Ethics and the Social Media Generation Gap

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Vinnie T's Dedham - 233 Elm Street, Dedham, MA

6:00pm - 8:30pm

A Boston Social Media Club Event

Sponsoring Host: Market Wire

Directions: See Below

Was February's bomb scare in Boston the result of a marketing campaign gone wrong, or that of a community that is out of touch with pop culture, modern marketing campaigns and the social media revolution? Your answer to this question is very strongly influenced by your age. This month's Social Media Club Boston event will focus on Ethics and the Social Media Generation Gap: what are the underlying ethical and sociological reasons for these kinds of marketing mistakes and our incredibly divergent response to them?

Blogs on the event:

Shore Communications Inc. - ContentBlogger

John Cass - PR Communications

GregPC - Over the River

Agenda

6:00pm - 6:30pm Reception (Light Food and Drinks)

Meet your fellow hobbyists, students and practitioners of social media.

6:30pm - 6:45pm Welcome, Introductions and Goals for This Meeting

Todd Van Hoosear of Topaz Partners and Melanie Stachowiak of Market Wire will kick things off.

6:45pm - 7:30pm The Social Media Generation Gap

Our guest panelists are John Blossom of Shore Communications, Judith Perrolle of Northeastern University and Douglas Quintal of Emerson College. We've asked our three core panelists to prepare some introductory remarks on the topic of social media ethics and the ethical, business and sociological implications of the February scandal and Boston's response. Some questions the panelists will address are:

Did Boston overreact and why?
Is guerrilla marketing anything more than "solid-state spam"?
Is there a real generation gap, and if so, what exactly are the differences when it comes to tolerance of both risk and "creative" marketing campaigns?
Is guerilla marketing a sign of desperation, creativity, or irresponsible corporate behavior?
Who bears the cost of guerilla marketing?
Codes of ethics exist already, but are often virtual or unwritten - how should they be codified?
Legislation is inevitable, but is it an appropriate response to the problems of guerilla marketing?
Can guerilla marketing work if it's done appropriately? And what is appropriate?
What happened to "permission marketing?"
Social media is all about taking control over content, and guerilla marketing is about attention, but there are similarities between the two. Are they compatible or mutually exclusive?

7:30pm - 8:15pm Breakout Sessions

We'll break into smaller groups with each of our guest panelists to discuss the topic further, and to identify ways in which marketers and content providers can balance ethics, content and the "attention economy."

8:15pm - 8:30pm De-Briefs and Next Steps

We're looking for volunteers to help coordinate future events, sponsors and hosts for future meetings, and suggestions for future topics. Please be sure to share your thoughts on Thursday, and visit socialmediaboston.org to give us your input. Thanks!

Thanks to our Sponsor Market Wire for making this event possible!

Directions (From Boston & Logan Airport)

Take the Expressway south (Route 93) to Route 128. Continue to Exit 15A. Take first right off of exit ramp. Vinny's is a 1/2 mile on the right, next to the Comfort Inn Hotel.

Our Guest Panelists

John Blossom, Shore Communications

Mr. Blossom's career spans more than twenty years of marketing, research, product management and development in advanced information and media venues, including major financial publishers and financial services companies (Citicorp, Quotron and for Reuters Holdings PLC), as well as earlier experience in broadcast media. Mr. Blossom founded Shore Communications Inc. in 1997, specializing in research and advisory services and strategic marketing consulting for publishers and consumers of content services. Mr. Blossom’s engagements have included strategic marketing consulting for major corporations and startups that are using the Internet to position themselves in new and existing content markets.

Judith Perrolle, Northeastern University

Judith Perrolle is associate professor of sociology at Northeastern University. Her studies focus on the social impact of computers and communications technology. She is the author of the book "Computers and Social Change: Information, Property and Power," as well as numerous scholarly articles. She was a member of the committee that wrote the Association for Computing Machinery's Code of Ethics. She is also a member of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She received her Ph.D. from Brown University and her undergraduate degree from MIT.

Douglas Quintal, Emerson College

Mr. Quintal is a Lecturer in the Department of Communication. He teaches courses in integrated marketing communication, writing for marketing and management communication, principles of public relations, public relations management, and entertainment marketing. His most recent work includes: the release of his second full-length CD, "Finger Check"; promotions and market campaigns for the Boston Ban Collectors' Cards. He coordinated and organized a cross-promotional, charitable music series with the Hard Rock Café, WAAF-FM, and Cam Neely Foundation. He wrote business and marketing plans for takeachance.com, a new Internet start- up company. He also continues to do PR consulting and campaigns for a private individual taking on a national tax preparation corporation as seen on Dateline and featured in The Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal.