[Hidden-tech] Across Franklin County, inquiring minds want to know (about social media)

[Rich Roth]

The Greenfield Business Association, Shelburne Falls Area Business Association and
the Montague Business Association (wow, that's a lot of business!)
are proud to present:
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Brick and Mortar Surfs The Web
A series of six workshops are scheduled to emphasize the importance of social media
and cutting edge web technology to help promote local business. See below for descriptions
of each workshop. We are focusing on the most widely used social networking sites
and their potential relevance to your business.
General Information
We will have slides and demos for all presentations. Printed notes about the material
covered will be available. WiFi is available at all venues, so bring your laptops
and try things out during the discussions. Web links to more information will be
  given.
All events will be from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.  Attendance for Members of the Greenfield
Business Association, Shelburne Falls Area Business Association, and Montague Business
Association will be $10.00 Tickets for non-members, $20.00. Cash or check accepted.
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Overview of Social Media - Greenfield, March 16, 2010
Franklin County Community Development Corporation , 324 Wells Street, Greenfield
Here are some questions we'll think about in our first presentation: What is Social
Media? Where did it come from all of a sudden? Should we care about it? Do we need
to care about it? Can it help us? Could it hurt us? What Social Media channels should
we use for our businesses? How can we tell what works? How much time will it take?
How much will it cost? Should I let my employees use it during work hours? What
in the world is Twitter good for? Why would a business be interested in Facebook?
What kinds of businesses should be using LinkedIn? Isn't Google just a search engine?
Is SM any good for advertising? Public relations? Marketing? Sales? Customer service?
Where do we learn more? If none of these satisfies your curiosity, please bring
your questions to the presentation. After this, participants should understand the
promise of social media, and be able to decide where they should be developing their
strategy and social media presence.
For Greenfield Reservations: gba at franklincc.org 413-774-2791
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Facebook - Shelburne Falls, March 23, 2010
Mocha Maya's, 47 Bridge Street. Shelburne Falls
Fact: FB now has over 400 Million members, and an average of 374,000 people join
  it EVERY DAY. Facebook is way more than embarrassing photos, stalking old girlfriends
and playing Farmville or Mafia Wars. Our customers are there. Our competitors are
there. How are businesses using Facebook? How to decide what Facebook can do for
  our businesses. Toolkit: Profile, Search, Privacy Settings, Groups, Fan Pages,
Advertisements. Some Facebook metrics. What we are doing in Shelburne Falls. A look
at the successful Turners Falls Fan Page and Greenfield Public Library's Fan Page.
For Shelburne Falls reservations: info at shelburnefalls.com/413-625-2526.
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Google - Greenfield, March 30, 2010
Franklin County Community Development Corporation , 324 Wells Street, Greenfield
What Would Google Do? How does Google work? What is Google's business model? Why
  does Google give so much stuff away? Does "Don't be evil" mean anything? Gmail:
  basics, tips, and tricks. Google Docs: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations,
all can be shared for collaboration and publication. Google Calendar: Shared Calendars
for groups and communities. New Google products: Buzz, Wave, Voice. Handy tools:
  Alerts, Groups, Reader (RSS feeds). Google Fiber Initiative RFI. Google is a major
player in Green power. Google for President?
For Greenfield Reservations: gba at franklincc.org/413-774-2791
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Cloud Computing and Web 2.0 - Turners Falls, April 6, 2010
The Rendezvous, 78 3rd Street, Turners Falls
Applications and data are held on the internet and accessed through a browser. How
that is different from traditional applications. Advantages. Potential problems.
  Remember the great web based apps we talked about in the Google session. Other
online application suites and applications: Evernote, Salesforce, Zoho, Sharepoint,
Office 2010. Web 2.0 is the social web - everything is changed by the two-way communication
that is now possible. What it means for individuals, businesses, nonprofits, governments,
artists, schools to have these new and powerful tools for communication, collaboration
and sharing.
For reservations: 413-863-2866
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LinkedIn - Shelburne Falls, April 13, 2010
Mocha Maya's, 47 Bridge Street. Shelburne Falls
LinkedIn is the premier professional Social Media channel. It currently has over
  75 million members. 80% of American companies plan to use Social Media for recruiting.
76% of them are on LinkedIn. LinkedIn's Questions and Answers is a great way to
get informed, timely information about just about anything you need to know: in
my home we have successfully used it recently to get advice about a new camera,
a new laptop computer, resources to learn about fund raising, and web-based software
tools for collaboration on projects. LinkedIn's Groups allow professionals to associate
themselves with people in the same field or geographical area; this makes it very
easy to grow a network. We'll take a look at Profiles, Contacts, Recommendations,
Search, Questions and Answers, Groups, and free Applications.
For Shelburne Falls reservations: info at shelburnefalls.com/413-625-2526.
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Twitter - Turners Falls, April 20, 2010
The Rendezvous, 78 3rd Street, Turners Falls
Twitter is a LOT more than people announcing that they're on their way to lunch.
  Twitter has been called the nervous system of the internet. ALL news now breaks
  FIRST on Twitter. Twitter is more of a protocol or platform than a place. Tweets
(Twitter posts) are limited to 140 characters, but the service has infinite flexibility.
It is being used for: customer service, market research, sociological research,
personal branding, publishing links to other information (blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn,
etc), and a lot more. We'll talk about Twitter tools for analysis, research and
other purposes. Paradoxically, widespread Twitter use has led to the growth of Tweetups,
which are local networking events for people who meet online. For reservations:
413-863-2866
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