Social Media Across the Country: United Breaks Guitars

Something I tell clients all the time is that in this day and age, your customers are talking to you all the time. Whether they backtalk you or you choose to listen is completely up to you. Take this video for instance:



What a black eye for United Airlines. Now, it would have only taken ~$3,500 about 9 months ago to fix this problem. But disgruntled customers (wrong or right) always tend to have the largest voice. And when CNN gets the story... look out!



Now, United hasn't admitted to any wrongdoing, which is just a good PR professional doing their job. At least that's how it sounded in the press release that I received from a BlackBerry on a Sunday. That should tell you just about how seriously they are taking this at United. But a black eye is a black eye, and it's looking like the black eye will last. Just listen to this response from Dave Carroll, the one with the broken guitar.



Just another great example of some of the best (or worst) social media across the country. I'll leave you with this, a message from the owner of Taylor Guitars, with tips and advice about traveling with your guitar.

SMB Spotlight: Shark and Ray at the McWane Science Center

So if you haven't heard, tomorrow is the big day. Shark and Ray from the McWane Center's YouTube Videos are making their "live and 3D" debut in the new touch tanks at the McWane Science Center.

And I must take my hats off to Scott Schablow and all the people to came together to make "Shark and Ray" come together. I don't think you'll find a better example of bringing together local celebrities and social media to support a great cause.

Check out "Shark and Ray" today on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook...

And tomorrow at the McWane Science Center...

Looks like we'll be the "Talk of Alabama"...

Doing Social Media Birmingham, I've had the pleasure of making a lot of great contacts here in the Birmingham area. One of those contacts dropped my name with the producer of ABC 33/40's "Talk of Alabama". Since they are trying to integrate aspects of social media into their show, they have asked me to come onto their show to talk about some of the no-so-obvious things about Social Media.

While I've got some ideas about what I want to tell people, I want to ask you this: If you could give one tip about Social Media to Birmingham, what would it be?

For those who want to watch, I'll be on Talk of Alabama this Thursday, July 9th at 9am.

Follow Friday - Bottletree Bailout Edition

Just to give a shoutout to all of those who supported @BottleTreeCafe last night and today for lunch. Here are just a few of the people who came out last night.

1) @acnatta

2) @WadeonTweets

3) @ikepigott

4) @jacobpigott

5) @randyarcher

6) @DOGingham

I know there were more people there... If I missed you, DM me and I'll post you up.

Defining the "Tweetup"...

So I was sitting down talking to @acnatta the other day and we were discussing the recent rash of tweetups happening around town. From the impromptu lunch tweetups to the more "formal" (if there is such a thing) tweetups I've been calling on this blog, we were having trouble deciding what a tweetup was actually defined by.

Wikipedia just pushes you to the Twitter page. However, Urban Dictionary has a definition that kinda surprised me.

"An organized or impromptu gathering of people that use Twitter"

Now, I was looking for something a little more complicated. Something that talked about building community or taking on-line relationships offline and interacting with actual people.

Now, don't get me wrong. That definition is perfect in it's simplicity. But I'm looking for something a little more when I head to a tweetup. I'm looking for the opportunity to build relationships with people that I've only met over the interwebz. I'm looking to interact with someone in the physical realm (get your mind out of the gutter). Most importantly, I'm looking for interesting people to go have a beer with. And let's face it, if you can't get that out of it, what's the point.

So this is my definition for a tweetup:

"An organized or impromptu gathering of people, organized using Twitter, looking to make an offline connection"

Simple, direct, and encompasses pretty much all of my requirements for a tweetup.

What's your definition of a tweetup? How does your differ from mine? Where have I gone wrong?

(PS - shout out to @Tazikis_Bham, @justinknelson, @christopherware, @DeonGordon @DOGingham - Great impromtu lunch tweetup!!!)

Terminal Happy Hour and the Bottle Tree Bailout

So, if you've been living under a rock here as of late, City Stages officially bit the dust. And it's doing it's best to take some of the local businesses that supported it as well.

That's right. Many local vendors will be going unpaid because of the timely demise of City Stages. One of those is a local hotspot for locals, The BottleTree Cafe/Bar. A great place that caters to vegetarians/vegans, but remembers that most of use like a bit of meat, the BottleTree has become a favorite bar of omnivores and herbivores alike.

But with the second half of their City Stages money nowhere in sight, many local patrons are getting together for "The BottleTree Bailout". Here's Andre from The Terminal with more...

"We’re calling a Terminally Happy Hour for this Thursday, July 2 - only this time it’s a Bottletree Bailout! We’re asking all of you that see this (and your friends) to come out to The Bottletree whenever you can during happy hour on Thursday - we’ll be getting there at around 4 p.m. - and enjoy meeting people from elsewhere in metro Birmingham while providing business for a venue that’s done a lot for us.

BTW - for those who are not familiar with where The Bottletree is, it’s located at 3719 3rd Avenue South."

So come on out and make a difference in one local bar's life. I'm doing my best to be there. You should too!

Social Media Birmingham Facebook Page is UP!!!

Just messed around with the facebook fan page and it's up and running! Check it out here...

Facebook Fan Page