Although collecting sponsors was a major factor in the road trip, the three wanted to connect with the communities in the passing cities along the way. They used Twitter to let locals know they were coming into town and would give a specific location of where they would be. As a result, locals who were on Twitter and saw this message would come out and meet the group.  This was a great way for the three to meet knew people and get the best experience out of the city they were stopped in.

This group had great success in bringing communities together by creating broad objectives and platforms for the people to connect and discuss their ideas.  After the group left each city, the social media community was stronger and closer than they were before. This group proves that by using social media relationships can be build and communities can become stronger.

Our Revolution – 3.11.11 from Social Media Club on Vimeo.

I was recently a roommate at Social Media Club House 4, which was sponsored by Lenovo.  Did you know Lenovo has a huge International blogging community, they do and a very lively community, at that.  They do a lot of blogger outreach and two of their International bloggers came to the U.S. to attend Blog World Expo 2010.

Leandro Zanoni aka Lalo, is a Journalist from Buenos Aires, Argentina and traveled more than 15 hours to attend BWE.  He travels at least once a month to attend different technology and media related conferences outside Argentina and shares his insight on his blog, http://www.eblog.com.ar/.

Lalo has a great sense of humor even after I spilled my coffee on him one morning, whoops!  I told him it was because he made me nervous

Carlos Andrade, works for Dixo.com, which a big source in Mexico for podcasts related to music, film, video games and much more.  They also recently launched their own iTunes channel, very cool & it’s how I plan to practice my Spanish!

I asked Carlos his take on Blog World, he said he enjoyed all the sessions he attended and was satisfied by the level of content.  He agreed he would absolutely attend another Blog World in the future.

What Social Media Looks Like Internationally

The International thought leaders are a much bigger deal than we even know.  There are a lot of reasons for this but here are a few that stand out the most to me,

1. Infrastructure – yes, believe it or not, the majority of households don’t have personal computers in their homes.  Internet cafes overseas are not coffee shops with wifi, Americans are spoiled this way.  Also, due to space, budgets and slow to change regimes, infrastructure to support internet and communication is at snails pace.

I’ve personally had lengthy conversation with our Chapters in South America and although, they are very successful in their events, there are a lot of traditionalists in the space that consider this “new media stuff” to be challenging the way things have always been done for decades.

2. Politics – Loose politics, payoffs and corruption hinder decisions regarding technology and education, therefore International communities are not as progressive as they are in the U.S.

3. Getting in Early – The International influencers that have been on the cutting edge of communication and technology in their countries aren’t in the massive numbers that we see here in the States.  So having fewer of them, is their competitive advantage.

I want to visit any country where there are less gurus or experts, please & thank you.

What Unites a Global Community?

1. Access – ‘Nuff said.

2. Passion – Obviously, having a community built around a certain subject matter immediately creates a connection but be sure you share a similar value system with your peers.

2. Education – Yes, this is where I throw in Social Media Club’s kickass tagline “If you get it, Share it!”   No ego, No self-promotion, No excuses.

3. Language & Music – If you suck at passion & have a big ego, then I hope, at the very least, you like decent music and speak every language under the sun, or else, well, you just suck.

Let’s Help Bring Blog World to the World!

I, personally, think Blog World Expo should live up to it’s title and incorporate more International influence!  Plus, I can only handle so much of the same exact keynotes/presenters that are at SxSW & every other freaking social media conference, ever.  Recently, I’ve noticed that a lot of communities don’t think outside their city limits and that narrow way of thinking is what harms us all, so I challenge you all to THINK GLOBALLY! Share your experience at Blog World with the global community and let’s draw some more attention to this event.

I highly suggest connecting with both Carlos and Lalo, they are huge resources of information in their countries and truly awesome guys.

[Infographic Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_users_by_country_world_map.PNG]

Well, the big idea is that we have a complete livestream studio setup with TechZulu running video production so that we can host a round table discussion (without the round table among the many CoWorking leaders in Austin for SxSW on Monday March 15 from 1pm till about 230pm.  Thanks to Moonfruit’s sponsorship, participants will be able to get on our shuttle bus by the Austin Convention Center to come to the Social Media Clubhouse between 11am and 1pm in advance of the show start for a hosted lunch. From 1pm to 230 we will dive into a discussion about what we can do to make each of our respective CoWorking spaces sustainable and more succesfull. I really hope to explore ways we can collaborate better together beyond the mailing list, to discuss common needs, to share alternative revenue ideas and perhaps even, determine how we can support better curation/sharing of our local insights and lessons learned.

After the livestream of the CoWorking Summit is over, we will have some time for drinks, and then a special musical performance from The Ashes as part of our KUT Live from the Social Media Clubhouse series. Of course, if you have to get back to the convention center right away after the big CoWorking discussion ends to see the TechKaraoke panel, you can board the shuttle bus and head back there, or you can hang out a little while, have some beers from Molson (who is an in-kind sponsor for the Clubhouse) or drink some Coke’s (who is also an in-kind sponsor for the Clubhouse) and just have a good time with your peers from around the world.

Who’s Coming? How can I join in?

So far, I have only been able to speak to a few folks, but we have confirmed several of our good friends as participants who are listed below. Since it is a private residence we have rented 15 minutes from the convention center, we only have so much room and can’t fit everyone who would like to attend.  I am really trying to focus on people who are running or helped to launch a CoWorking space first, but I do expect we will have a little room to invite in a few others, which is why I created this form where you can request an invite to participate in the CoWorking Summit (or any of our other Summits if appropriate). We don’t want to miss anyone who should be there, but we can’t open it up to the public either, so this should work.  Of course, you can also join in the livestream remotely and participate in the chat room remotely thanks to Justin.tv.

At present, we have the following participants joining us (please forgive lack of links and time at moment).

• Tara Hunt, Citizen Space Founder
• Clement Alteresco, PariSoma
• Julian Nachtigal, PariSoma
• Nathanael Sorin-Richez, La Cantine
• Louis Montagne, La Cantine
• Tony Bacigalupo, New Work City
• Michael Cummings, formerly of The Creative Space
• Evonne Heyning, Sugarshack
• Kirtus Dixon, CoSpace

We have created a private Eventbrite page for the summit, which is how we will manage communications with everyone, letting you know where to go to get the shuttle etc… You can get the password by requesting an invite or leaving a comment below if you are a leader of a CoWorking space.

The CoWorking Summit is not only going to be an important conversation, it’s going to be a fun time. I am really looking forward to welcoming everyone into the Clubhouse (and really bummed I can’t make the CoWorking meetup on SAT March 13th).

Some Background

During Social Media Week San Francisco, I invited my friends from La Cantine in Paris to participate in a special conversation via Skype video chat with Citizen Space (where I hang my hat in SF). We also had invited representatives from PariSoma, The Hub and NextSpace(all local Bay Area CoWorking spaces). The purpose? To discuss the question, What is the State of CoWorking? As I explained in my invite to the event:

What started out as a DIY movement of people sharing their living rooms, squatting in underutilized office spaces and gathering in coffee shops has evolved – in a sense, the concept has reached adolescence. The idea of CoWorking at its heart is the same today as it ever was, independents and small companies can share resources, be more efficient, be more productive and find support from their community of peers. At the same time, it has had to become a serious business in order to sustain itself. Meanwhile, CoWorking has become a global phenomenon, a new way to look at executive office suites and a way for global digital nomads to find a friendly place to work as they travel and do business.

As someone familiar with the Writers Grotto here in San Francisco before CoWorking rose to fame thanks in part to Chris Messina andTara Hunt starting Citizen Space, I have been watching the movement evolve for some time.  Oddly enough, it turns out that the founder ofJelly, Amit Gupta, actually moved down the street from my house, not more then 100 yards away from where I sit right now.  While proximity doesn’t guarantee familiarity, I have been an active evangelist for the movement, despite not being an active commenter withinthe community. So while some might consider me an outside voice right now who are part of the core community, my heart and my mind has been an active participant for quite some time.

During that State of CoWorking conversation, which we recorded and posted to the Social Media Week San Francisco web site, I suggested that we work to put together a Summit of sorts to bring together the core of the community and leaders of CoWorking spaces around the world during SxSW, when many were likely to be in the same city at the same time. Which is what I have been working on quietly for the past several weeks since.  Thanks to the support and patronage of Moonfruit, I am happy to now invite all the CoWorking Leaders who will be in Austin to join me on so that we can discuss ways in which we can better support one another and work together to ensure the sustainability of what I think is a vital movement and a powerful community resource.

Together we will listen to insightful communications professionals such as authors Paul Gillin, Brian Solis and David Meerman Scott. They will be joined by a handful of experienced executive such as Mike Lewis from Awareness Inc, Jennifer Milano of Kayak.com, and James Hart of ASOS.com Other participants in this round table conversations include Jason Falls, Peter Fasano, Wendy Tan White and a dozen other experts who can really answer this question and get at what matters most.

This unique conversation will be facilitated by Chris Heuer who seems to think that engagement is the third generation of marketing philosophies, following on the broadcast and interactive eras. As moderator, he promises to be fair and balanced, but he clearly sees engagement as a way for great companies to differentiate themselves and find a new path to success.

In our attempt to definitively answer whether engagement is just another buzzword or if there is something bigger brewing, we are fortunate to be joined by Brian Solis, author of the new book Engage! who has quite a bit to say about this subject. While many believe he engagement meme is on the edge of the cliff he believes we are on the cusp of a big breakthrough in the marketing profession, a day when marketers will realize the true power of engagement. But first they need to understand what’s different and what’s the benefit.

So we will build upon Paul Gillin’s research to explore what is being called the Social Media Multiplier and how that not only creates maximum engagement for a brand, but also maximizes the impact of the brand’s marketing efforts. His published findings that will be discussed include the belief that the next big challenge is to get procedures and organizations in place to integrate social media into other communication programs.

But that has always been the challenge.

In the 90′s it became clear that the most effective way to market products and services was through the use of multiple channels. Email, banner ads or direct mail used on their own were never as effective as integrated programs running within and across multiple channels. Any channel used on its own were as good as the proverbial one legged chair. The importance of an integrated muilti-channel approach has proven to be true yet again in social media.

With the rise and widespread adoption of social media, the technical barriers to participation have been removed enabling consumers and businesses of all sizes to embrace the power of their voice online. Not only can they speak to their jubilation or frustration with any company, but they can potentially be heard by all. As a result, companies are adapting to the shifting balance of power and responding to the market’s demands for respect, transparency and even, dare we say, love.

Just as some individuals like vanilla and others chocolate ice cream, different people have different channel preferences for interaction. Some will come to you, some want you to come to them.. Some prefer Twitter, others Facebook, and others still Bebo. With new social destinations appearing daily across the web, organizations are facing an increasingly complex world of multi-channel conversations making it even more difficult to deliver satisfaction to a more demanding market.

Internally, organizations are facing the challenge of which group “owns” social media. As marketers determine how to tie social media into their broader business objectives, they are receiving conflicting messages about whether social media needs to be centralized and most are still determining how to measure success.

For those that crack this connundrum, there is the promise of a tremendous payoff. But is it real? Is the idea of genuine cross-platform engagement more buzzwordy goodness or is it really the harbinger of a new era in business, marketing and society as the engagement evangelists proclaim?

If you are a marketing professional this is a not to be missed livestream. If you are going to be in Austin for SxSW you can request an invitation to join us in the clubhouse studio, but please understand there just isn’t enough room for us to accommodate everyone as it being hosted in a private house as opposed to a big venue like a convention center.