What Does Social Media Mean to Me?

As everyone who reads this blog knows, I'm a relative Pittsburgh newbie. As of last Fall, I had already been blogging for almost a year in relative seclusion - going for months at a time without a comment. Then I read in the City Paper about Podcamp Pittsburgh - a free event showcasing social media from Twitter to blogs to any other way you can get your voice out there over the web. In 2 short days, I met lots of people, learned some tricks of the blogging trade, and became an avid Twitter user. Today, most people I know in Pittsburgh are from relationships that started that fateful weekend.

So to me, you could say Social Media means friends. It has also resulted in more visibility and feedback on my blog, and more reason for me to keep blogging and bugging you all. Last year, while I was at PodCamp, one of the well-to-do venture capitalists said (paraphrasing) "You need to blog about something interesting. You can't just be another city politics blog and expect to be successful." I think he has a thing or two to learn about success. Social media redefines success. Here success is counted in re-tweets, blog comments, and personal interaction. Or at least that's what I make of it.

This October is PodCamp 4, or my second PodCamp. I hope to see lots of familiar and new faces there. I hope to find more inspiration to keep blogging. I hope to finally try a 649. Have you registered yet?