Thanks to all of you who came to the Media Panel at the Urban Hive Wednesday night! We have another engaging event scheduled for next week. Jeff Marmins, who taught our last Facebook workshop, will be leading the Google event titled, "Get Google in your Social Media Mix." Jeff is the creator of Social Media Path and partnership director of Social Media Club Sacramento. The event will be at the Sacramento Press office Dec. 15 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Jeff will discuss how to condense all of the social media sites you post to into one application on Google, successfully use RSS feeds and answer your specific questions. This workshop is designed for intermediate Google users. If you'd like a

There have been recent reports online regarding the use of social media by small businesses.  As fast as social media has gained in popularity, businesses have expanded their use of it.  It appears as though most social media users are okay with this.   Many businesses have given it a try while others have found too difficult a platform.  Some local perspective about Sacramento Press readers and thieir expectations on social media would be valuable to the local business community.  Please, share your perspective with us.  What do you like from the small businesses you follow?  Who locally is doing a great job using social networking?  What advice do you have for those considering

Twitterature, Twitterverse, Twibe, Tweetaholic and Twitterhea were some of the noteworthy word clusters mentioned by the New Oxford American Dictionary committee while choosing its 2009 Word of the Year. With this new dialect, it should come as no surprise that Sacramento TweetUps (social events that allow Twitter users to meet in real life) are drawing crowds of more than a hundred people. Earlier this month, an entire weekend was dedicated to social media. Alejandro Reyes created and organized Sacramento's first two-day Social Media Weekend at the University of Phoenix in Natomas, Nov. 6 and 7. Bloggers, financial strategists, real estate agents, non-profits, online business owners and

Have you been to a TweetUp? They come in every size and shape and there is nearly one for every interest! A TweetUp is a social event that is promoted and organized on Twitter. “It's basically a place to meet and network with people in the Sacramento area who use Twitter,” said Alejandro Reyes, co-organizer of #SacTweetUp, a monthly networking mixer that regularly attracts over 100 attendees. “We wanted to create an atmosphere where people using Twitter could connect on a much deeper level, build new relationships, and have a lot of fun.” #SacTweetUps usually occur in the evening at a downtown or midtown hot spot; but what if big crowds or night life venues aren’t your thing? For those w

Three local non-profit organizations were featured in a Sacramento Social Media Club panel on Tuesday evening hosted by the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. The panel included Celia Cortez, Projects and Event Manager for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Jordan Blair, Board Member for River City Food Bank; and Jon Benorden, Program Coordinator for the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Service (CARES). Lesley Miller, Media Director for 3Fold Communication, also sat on the panel. Moderator Josh Morgan, principal at Morgan/Dorado and program director for the Sacramento Social Media Club, focused the discussion on how non-profits are using social media to educ

Some say God is everywhere but last month, we discovered that social media is everywhere too—even in our churches! On October 20, 2009, the Sacramento Social Media Club held a panel discussion on the use of social media by local churches. The event, “Pray for Social Media”, was hosted by The Sacramento Press, and was moderated by Jeff Marmins of Social Media Path and partnership director for the Sacramento Social Media Club. Panelists included Josh Trevino from the Parish Council of St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church in Roseville; Robert Mees, Director of Evangelism at Sierra Baptist Church in Pioneer in Amador County and CJ Alvarado, Director of Communications and Technology at Bayside Church

We're so glad you're interested in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open! Not only can you win some great prizes, you can also have an effect on your community and gain some skills in the bargain! Contributing to our site is quick and easy - we can show you everything you need to know to take the act of making journalism into your own hands! I'm David Watts Barton, the managing editor of The Sacramento Press, our area's top hyper-local, citizen-written news website, where we focus on up-close, in-depth coverage of neighborhoods like yours. We aim to spread the traditional habits of good journalism - accuracy, fairness and a diversity of opinion - across the Web. We do it with a mix of pro

Police converged on a ballroom in a downtown hotel Tuesday night, but there wasn’t a crime in progress. “Social Crime” was the topic of Tuesday evening’s Sacramento Social Media Club event hosted by The Citizen Hotel in Downtown Sacramento. Representatives from local law enforcement shared how their organizations are using social media tools to prevent crime, improve community outreach, and even take down predators. Josh Morgan of Morgan/Dorado Public Relations and programming director for the Sacramento Social Media Club presented a “101” on Facebook Privacy. He explained how Friends Lists on Facebook can be used to limit information connections can see on your profile. Josh, for exampl

Twitter has become a common and powerful tool, if not essential, to reach and communicate with customers for many businesses. I, as founder of Radee Wine, Inc., a start-up wine importer and marketer, also use Twitter to talk about our wines and to learn about customers and other players in the industry. While Twitter gives tremendous access to information about business and people, there is nothing like meeting those behind the profile photos in person. This Tuesday, owners of three wine companies, James David Cellars, MAS Wine Company, and Radee Wine will gather and showcase the wines at Sacramento’s first Vino Tweet Up at L Wine Lounge in Midtown Sacramento. What makes this event intere

SACRAMENTO, CA–June 11, 2009–Online video–and its increasing value as a powerful social media tool–will be discussed at the next Sacramento Social Media Club event, Making Video Social, scheduled Tuesday, June 16, 2009 from 6:30 – 8:30 at Peppers.TV in Mather, CA. What do the following three things have in common: Tiger Woods, Domino's Pizza and Airplane Passenger Safety Briefings? They've all used video to communicate in the world of social media. The free event, sponsored by Peppers.TV and Photographer Link, will include discussions led by Evan Solomon of Justin.tv and Mike Henderson from Twelve Horses. Discussions will cover: * Effective strategies for incorporating live video into t

The Sacramento Press is giving away two ipod shuffles. Here are the rules of the game. 1. Read the article on the Crocker Art Museum's new wing by Suzanne Hurt posted here on sacramentopress.com 06/05/09. 2. Join the conversation by posting a comment on the article. 3. Invite your friends who are not yet community contributers to sign up for sacramentopress.com [free]. You can use email, phone calls, twitter, facebook or any other social network to ask people to sign up and to vote for you. The votes can be from any community contributer new or old but recruiting helps. One vote per community contributer. 4. Now ask them post a comment in the same article and use your sacramentopress.

Hoping to meet more people and bring them to our office as well as support social media, we at The Sacramento Press will be holding our first Tweetup this Thursday, May 28, from 6 - 8 p.m. We were very lucky to team up with Ricardo Robles, from Capsity Offices, Ronnie Ledesma, from Sacramento Social Media Club and Darby Flynn, from Chalk it Up! to connect with all sorts of artists and local businesses. Thursday evening will be filled with belly dancing from Red Tent Belly Dance, performance art from Phoenix Gallery, wine tasting from MAS Wine and James David Cellars, break dancing from Capitol Roots Dance Studio, chalk drawing from Chalk it Up! artists, a presentation from the Sacramento

The Sacramento Chapter of the Social Media Club is hosting a Government 2.0 panel discussion.   The panel will answer questions on how local government leaders and community activists are effectively incorporating Web 2.0 and social media technologies into their organizations. We'll consider the benefits of developing a social media strategy and share ideas and solutions to help participants deal with the unique challenges and potential obstacles that arise when trying to integrate these new technologies within government agencies. The free event, sponsored by Morgan/Dorado Public Relations, LLC, is Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 6:30pm - 8:30pm at 2804 Gateway Oaks Drive, Sacramento, CA.  The

"Twitterpated" took on a new meaning as the Social Media Club Sacramento convened for their first meeting on Thursday night. Around 35 people gathered from all different backgrounds to discuss social media and meet the original founders, Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer. According to their Facebook group, Social Media Club strives to "bring together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. Essentially the people who create and consume media who have an interest in seeing the ‘media industry’ evolve for everyone’s benefit." After beverages and snacks were

Jill Duman's column "My View: We need more than Facebook 'friendship'" in The Sacramento Bee today is scary. However, the online comments below the story are encouraging. Link here. I am having trouble actually putting together a proper response, but I will try. The thrust of the column is that Facebook cannot replace real friendships and community. That could have made for a fine column. Unfortunately, she uses most of her column to demean those who participate in social networks while dismissing the community these networks foster. Hint: facebook does not replace friendship, it supplements. Facebook is a tool. Here are a few choice cuts with some of my responses: "[Facebook] apparent