Should Birmingham Use Social Media?

Is it ready?

How many of you knew that there is a small festival going on in downtown Birmingham this weekend? Raise your hands. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? How many knew that there were 2, maybe even a third festival going on this weekend?

How did you find out about the Vulcan AfterTunes, Taste of 4^th Ave. Jazz and Sidewalk Moving Picture festivals? Was it the B’ham News, activeculture.info, al.com, Birmingham Weekly, Black & White or NBC 13?

All right, who here has heard of the festivals via MySpace, Facebook, local bloggers or Upcoming.org? Anyone? Anyone?

As traditional media outlets such as radio, television and print try to figure out how to bring in eyeballs and monetize the web, there are countless ways to get the news out by word of mouse. Local bands and organizations promote themselves on MySpace for free. Various user groups for all activities are increasingly meeting on and offline through their individual websites or hosted web services. There are social niche sites out there for the music scene, photography clubs, and even a mom’s club for baby slings.

How can we merge all of this into one hub where no one is in charge and anyone can contribute but have access to everyone?

I’d suggest using Yahoo products almost exclusively for just such an occasion. Yahoo’s portals have grown around and dominate the social web like no one else has or can.

Yahoo Local- newly redesigned and easy to access. Birminghamsters can search for virtually any hot spot they want and even see ratings that other users have added. Been there? Rate it. Local has added maps to help you find your way there and photos from Flickr if anyone has tagged it.

Upcoming- this site allows anyone to create a local event and to share with your friends. Send the event to Outlook, iCal, Google or Yahoo calendars and get text alerts. You may also add your photos of the event by using Flickr.

Flickr- What is this Flickr you keep mentioning? Glad you asked. Flickr is responsible for almost single-handedly bringing social media to where it is today. It is a photo hosting site that you can share with anyone or no one. Flickr photo groups are huge. Consider the Magic City Flickr Group has almost 400 members that showcase the city and it’s people.

Chat- One of the earliest offerings by Yahoo and currently one of the most abused. Chat has rooms on all topics from religion to Parcheesi and everything else in between. Spammers and fembots run rampant in a few chat rooms but Yahoo has taken steps to squash them. Chat is a great way to organize your group

IM- Since I live in Trussville and a friend lives in Alabaster, I may not want to drive there to see them. I’ll probably just send them an instant message, or share photos or video call.

Entertainment- What movie is playing at the Rave in Vestavia Hills and how is it rated? What is on local television? Who else likes The Office besides me?

Groups- As open or as secure as you like it, this site lets you communicate between your users when email or IM won’t do. Calendar scheduling, photo/link sharing, etc.

When looking at all of the applications that Yahoo offers, it becomes clear that it could be used as a hub for a city the size of Birmingham to draw it closer together, or, we could be just as scattered and divided as our demographics are. Join and add me on all services as “mojodenbow”

Thoughts/comments/suggestions are welcome!

Disclaimer- I am not an employee of Yahoo nor am I receiving any compensation or benefits. I’m just a user/contributor.