Last night the Social Media Club met for the first time. In attendance were journalists, agency folks, wire service representatives, the executive director of the Society for New Communications Research, and many other social media advocates.

Topic #1 was the Social Media Club itself, which was founded with the purpose of 1) sharing best practices, 2) establishing ethics and standards, and 3) promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media. The goal is to build a trust network of social media-savvy folks. At the event, Chris Heuer shared his vision for this “not-for-loss” project, and shared some upcoming programs in the works. Topaz is committed to supporting the launch of a chapter in the Boston area–I hope this is something Mr. Two-Dot-Oh Schmoo-Dot-Oh Adam Zand can help take the lead on.

Topic #2 was the New Media Release, a topic near and dear to me. A lively and informative discussion ensued around the scope of activities, past and present attempts to create PR-related schemas, and what it takes to make a schema work.

An hRelease working group is being formed. I committed myself to participating in this group, and proposed the club set up some minimum representation standards for the group, in order to ensure maximum buy-in to the concept (buy-in was an important topic discussed, and we want to make sure that there isn’t any kind of bias). If you’re interested in participating in the SMC or the hRelease Working Group, chime in on the Google group!

More on the hRelease in a later post…

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