The 435 Digital Crew is thrilled to annouce that both our panels at Social Media Week Chicago, How to Make Facebook Ads Work for Your Business and 435 Digital On Integrated Marketing, sold out in short order. But we’d be lying if we said we weren’t looking forward to checking out the multitude of other panels, parties, and networking events that will be put on by our industry colleagues and peers.

Of course, if you’re visiting Chicago for the first time, you also want to make sure to take in some of the sights and sounds of our fantastic city. 435 Digital members recommend taking the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s river cruse, taking a picture of your reflection in Cloud Gate (or, as locals affectionately call it, “The Bean,” hitting up Gino’s East for a slice of deep dish Chicago heaven, and heading up to Second City for some belly laughs. Of course, you can’t beat a stroll up the Magnificent Mile no matter what time of day (or year) you can fit it in.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Social Media Week Chicago schedule,you can do so here. You should also make sure to follow the Social Media Week Chicago blog, which, in addition to insightful posts on the current state of social media in our world, is also interviewing and previewing many of the week’s speakers.

Registration for Social Media Week events is free, but you do have to register and reserve a seat for most events, so get to it! We hope to see you all next week.

The post 435 Digital Takes On Social Media Week Chicago appeared first on 435 Digital.

In the year 2000 – when I first came across it — Craigslist was an earnest site providing a deceptively simple service — free classified ads online—  that was extremely useful to most everyone. Today, Craigslist is the 9th most popular website in the United States. As much as it is loved, it is also vilified. Some blame Craigslist for newspapers’ lost profits and decimation of  the revenue model for news. If only it were that simple.  If Craigslist hadn’t brought free classifieds online,  some other web service  would have. Personally, I credit Craig Newmark and Craigslist for setting a kind and gentle tone for the  Internet. For him the Internet has always been about social change.

Today Craig can be found on Twitter with nearly 39,000 followers, Facebook with more than 120,000 and on his CraigConnects site. He converses constantly with his followers, chatting about the birds and other wildlife he sees on his deck in San Francisco’s beautiful Cole Valley.  Craig’s current focus focus is on craigconnects, which he says is his “initiative to link up everyone on the planet using the Internet to bear witness to good efforts and encourage the same behavior in others.”

He will be speaking at 11 a.m. today at Chicago’s TechWeek at Merchandise Mart.

Q. Do you see the pressure from social media to change the culture of businesses as leading to lasting change or a new type of organization? What would that organization look like?

A. I do see that in large organizations, those with 150 or more people or more, that’s the Dunbar number. Currently, to get ahead in a large hierarchy, you tell your boss what he or she wants to hear, and then she or he tells her or his boss what they want to hear. That means that real company knowledge and possible improvements never make it to the top. However, social media tech can be used by line workers to combine knowledge and improve business businesses. In such situations, the boss has to back this up, and that often proves difficult.

I’m currently seeing the Department of Veterans Affairs using such methods to better serve vets and also provide better return for the taxpayer dollar.

Q. 435 Digital is all about increasing the capacity of smaller and local businesses to operate efficiently online to reach their customers and grow their businesses. What kind of tools do you see developing as an alternative to traditional advertising for local business? What other services do you see emerging?

A. I like the use of social media, where friends can help friends make better product choices, and that includes Twitter, Foursquare, Google+, Facebook, etc. Also, importantly, there are user review systems, like Amazon or Consumer Reports, which help.

The big problem is that sometimes such systems can be gamed, that’s already a problem. I feel that that might only be fixed with lots of reviewers, constant vigilance, and networks of fact-checking.

Q. You like to say trust is the new black, what are your thoughts for how local businesses can best translate the trust they have built on the ground into trust online? Services like Yelp might be part of the answer, but what else do you see?

A. I’d say that organizations just need to be straight with people in all presences, offline and online. Maximum transparency is good, within obvious limits.  (There’s always stuff you can’t talk about, like customer private info.)

It helps to speak in plain language, and to get to the point, and then stop.

Q. You recently successfully launched a veteran’s initiative through craigconnects, and community building is another area that you plan to encourage under craigconnects.  How do you plan to use the tools of the social web to encourage us to take more responsibility for our communities and neighborhoods.  What new tools are you excited about?

A. We’re still planning that, but probably soon two areas:

• networks of factchecking so that we can get trustworthy, reliable info.
• use of nonprofit rating services to help us select good nonprofits to help and how to find bogus ones to avoid.  We’re working with GuideStar, charity Navigator, and GreatNonprofits.org.

The post Social Media Icon: Craig Newmark on using social media for social change appeared first on 435 Digital.

2. Garrett Popcorn—While the recipe hasn’t been changed in more than 60 years, Garrett Popcorn has changed the way it engages its audience. @GarrettPopcorn has almost 5,000 followers on Twitter from all over the world and even lets Facebook fans order online.
Facebook: Garrett Popcorn   Twitter: @GarrettPopcorn

3. Berry Chill—You don’t become Chicago’s most popular frozen yogurt spot without daily customer interaction. The official Berry Chill presence on Twitter is Berry Chill’s mascot “Yogi Jones.” Yogi tweets exclusive discounts on Twitter. Check in on Foursquare and receive 10% off your Berry Chill purchase… or just follow their Facebook/Twitter posts during Bears games to be notified about free Berry Chill whenever Devin Hester scores a touchdown!
Facebook: Berry Chill   Twitter: @YogiJones

4. Chicago Blackhawks—Besides bringing home the Stanley Cup, the Chicago Blackhawks won the 2009 “Best Brand Use” Award from the Mashable.com Open Web Awards which reward the very best of social media and the web. While hockey traditionally struggles in popularity, you wouldn’t know it by the nearly 400,000 fans on the Chicago Blackhawks’ Facebook page—that’s more than the Miami Heat, LA Dodgers or New Orleans Saints!
Facebook: Chicago Blackhawks   Twitter: @NHLBlackhawks

5. Akira Chicago—Taking fashion to the streets and to the web, Akira has more than 11,000 fans on Facebook and almost 3,000 followers on Twitter. Akira gave its Fall 2010 Fashion Show attendees an inside look at their latest trends by featuring a scannable QR code on attendees’ tickets.
Facebook: AKIRA Chicago   Twitter: @Akirachicago

6. Foiled Cupcakes—Foiled Cupcakes is a delivery-only cupcake bakery that uses social media sites to get the word out about their exclusive business. Recently featured as a Groupon Deal of the Day, they have more than 6,000 followers on Twitter.
Facebook: Foiled Cupcakes   Twitter: @foiledcupcakes

7. Food Trucks—When lunch time rolls around Chicagoans salivate by their computer screens waiting for Twitter to update them with the location of their favorite food truck. The race was too close to pick just one, but some of our favorites are Gastro Wagon, Meatyballs and Flirty Cupcakes.
Gaztro Wagon Facebook: Gaztro Wagon   Twitter: @Wherezthewagon
Meatballs facebook: Meatyballs Mobile   Twitter: @fossfoodtrucks
Flirty Cupcakes Facebook: Flirty Cupcakes   Twitter: @FlirtyCupcakes

8. The Chicago Theatre—One of the city’s most iconic entertainment venues uses social media to stay in touch with its audience. The Chicago Theatre’s Facebook page lets fans sign up to become an Insider and are encouraged to request events they would like to see perform there.

Facebook: The Chicago Theatre   Twitter: @ChicagoTheatre

9. Metropolis Coffee—The small coffee company has taken a page out of Starbucks’ book and started an aggressive social media campaign. Metropolis Coffee features a blog and photos on their Facebook fan page and even enables fans to buy coffee online all with just a few clicks.
Facebook: Metropolis Coffee

10. Threadless—The Chicago based T-shirt company has more than 165,000 fans on Facebook and followers are encouraged to show and enter contests on their static FBML tabs. As impressive as that is, their Twitter presence is what caught our attention. @Threadless has an amazing number of followers at more than 1 million and climbing.—DANNI WYSOKI
Facebook: Threadless   Twitter: @Threadless

The post Top 10 Social Media Personalities in Chicago appeared first on 435 Digital.

Chicago has a pretty active social media community, so personally I’m a bit surprised we didn’t hit the top 10, but maybe that’s just Midwestern pride talking.

Any other thoughts on the study? You can read the entire report at http://www.netprospex.com/social.—KEIDRA D. CHANEY

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