Social Media Top 5: LaunchCamp & Other Events; Professional/Personal Split, Dangers of Press Releases

LaunchCamp in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 4 I’m proud to take part in the first LaunchCamp at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge (near MIT) on Feb. 4. There will be lots of resources and discussion on what entrepreneurs need to get their company off the ground, provided by a mix of entrepreneurs, VCs, media, marketers- and of course the attendees. One interesting aspect of the event is that it is actually a combination of three events: LaunchCamp itself, Social Media Breakfast Bootcamp, and the Boston chapter of the Social Media Club.

LaunchCamp is organized by my friends Chuck Tanowitz and Todd Van Hoosear of Fresh Ground Communications. Here is a blog post showing their anticipation of the events.

I will be leading a morning session, “The 3 Cs of Social, Part 3: Conversation.” Hope to see you there!

Speaking of the Microsoft NERD Center: Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conference Tweetup… …took place there this past week, and it had been a while since I had attended one of his events. A warmup to the 140 Conference in New York in April, Jeff and event co-organizer Ellen Rossano assembled a smart bunch of folks to address the 150+ attendees.

The two who got the most attention from me included Alicia Staley, three-time cancer survivor and head of the Staley Foundation, whom I had wanted to meet, and who also announced that it was her two-year cancer-free anniversary.

The other was Steve Garfield (of SteveGarfield.com you know), who put on another demonstration of how simple it is for anyone to stream video over the Internet. He also signed copies of his new book, “Get Seen.”

While I’m Talking About Events; Mass Innovation Nights

Also last week- a busy week- was Mass Innovation Night, an monthly event run by Bobbie Carlton. Held at the IBM Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass., Mass Innovation Nights are getting bigger, and the variety of entrepreneurship on display (from video production to unstructured data management to Twitter to… chocolate!) gives a well-rounded picture of what entrepreneurs can do- and are doing- in Massachusetts. Next one is February 10.

Does the mixing of personal and professional personae (or “brands”) have limits?

Only if you set them. Radian 6’s Amber Naslund is, like me, someone who links personal persona with professional one online, and has had to think , including in this post, about the boundaries to set. I don’t think it’s that hard to resist, say, answering a work question at 10pm just because you are online- but what expectations do you set with your employer and customers?

Popularity is Not Based on Merit (Press Release Category)

Rich Becker of Copywrite, Inc. followed the path of a dubious press release from distribution to dissemination to misappropriation (and lack of attribution). The verdict? It’s not that hard for misinformation to flow freely. Of course, anyone who (critically) watches cable news or reads political blogs know that- I hope. All the more reason to be a critical consumer.

Ten Steps to Building a Content Hub

Mike Troiano of Holland Mark outlines a common sense approach to building a content hub that encompasses the Internet and multiple media. Read it all here (but the secret sauce is a GMail account).