Social Media Club Boston April 12, 2007

Was February's bomb scare in Boston the result of a marketing campaign gone wrong, or that of a community that is out of touch with pop culture, modern marketing campaigns and the social media revolution? Your answer to this question is very strongly influenced by your age. This month's Social Media Club Boston event will focus on Ethics and the Social Media Generation Gap: what are the underlying ethical and sociological reasons for these kinds of marketing mistakes and our incredibly divergent response to them?

6:00pm - 6:30pm Reception (Light Food and Drinks
Meet your fellow hobbyists, students and practitioners of social media.

6:30pm - 6:45pm Welcome, Introductions and Goals for This Meeting
Todd Van Hoosear of Topaz Partners and Melanie Stachowiak of Market Wire will kick things off.

6:45pm - 7:30pm The Social Media Generation Gap
Our guest panelists are John Blossom of Shore Communications, Judith Perrolle of Northeastern University and Douglas Quintal of Emerson College--stay tuned as we may have one or two more special guests in attendance! We've asked our three core panelists to prepare some introductory remarks on the topic of social media ethics and the ethical, business and sociological implications of the February scandal and Boston's response. Some questions the panelists will address are:

* Did Boston overreact and why?
* Is guerrilla marketing anything more than "solid-state spam"?
* Is there a real generation gap, and if so, what exactly are the differences when it comes to tolerance of both risk and "creative" marketing campaigns?
* Is guerilla marketing a sign of desperation, creativity, or irresponsible corporate behavior?
* Who bears the cost of guerilla marketing?
* Codes of ethics exist already, but are often virtual or unwritten - how should they be codified?
* Legislation is inevitable, but is it an appropriate response to the problems of guerilla marketing?
* Can guerilla marketing work if it's done appropriately? And what is appropriate?
* What happened to "permission marketing?"
* Social media is all about taking control over content, and guerilla marketing is about attention, but there are similarities between the two. Are they compatible or mutually exclusive?

7:30pm - 8:15pm Breakout Sessions
We'll break into smaller groups with each of our guest panelists to discuss the topic further, and to identify ways in which marketers and content providers can balance ethics, content and the "attention economy."

8:15pm - 8:30pm De-Briefs and Next Steps


The event is free to attend, but we do ask that you pre-register so we know you are coming. You may do so at http://www.socialmediaboston.org/forms/use/BostonMar07/form1.html.

Official Website: http://www.socialmediaclub.com