Twitter Handles connect Westchester Community at Social Media Tent #BOW11

This year at Best of Westchester 2011, RMG helped Westchester Magazine create the first-ever social media tent.  What is a social media tent you ask? The goal of the social media tent was to bring together bloggers and active social media partners together for an opportunity for fans to “Meet and Greet” with them and put a face to the Twitter handle.  We even held a meet and greet with Miss Westchester Christina DeLeon and Publisher Ralph Martinelli.  For one night, under one roof, we tried to see people by their Twitter handles, not by their organizations. There were competitive social media agencies, publicists, publishers, and journalists- but all of that was invisible when social media brought them together and they were defined by their Twitter handles. We tried to do, what many would say, was the impossible.

Social Media can bring together people in a way that most any other form of traditional business cannot.

20 years ago, it would be unheard of to have different publishers, different communications agencies, and different media outlets all under one roof- promoting one cause-, which was to bring together a community of digitally active voices. I believe we accomplished something very special that evening under the social media tent- we brought together people that otherwise would never be under the same roof, and we were there for the same mission- to increase community and share our experiences of the evening. Granted we learned it was hard to keep journalists in a confined space for any length of time (especially when there are 1,000 things taking place at the Best of Westchester to absorb) but it was really special to see a community come together under the alias of a Twitter handle and a hashtag.