Yesterday was the official start of Social Media Week, which this year expanded from one city (New York) to a six-city extravaganza of pundits and prophets extolling the personal and professional promise of this media, marketing and communications juggernaut.
With its hundreds of events — 80 alone in the Big Apple — this cornucopia of compelling content and characters would not be complete without the obligatory launch party. So here I was at Elizabeth on Elizabeth Street somewhere between Soho and Nolita. SMWNYC’s lead organizer Toby Daniels secured three sponsors — Meebo, Pepsi and Diageo — to ensure that the hors d’oeuvres and alcohol continually refreshed.
I had my digital audio recorder with me and did my best to grab some sound bites from those I knew or recognized. Click on the names for the audio amidst the digital din:
- Toby Daniels (@tobyd), Social Media Week’s organizer, provides the hot and skinny.
- SocialVibe founder Joe Marchese (@joemarchese), just in from CA, joined by Deep Focus’s Ian Schafer (@ischafer), give their perspectives on the evening (and week’s) festivities, including their sold-out Thursday panel, “Is the Future F#cked?“
- 360i’s sr. director of emerging media and innovation (and Social Media Insider columnist) David Berkowitz (@dberkowitz) on his company’s acquisition by Dentsu and his latest column on Gowana vs. FourSquare (and all others).
- Social Media Club co-founder Howard Greenstein (@howardgr) on this week’s events and his club’s role therein.
- PR Newser editor Joe Ciarallo (@JoeCiarallo) on this week’s events, including MediaBistro’s sold-out Tweet-up tonight, and which marketing discipline will own social media going forward.
- Sawhorse Media chief Greg Gallant (@gregory) on the most current stats for his Shorty Awards for which voting on the finalists has commenced.
- PepsiCo’s Global Director of Digital and Social Media Bonin Bough (@boughb) on how to measure his company’s pathbreaking social media campaign, the Pepsi Refresh Project.
- A snippet of Toby Daniels’ formal welcoming remarks.
- And much to her likely relief, Just an Online Minute‘s indefatigable Kelly Samardak‘s (@socialmedium) comments are virtually inaudible due to the party noise. (You’ll just have to trust me that she didn’t disappoint.)
Party photo by Kelly Samardak for Just an Online Minute (via Flickr)