and not lingering on what you can immediately receive from it. SMCNH needs your support, just like any volunteer group in the state does, and there will be plenty of opportunities to deliver.

On a more personal note, I hope in the coming months the New Hampshire community continues to break down the silos and factions that separate us, and work to promote ethical standards and best practices. Businesses, local governments, non-profits: they are looking to you. Ultimately, the legitimacy of the community will be judged on the community as a whole, and if people approach social media and technology merely as an immediate cash-cow then the community will have the legitimacy of the Trump Network affiliates.

Thank you all, and keep up the great work.

While participation in our weekly #SMCNHchat has been beyond our initial expectation thanks to your participation, many have said the 9pm start time is too late for them. So this week week we are going to start an hour early at 8pm EST to see if this time works best for everyone.

With that said, our topic for tonight’s #SMCNHchat is NH Startups, moderated by Jeffrey Vocell (@JVocell) – lead writer at http://NewHampshireStartups.com and our new Director of Sponsorships.

For those of you who don’t like surprises, our three topic questions tonight will be:

T1: What are some of the common Social Media pitfalls you see NH startups fall into, and how can they be prevented?

T2: For those startups already using Social Media, what are some innovative strategies you have seen which they could use to leverage the tools more effectively?

T3: Who are some local examples of those “doing it right,” and what can other learn from them?

T4: Bonus question, because what is life without surprises.

See you at 8pm EST tonight!

Its been a busy handful of hours since the last post, which attempted to open a dialogue on something going on in the NH social media event community that many feel is negatively affecting the community’s development – that as new groups, tweetups and programming arises in NH, conflicts are arising that amount to territorial claims on what should be open and accessible to all.

There have been passionate responses flooding in, mostly positive, some rightfully seeking clarification, and one unfortunate gentleman who just went on the attack. Its because of these responses that we need to have this conversation. Last Sunday on our #SMCNHchat we discussed another hard subject, social media scammers, but tonight we opened a dialogue on something closer to home to us all. But when a subject becomes so intensified and widely debated in real life, if we don’t discuss it as a community online then what is it we are doing at all?

It must be made straight – the post was not an attack on @WoogyChuck, who has a long record of support for NH social media communities. Nor was it an attack on those who have been working for years to bring us to where we are today. Yes, an unfortunate situation had occurred when two events appeared to overlap and regretful things said, as was used as an example in the post, but who hasn’t Tweeted out of frustration before? Getting frustrated is what happens when you care. He and others have been working hard to put on RocknBowl April 28 in Manchester, and by all accounts its going to be a great event that we recommend you all attend. I’ll go if I don’t get hit with a bowling ball in the head.

The example was used to ignite discussion, however, of a well-known issue in the NH social media event community that has real consequences beyond our bowling ambitions, and notably one that besides the one example I have never known Ian to be part of: that the way our state-wide community is “managed” turns people off from wanting to or being able to participate as partners and not just attendees.

If you’ve been around long enough you’ve heard it: “I wanted to get involved with such-and-such, but it turned out the organizer is just about promoting themselves,” or “We had a great idea to start up such-and-such, but that person said it was their territory.” Even in SMCNH we struggle as we grow to maintain our strict ethics policies that are designed to avoid these pitfalls that naturally occur when you have a relatively small but rapidly growing professional community.

But heck, if we or another other group did what was recommended of us to not conflict with other people’s “territory” in NH the only time we would be allowed to hold a meeting would be on Monday nights… that occur on leap years.

The message stays the same: we must strive to do better, avoid the petty infighting that keeps our community fractious, segmented, and lesser able to fulfill the achievable goals we have set. Its not just a handful of people, and its not just in NH, but here right now we are in a transitional stage where we either adapt to maintain accessibility and openness, or revert to a social media oligarchy.

We know that times are tough economically, and right now in NH there is a relatively smaller market for social media services, but we must remember why we are doing this and that by putting on programming aimed at developing the community through education and engagement – rather than conflicting over who’s name is atop what marquee – we help create a NH where we may all find opportunity. That opportunity is better government, healthcare, education, business and technology – not just the perpetuation of selling our community fish rather than teaching them to fish.

For our part at SMCNH, we have no territory. In fact if someone wanted to start their own local chapter of SMC in a part of NH they feel is being neglected then we would not only support them but help them get started as our partners – not vassals. Each year we will switch up the leadership to reinforce that the group is about the community and not individual members. And besides, we always have leadership positions open because if you have an idea and want to contribute it, we will create one to help you do so.

The debate tonight has been passionate indeed, but as most agree, its these serious discussions that will help us grow. It would be regretful if someone used that to deride the community, as when we face tough things we become more vulnerable to warring factions, but for that to occur would be the very reason we must confront it.

Please don’t let the conversation end here – if you are interested in the discussion, and how we can leverage to fulfill the promise of the NH social media community, then by all means please contribute. If you’re just mad lately that what you think is your territory is encroached upon by folks applying the very principals you probably had a hand in teaching them, well then, can we interest you in something less controversial like a game of bowling?

Two New Hampshire communities celebrated International Foursquare Day April 16, turning on local businesses and social media users to this up-and-coming mobile service that uses geo-mapping to connect friends while earning points for “checking-in” to businesses and other locations.

Portsmouth, NH’s Foursquare Day was organized in less than a week by Social Media Club NH, the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, Vital Design, MicroArts and The Wire (which amounts to a handful of friends), and skyrocketed the community to the #1 ranked city out of more than 150 internationally. One local business, @TastePortsmouth, offered a Red Sox versus Yankees boxseat giveaway and revealed to me what I found to be the most delicious sandwich I’ve had in ages – a win-win, which is what Foursquare does on the best of days. More than a third of participating businesses represented SeacoastLocal.org, a local group with a mission that will only be furthered through adoption of social media tools.

Manchester, NH’s Foursquare Day started off with no less than a declaration from the mayor himself, with dozens of enthusiastic businesses participating. Strangely, however, they did not register their event on the main website, and by not fully using the online tools missed out on much of the purpose of such events: focusing on the local, while connecting with the larger community. Had they, the participants would have at least enjoyed seeing the community recognized as a leader in digital civic involvement. Still, the effort and community unity was clearly there.

I’m going to let you in on a secret though – the success of NH’s Foursquare Days have nothing to do with FourSquare. It’s just a new service, one of many in the social media tool box, and one that many people don’t even like based on principle. Some would argue its not even the best, as Gowalla has its own merits that outweigh its competitors. Next year FourSquare as an application may not be the big thing – it will be something we haven’t thought up yet.

The real success of NH’s Foursquare Days is that businesses around the state made a decision to learn about a social media tool they probably had not heard of, enthusiastically adopt it, and in cases like @TastePortsmouth leverage it to made deeper connections within the community. People say the “NH Advantage” is low taxes, or perhaps the freedom to not buckle your seatbelt, but on Foursquare Day we showed ourselves and others that the real NH Advantage is our ingenuity – that Yankee ingenuity we pride ourselves on is indeed alive and well today.

We must continue with this spirit, to work within our communities to help nonprofits, schools, government agencies and businesses to leverage social media tools in order to provide New Hampshire the cutting edge that we clearly already have the will to hone. We in fact owe it to our communities, as in these difficult times the agile adoption of online strategies can be the difference between hanging on and being a proactive part of the recovery.

And in the meantime, we can savor that little Portsmouth, NH was highlighted as an innovative community above even Beijing, New York, Paris and 150 others.