Social Networking for Meeting Professionals

Social Networking for Meeting Professionals

MPI UK & Ireland, March 11th 2010QEII Conference Centre, London


• Social Networking is a subset of Social Media

oSocial Media = YouTube, Skype, Second Life, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace etc..

oSocial Networks = Facebook, MySpace,

Linkedin, Twitter

oEmail is not Social Networking


Social and professional Find friends, share pictures, links

etc... Groups / Conversations Gen Y and Gen X

Professional only Recruitment (respected tool) Groups / Conversations Gen X and Baby Boomers

Social and professional “Micro blog”, shout to the

world Simple but powerful Mobile at core


• Up to date statistics: = 400,000,000 active users (0.5M new/day) (Barak Obama = 7,820,020 fans)

= 80,000,000 active users (Ashton Kutcher = 4,600,000 followers) = 60,000,000 active users (Ron Bates = 4,000 connections)


Social Networking works

• Shoreditch Fire today (twitter ahead of the news)

• Ford Fiesta Movement (SM only marketing)

• Use of #hashtags at conferences (#md10)

• MPI Groups around live conferences (Photos, Discussions, Comments)


• What defines a good in person networker?


• What defines a good in person networker?

• Engages with others• Informs• Shares knowledge• Connects• Listens• Offers good advice• Makes suggestions• Generates business referrals• Passes on information• Learns from others


• A good online social networker….

• Engages with others• Informs• Shares knowledge• Connects• Listens• Offers good advice• Makes suggestions• Generates business referrals• Passes on information• Learns from others


Social Networking has rules

• Social networking, NOT social spamming (Gen. Y have automatic SPAM filters)

• More hits/friends/followers should not be the goal

• Give credit to content creators

• News travels fast…so be 1st


Social Networking is not free!

+ X

Social Networking Cost = (People + Technology) x Time


5 Points to take away

• Social Networking is BIG…and growing

• Social Networking works

• Social Networking is about real connections

• Social Networking has rules

• Social Networking is not free