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Boston is known for a lot of things. There was a little incident with Tea. A bit of a tussle with the Brits. Most recently, Boston has become a dominant force in the sporting world (at least in baseball and football). But after last night I am convinced that Boston is the place to be if you’re into Social Media.

I was lucky enough to go to the Dinner for Boston Web Community last night. And I do mean lucky, since the registration was cut off at around 103 people! Aside from being a great event (free beer + interesting, passionate people = excellent), it really made me rethink the whole “social media” phenomenon.

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I admit to thinking (previously) that social media, social networking, etc., were rapidly becoming meaningless buzzwords. The kind of blanket term applied to marketing problems that satisfied three goals:

1. It sounds clever and sophisticated- Since social networking and social media are relatively new, a mere mention of incorporating something “social” into a company’s marketing plan can sound cutting edge. This is the equivalent of “let’s build a web site” ten years ago.

2. It has no clearly defined meaning- Picture a meeting. A marketing executive asks “How are we going to drive new user acquisition?” Someone answers “We should do some social media campaigns.” People nod. They agree. But they agree on something that really has no meaning.

3. It refers to communities (ie- groups of potential consumers)- When someone tosses out the “S Word”, what they’re really referring to is a group of potential buyers. At its heart, a social media campaign is bringing your stuff to a group of people self-organized by interest.

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Though I still believe that the term is tossed around with reckless abandon, I truly believe that social media is here to stay. People want to connect. Period.

Last night solidified that belief.

A quick scan of the attendee list shows that an incredibly diverse group of people across industries is jazzed about social media. From PR firms to research organizations, startups to consultants and non-profits, a wide variety of companies are rushing to embrace all things social.

Notice I didn’t say something to the effect of “jumping on the social media bandwagon.” Saying that would imply that this is not a movement, but a fad. Instead, I think that Boston-area companies have realized that understanding and employing social media strategy in their marketing plan is a must. Where having a web site was optional years ago, a company without a web site today is just unheard of. I think the same will be true with Social Media. If you’re not going where your customers are, you’re going to be left behind.

Now for the name dropping portion of the post. I was very lucky to meet some incredibly smart, savvy people last night at the event. I’d like to point out a few that sparked my interest:

• Oliver Young at Forrester Research who covers Enterprise 2.0, and has an unusually balanced point of view when it comes to how the enterprise can benefit from some of the “2.0″ features.
• Scott Monty of Crayon, which helps companies make sense of all the buzzwords and put strategies in action.
• Chris Brogan- The force behind podcamp and Video on the Net.
• Jay Neeley of SocialStrategist.com- After explaining what matchmine is all about, he had no fewer than 57 ideas to make the MatchKey more useful and sharable to people and communities. All in about six minutes.
• The legend, Doc Searls, co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, the book that changed all the rules

And then there were the people that made me feel old, yet at the same time made me feel like social media is here to last, as this stuff is multi-generational:

• Julia Roy of undercurrent
• Yianni Garcia of the Digital Influence Group
• Amanda Mooney, both of Schnieder Associates

Boston- not just the greatest sports city in the world, we’re also the most connected…..to each other.

Filed under: social media