Is your city social media friendly? Do businesses in your area have a reputation for embracing blogs, podcasts, and social networks?
I live in Atlanta. Forbes Magazine recently named it the most wired city in the country for the second year in a row. That's a notable distinction, but when it comes to the next wave of the Internet, nobody would say Atlanta is the leading trendsetter. There are of course exceptions. Atlanta has hosted Podcamps, Barcamps, and a Startup Weekend.
But many of the largest companies have yet to significantly embrace social media and only a handful of social media start-ups have achieved significant success.
The question is why?
It is not a matter of brainpower. Atlanta is the home of Georgia Tech and Emory. It is also the headquarters for social media companies like ViTrue, Meetsee, Kaneva, and Esgut.
SoCono8
Photograph by Nik Wilets
For some answers, I attended the SoCon08 conference at Kennesaw University this past weekend. In its second year, the conference was sold out with 280 consultants, entrepreneurs, educators and representatives from non-profit organizations on hand to discuss various aspects of social media.
Leonard Witt, one of the conference organizers told me that SoCon08 has three goals:
- Learn Something
- Share
- Network with other people
I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the attendees. It was the kind of participation that I hoped to achieve when EarthLink hosted the Social Media Club last year. While we had some great discussions, our meetings never achieved a critical mass that other cities had managed to build.
During the day of presentations and break out sessions, I spoke with several attendees to get their perspective on the challenges of raising money for social media companies and why so few companies were using social media in a meaningful way.
New media consultant Sherry Heyl attributed the challenges to the Dotcom bust. "We were one of the first to be hit hard and one of worst hit cities overall." She believe that we are still a bit shell shocked.
Kevin Howarth at TechLinks and a founder of Atlanta Media Bloggers attempted early on to bring together social media early adopters. He doesn't see a disconnect between the most wired and the lack of a strong social media presence. They are measured differently.
Atlanta is a traditional town and uses traditional ways of networking. As opposed to Silicon Valley, it is more whom you know than what you know. But he emphasized that Atlantans should not be too hard on themselves. It is generational and more and more younger members of the workforce are embracing social media.
Another obstacle according to Tim Moenk is geography. Urban sprawl has fragmented the area making it more difficult for like-minded social media advocates to get together.
That thought was reflected by Chris Heuer. who highlighted the Inside the Perimeter/Outside the Perimeter mindset. The Perimeter for those who don't know is the 285 loop that encircles Atlanta. It's a kind of geographic and cultural divide between downtown and the suburbs.
Heuer pointed to Atlanta's intolerance for risk and conservative culture. In Silicon Valley, there is less fear of failure and willingness to forgive ideas that don't pan out.
Grayson Daughters, who is always colorful, thinks old media and old world business view social media as "something for children." They are accustomed to Board rooms not chat rooms and don't know another way. "They don't know who is using it."
Serial entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of Appcelerator Jeff Haynie also points to the region's risk aversion. At a break out session at SoCon08 moderated by Haynie, entrepreneurs and investors alike shared their observations about social media startups.
Some of the challenges: the persistence of a good old boy network, the lack of an aggressive M&A culture, and a reliance on outside VCs to fund ideas.
Lance Weatherby a venture catalyst with the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech and a principal organizer of Start Up Atlanta observed that "fundamentally entrepreneurs lack a knowledge of what it takes to build a social media company. There are only a handful who know how it works."
He is confident that social media companies can thrive in Atlanta.
It seems building networks, creating awareness, sharing ideas - the very goals of SoCon08 - are clearly a great way to establish a climate for change.
It is worth further examination to determine how a region's business culture drives social media adoption and investment. I suspect what is true for Atlanta is also true for other cities across the country. In business cultures resistant to change, social media adoption will come collectively through grassroots efforts and individually from entrepreneurs and employees inside companies who are willing to champion social media's cause.
Let me get back to you.
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