Rural communities in the United States have notoriously lacked Broadband infrastructure. Information & Communication Technology in these less populated areas could be better, which is why places like Clarksville, New Hampshire; Sherman Mills, Maine; and Enosburgh, Vermont may be behind in the Information Age because of their geographic location and available means of communication. This does not necessarily mean all are purposefully living “off-the-grid.”

Social Media and smartphones are just two examples of how new technology is being embraced by rural areas to help broaden communication. Farmers are now using Twitter to communicate and market their brand. They use smartphones to check the weather forecast, send photos, check the market, or socially connect their farms to the eaters of America.  We need to continually help farmers spread information and use Web 2.0 technology to their benefit. (more…)

Social Media Day is this Wednesday, June 30th, 2010. The day was originally organized by Mashable.com and now there are over 525 Meetups nationwide, including our own right here in Portsmouth, NH at The Press Room located at 77 Daniel Street. Social Media Day Portsmouth also includes an enormous benefit to help raise money for Team Mountain, as they race to support The Greater New England Chapter of the National MS Society and the Molly Rowlee Foundation.

The Portsmouth Herald describes the event…

Independence! features live music performances from two generations of NH Seacoast singer songwriters and a brilliant selection of visual art and photography from the region’s artists. Enjoy the company of Portsmouth’s colorful business and arts community and sample fine foods from some of the area’s best restaurants and cafes.

Live music performances by Martin England and the Tan Vampires (featuring Jake Mehrmann). Local artists Jess Scott, Colin James, and Jocelyn Toffic will also be on hand with their latest work on display…

The event begins sharply at 6:00 PM and admission is only five bucks, so meet me at The Press Room and help make a great cause even greater through the power of Social Media and Community Networking…

Check in on FourSquare, Yelp, and Twitter. Facebook your friends and make our local community shine!

Many thanks to Yong C. Lee and the folks at Social Media Club for starting the discussion of Social Media Policy within Higher Education. The conversation on Twitter and Ning have been both lively and constructive and now there’s a Google Wave, which is open to anyone with ideas for best practices and social media guidelines. It’s all about collaboration. Get involved!

There are many social music websites to choose from, but what’s the best choice? Does it matter? Which service has the best, deepest selection of interesting sounds? Which one is the easiest to share? Which one has the best layout? If you’re not familiar with social music networks, here’s a five of the leading candidates:

iLike is a partnership with MySpace. Remember them? It’s still a very popular home for musicians, as it’s a way to promote their music free of charge. iLike also let’s users create a profile, share music with friends, search concerts, music charts, and create playlists. There are many independent artists found and you can listen or buy songs with just a few clicks. iLike also lets you build your own radio station.

LaLa is no more. From their website, “The Lala service has been discontinued as of May 31st, 2010.” This is soon to be replaced by an Apple iTunes streaming website. Apple purchased LaLa this past winter and rumor has it that this is their plan. Watch the WWDC on June 7th for more information.

Blip.fm offers search results for audio and video. It does a pretty good job finding independent artists, too. When you ‘blip’ a song, there is an option to echo your selection using Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Friendfeed, LiveJournal, and Ping.fm. Visitors to Blip.fm can create a playlist to save for later or share with friends. Users will also see links to Amazon and iTunes for purchasing each blipped song. (more…)

On Thursday, May 6th join us for The Portsmouth NH Tweet-Up at The Red Door, located at 107 State Street in downtown Portsmouth, NH. This is our second time hosting and this year we’ve got 6o+ folks registered to join us upstairs at one of the hippest martini bars in the seacoast area. RiverRun Bookstore is donating another gift certificate, which we’ll raffle off along with a brand new, engraved iPod. If this is your first Tweet-Up, expect a lot of mingling and networking. They’ll be people from all backgrounds in attendance. Do you have questions about Social Media? Information Technology? Graphic Design? SEO? Looking to share some information? Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. Enjoy some great music, fantastic drinks, and meet your followers face to face. Space is limited, sign up now!