(Not) Social Media Top Five: Live in Austin, Texas

Time flies– too much to gather material for my weekly roundup and commentary, but I did want to get this in after my trip to Austin, Texas last week:

I have often said, as have many others, that as great as online social networking is, meeting people in person. Most recently I attended a Tweetup (meetup organized via Twitter) organized by friend and SHIFT Communications client Aaron Strout to mark my visit to his offices at Powered, Inc.

The Austin communicators (really, does it need to be just “social media?”) scene is very lively, as people who pay attention to the annual South-by-Southwest Interactive festival are well aware.

It was great to catch up with old pals such as Aaron Strout, Bryan Person, Kyle Flaherty and John Johansen, and just as nice to meet new ones (well, new “I have met you in person” friends) such as Jackie Huba, Tim Walker, Heather Strout, Ricardo Guerrero, Chris Lynn, and a whole host of others.

I will try to update this post as I track down the additional names and links of the other attendees (feel free to make me feel bad in comments for leaving you out)– meantime, here is a very brief slide show:

I seem to be back on track for getting ready done and keeping on top of things for next week. It’s crazy how much social media news you can miss when you are actually being, you know, social.

Blog readers: I am riding the Pan-Mass Challenge this summer, a 2-day bicycle trek across Massachusetts to raise money for the Jimmy Fund in support of cancer research. Will you join the generous folks who have sponsored my ride? Click any part of this message to go to my fundraising page– and thank you!