Social Media Club is 100,000+ STRONG! Check out the official word:

Social Media Club global is finally breaking the silence of the last few weeks to begin our relaunch in earnest. We begin today by sharing just how large Social Media Club has grown with the results of our recently completed census. This marks the first step forward in re-casting ourselves from a simple grassroots effort of loosely coupled social media enthusiasts into a modern professional association.

While we will still hold onto the open roots upon which we have grown, we will also emphasize the importance of membership dues to provide the funds needed to operate a non-profit on a global scale. These funds will enable us to provide an honest view on the social media industry, support the establishment of professional standards of conduct and expand our educational initiatives to further media literacy.  The crucial step in making this vision a reality involves bringing our loosely affiliated ‘chapters’ closer together, but first we had to find them.

With the help of Yong C Lee and Jessica Murray, we have just finished the SMC Global Census, resulting in a blog post for each local chapter on SocialMediaClub.org.  Each post directs you to their existing social channels across the web and now also aggregates their blog posts (if they have one) onto the global Web site. So if for instance, you want to find out how many people are involved in Social Media Club in Moscow, all you need to do is visit their chapter page. Same thing with Seattle, Brisbane, Miami, Kansas City, Washington DC and Kuala Lumpur.

Now that we know where everyone is, we also have a better idea of who you all are. At present we have 230 local chapters around the world with a total potential reach of 158,558. Accounting for overlapping channel participation between their various Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other sites, this gives us an approximate reach of 100,000+ unique social media enthusiasts and professionals.

On a global basis, Social Media Club HQ has a total potential reach of 87,146, with 68,000+ twitter followers, 7,800 Facebook Fans, a mailing list of  4,300, a Linkedin Group with 3,400+ members and an RSS subscriber base of 8,500+.  As we launch our membership drive to start promoting the organization with more marketing then just stickers in the weeks ahead, we expect these numbers to grow dramatically. Especially in light of all the new content we will be providing through our consolidated calendar of social media events and the launch of Social Media Journal and Social Media Observer.

Interesting Insights

For the census Jessica and Yong researched and reviewed hundreds of Web sites, blogs, Twitter accounts, groups on LinkedIn / Facebook / Ning / Xing, and Facebook Fan Pages. We also, as has occasionally been the case, found several chapters which we previously did not know existed!

Here are some interesting things we discovered we thought you might enjoy too:

• There are 230 chapters. The first chapter to launch was San Francisco, CA on August 16, 2006. The newest chapter that is being planned is Cologne (Germany). There are about 50 chapters that have gone quiet after an initial launch which we will be working to restart now (hello Stamford, CT!).
• We have Social Media Club chapters on six of the seven continents
• Active chapters range from 28 members (Reno, NV) to 7000+ (Seattle, WA), with an average chapter size of 661 members.
• 28 of the cities on record are pending, meaning someone has inquired about launching a chapter there, but has not done anything to move it forward (i.e. Providence, Rhode Island and Dublin, Ireland)
• 31 cities do not have their numbers included in this census since they are using their own Web site orblog and don’t publicly state their member numbers
• Over half (121) of the cities have Twitter accounts with a total potential reach of 90,000+ followers for an average of 744 each.
• Of those, 32 have over 1,000 followers each
• 57 cities have LinkedIn Groups with Seattle, WA being the largest with 1,218
• 91 cities have FaceBook Groups with a total of 24,652 members
  • The largest FaceBook group is Chicago with 2096 members, Washington DC has 1409, Stockholm Sweden has 1382 and San Francisco has 1,111
• 128 have FaceBook Fan pages with a total of 24,670 fans
  • Seattle has 1779 fans making them the largest, with Detroit in 2nd place with 1335 fans and Washington DC not far behind with 1249… of personal interest to me is Kuala Lumpur which has 1006 fans
• 20 cities have both fan pages and groups
• 23 cities have Ning sites with a total of 7,407 members
  • Cleveland has the biggest Ning site with 1,247 members
• 47 cities have a presence on Twitter, Linkedin and FaceBook

Top 5 Twitter Accounts

1. Dallas, TX – 5,518
2. Seattle, WA – 4794
3. Charlotte, NC – 4,582
4. Sacramento, CA – 3,695
5. Sydney, Australia – 3,506

Ten largest chapters by total potential reach across all social channels used:

1. Seattle, WA (USA) – 7791
2. Dallas, TX (USA) – 6802
3. Washington, DC (USA) – 6415
4. Charlotte, NC (USA) – 5412
5. Sacramento, CA (USA) – 5005
6. Miami, FL (USA) – 4912
7. Sydney (Australia) – 4684
8. Chicago, IL – (USA) 4386
9. Cleveland, OH (USA) – 3503
10. Greenville, SC (USA) – 2962

In Conclusion

There are a lot more interesting things behind these numbers (which are already outdated in just 2 weeks since finishing the original research). What you can’t see here is the hard work by so many wonderful leaders around the country (including one of our first and largest chapters in Boston whose numbers aren’t included above). You also can’t see how passionate these people are in each city unless you have visited with them. Or how hard some people, like Jason Falls, Anders Abrahamsson, Todd van Hoosear and Alex de Carvalho have worked to help other cities get started.

In spite of our tremendous reach and size, what we are doing now with relaunching as a professional member association is making us a startup all over again. With a global membership drive starting very very soon and the launch of our official chapter program just days away, we are ready to turn the page.  If you are one of the people represented by these numbers, we ask you to please consider joining as a professional or business member. We also invite each of you from around the world to gather with us for our 1st annual conference and official member meeting, Social Media University, happening Novermber 10-13 in Orlando, FL.

This has been a great journey so far, and we are looking forward to leading the professional social media industry together with you in the years ahead.

We are also currently seeking members who would like to be in leadership positions. If you would like to volunteer, please let us know.

Thanks, we’ll see you in August!

What: @SCHospitals Tweetup!
When: Tuesday, June 22
Time: 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Where: Ale House, 708 Lady Street
Logistics: Meet on the second floor patio. Open to everyone in the Columbia area.
Sponsor: The South Carolina Hospital Association in conjunction with Social Media Revolution.
RSVP: Twtvite!
Hashtag: #smrev

It’s time for sunscreen, travel, and fun! School’s out and we all are ready for a vacation. In honor of summer break, Social Media Club is taking a break too!

Until  next time, we want your input! We have a 3 question survey.

The information we gather will help us make our meetings better! Click here to take the survey.

We’ll be in touch soon with more information on our June meeting. See you soon!

Also, Subway of South Carolina wants to support our local non-profit organizations. You can help them by participating in their social media contest on your  favorite social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.).

To enter, here’s what you have to do:

1) Decide on a non-profit. This can be your favorite school, charity, or 501C3 organization.
2) Know the location of the non-profit you’ve chosen.
3) Post in your favorite social media site using the hashtag #subwaysc and a hashtag for the city where the non-profit is located.

Here’s an example: On May 13, nominate fav charity to win $500 SUBWAY Card. Tweet charity name, #(City) where based & #subwaysc. See www.subwaysc.com

A few contest specifics:

• On May 13, SUBWAY asks people to tweet their favorite local charity or school* via Twitter to nominate that nonprofit to win a $500 SUBWAY® Card. Five nonprofits with the greatest number of tweeters/tweets will win! Nominate as many nonprofits as you like, but please only two tweets per nonprofit.  * 501c3 (Charity) or educational institutions in South Carolina or Augusta, GA market qualify; one winner per market.
• To be counted, tweet nonprofit name and hashtag for city where the nonprofit is located – Example: #Columbia – along with hashtag #subwaysc.
• Nominations will be taken during the 24-hour period on May 13, starting 12:00 a.m. EDT (midnight) and ending at 11:59 p.m. the same day.
• The charities with the greatest number of tweets (nominations) in the Upstate, Midlands, Lowcountry, Pee Dee/Grand Strand and Central Savannah River Area will each receive the prize – a $500 SUBWAY® Card. That will buy a lot of breakfast sandwiches and coffee for the charity.

Like pizza? Like Social Media? JOIN US THURSDAY!

Escape the pollen and bring your iPad (or your iPad envy) to our tweetup on April 8, 2010 at 5:30 pm at Columbia’s very own Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers!

You know Mellow Mushroom has great food and beer, so why not add great company to the list?

As an added plus, there’s no wait for seating- once at Mellow Mushroom, head upstairs and to the left to find us in the glass room. And while you’re there, be sure to check Mellow Mushroom of Columbia out on Twitter.

This meeting is open to everyone in the Columbia area. You must register for this free event through Eventbrite because space is limited!

Address:

1009 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 933-9201

In case you missed out, here are a few of the tweets:

@iconway great crowd at @smccolumbia meeting! http://yfrog.com/j8j6juj

@adgirlSC had a fantastic time w/ the very talented and interesting members of @smccolumbia tonight.

@drcoxinSC @smccolumbia good times tonight…glad to be here for the first time. Thanks!

Until next month, here’s what we need your help with:

Let’s show Google that Columbia is Famously Hot for Google Fiber. Post “Google Columbia, SC” to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and every other social network out there that you’re a part of at noon on March 22. It’s okay if you can’t do it exactly at noon, but make sure to do it at some point that day. Spread the word and invite everyone you know to do this!

To read more on why are we doing this, click here. To join the Facebook event, click here.

So spread the word to your friends, neighbors, and everyone else! Let’s get some super high speed Google fiber in Columbia!

Spring Into the Next SMC Columbia TweetUp!

Spring is working its way into our area, so why don’t you spring out to our next tweetup?

That’s right, we want YOU at our tweetup on March 11, 2010 at 5:30 pm at Harper’s Restaurant.

Come out and dish over social media and some great Harper’s food. Whether you’re new to social media or a seasoned pro, we want to meet you!

This meeting is open to everyone in the Columbia area. You must register for this free event through Eventbrite because space is limited!

RSVP Now!

Directions to Harper’s

700 Harden Street
Columbia, SC 29205-1645
(803) 252-2222

Social Media Club has experienced a strong period of growth over the last six months – going from 91 chapters in July 2009 to over 160 chapters today (though I suspect there are still some more smaller ones hiding out there somewhere). In fact, we have confirmed sitings of chapters on six of the seven continents on this fine planet of ours (we are coming Antarctica, I promise!!).

Every local chapter is a little different from the next, just as every local neighborhood has its unique flavor. Some use Facebook. Others use Ning. A chapter might user Twitter just to promote their events. Another uses an email service, like iContact. Some love the wiki. Others don’t even know where to find it. This is good. This is a chance for us all to learn. The experiences of each of the chapters has informed our growth along the way and lead us to some important insights we have put to good use in the new site launching on Friday March 12.

We plan to focus on infrastructure in 2010, improving the ways we communicate with one another and helping local chapters find the right path to sustainability fot theit particular needs. We sincerely appreciate everyone who has taken a leadership role in Social Media Club. Your efforts are the reason we exist today and we love you for it. [...]

Two hours after the meeting, and we’re still getting tweets @SMCColumbia from those who attended. We’re thrilled you all enjoyed the meeting. If you have questions on Gowalla or FourSquare, leave a comment below, or catch up with @ashlieconway or @willimac on twitter.

Let’s spread the word to our small businesses in Columbia! They could use the benefit of more foot traffic, and we LOVE getting deals, points, badgets, and the occasional “elusive” raccoon!