Toby Bloomberg wonders if social media is tipping in Atlanta? There are a number of events coming up in the next few weeks that deal with all things social. Is it tipping/growing? Toby, the majority of my time outside of Florida is spent in Atlanta :-)
Is it the mecca? Not sure. I think the folks from ConvergeSouth and Greensboro, NC might argue that. Or perhaps Rex Hammock and all the bloggers in Nashville.
One of the comments on Toby's post points out that Atlanta is 2-3 years late as usual. This isn't always a bad thing. It all depends on your audience. If I am a tech firm in Atlanta trying to reach a broader market then yes I might be late to the game, however for local audiences much of this is new. Should it surprise anybody that the biggest blogger in the area is the local media? At last count the Atlanta Journal Constitution has 59 blogs.
Still, social media has existed for some time in the area. I remember coming up for a Atlanta Media Bloggers meeting back in the summer of 2005. Who was the first blogger I knew from Atlanta? Toby, followed closely by Jeneane.
It has been interesting to watch the growth though.
Visitor Comments
Josh - We consider y'all to be an honorary Hot'lanta blogger! Peter was right (comment on Diva) it's taking ATL longer than anticipated to catch the social media wave; altho TBS was blogging in 2004 and AiMA had one of the first blog events in October of 2004. Looking forward to seeing you tonight at the Social Media Club event.
Posted by: Toby | January 29, 2007 2:59 PM
59 blogs? Pshaw! The AJC needs to catch up! There are a whole lot more than that in metro Atlanta. Which, btw, OBVIOUSLY is the mecca of social media in the South. I'm scandalized at the thought that you would disagree!!
Posted by: Amber | January 29, 2007 4:13 PM
I'll agree with this.
I work for a firm that's trying to mesh Public Relations with SEO, as we've heard great things from people in other cities about it (particularly northeastern cities).
One of our main targets are blogs, and let me tell you, its much more difficult to find the same quantity of authority blogs in Atlanta than in New York or Philly.
Posted by: mtb167 | January 30, 2007 11:03 AM
Atlanta may be the social media capital of the south. I am wondering what the standing of every major metro center is in the country. How would we measure that, by the number of jobs advertized?
Posted by: John Cass | January 31, 2007 10:04 AM
Oh, jeez, I'm horrified we can't provide a decent market to mtb167 and his clients; we might as well be in Guam or something. But a quick stop over to atlbloggers.net shows 62 individual, not-doing-this-because-we-get-paid bloggers contributing to the feed, so at last count the AJC can sit back down. Give us some credit, here.
Posted by: shelbinator | February 1, 2007 1:41 AM