The Blog

 Wow, I’m completely blown away by this.

Paul Robinson, seasoned tech blogger and contributor to the Manchester Evening News, the widely read regional newspaper that shares a venerable heritage with the Manchester-born Guardian newspaper has awarded this site ‘Blog of the Week’ on the site’s The Mancunian Way blog!

I’m familiar with Paul’s work having read his excellent coverage of local tech and media events, from the Tony Wilson Experience, an innovative 24 hour conversation that paid tribute to one of Manchester’s greatest sons, music industry mogul and broadcaster, the late Tony Wilson, to summer’s media and advertising extravaganza, the b.TWEEN conference, also covered on this site.

He is an avid social media practitioner in his own right and I can attest to that as one of the many subscribers to his Twitter stream.

All this makes his review of the Real Fresh TV combined website and blog all the more heartening.

I know first hand how difficult it is to explain to organisations who have only just embraced e-commerce why engaging with consumers online using ‘social media’ is so important so it helps that this award comes from someone understands that social media is more than just blogging about what you had for lunch.

This quote is particularly heartening:

“For those of you hoping to improve your own online presence, it’s a great local starting place to try and understand the local social media scene, and what is happening further afield.”

- Manchester Evening News ‘Mancunian Way’ blog on Real Fresh TV, November 2008

And getting involved in the local social media scene is certainly what I’m going to be doing more of over the coming months.

For too long I have gazed longingly at the much bigger ‘social media scene’ down in London, wishing I could attend regular industry events like Chinwag’s social media MeasurementCamp or the often talked about weekly London Social Media Café aka The Tuttle Club, curated by the illustrious Lloyd Davis.

And there’s the equally bustling scene in Brighton, championed by the smart folk at social media agencies like Nixon McInnes.

Paul’s article has reminded me of how important it is for us Northern social media practitioners to come together to empower, educate and encourage our huge, creative and potentially industry-changing customer base.

The much talked about historic election in the US this week shows just how much the world has woken up to the power of the internet.

It’s our job to show businesses, individuals and blogstars in the making how to use the tools of social media to change their worlds.

And, next Tuesday, by joining in the ‘blogging is dead’ ‘Is blogging dead?’ debate at Manchester’s inaugural Social Media Café, I intend to do just that.

Care to comment?  Do you think Manchester’s social media scene is to be celebrated?  Fire away in the comments.

UPDATE: for those interested in all things social media in the Manchester area, sign up to the Social Media Café Manchester Google Group to meet the great people behind the idea and learn more about forth upcoming events.

There’s certainly a lot of interest, at last count membership was up to 118!  The Google Group has lots of info on Tuesday’s event including an agenda and running order.  The venue is The Northern at 56 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LW.  Tel: 0161 835 2548. Starts 6pm, ends 9pm.  See this blog post for more details.

This update comes courtesy of MartinSFP’s comment below.  The award winning blogger and musician behind 14sandwiches.com‘s post about starting a Social Media Café in Manchester kicked started everything early last month.  Exciting times.

Related posts:

1. Real Fresh TV spotlighted in Manchester Evening News Greater Manchester Business Week
2. Real Fresh TV Founder Short Listed for a 4Talent Multi-Platform Award
3. An Evening With Fred Wilson, a New York VC visiting Leeds England
4. Real Fresh TV’s Monthly Social Media Events Guide – August
5. Real Fresh TV’s Monthly Social Media Events Guide – September