In my previous post on three lessons entrepreneurs can learn from activists, I wrote about the importance of building a partner and volunteer ecosystem and mentioned how we use this principle in our own work at 2020 Social.
Over the last three months, Dave has been working with several other social media practitioners and enthusiasts to start chapters of Social Media Club in a number of Indian cities, including Delhi (Facebook, Twitter), Mumbai (Twitter), Bengaluru (Twitter), Chennai (Twitter), Kolkata (Twitter), Hyberabad (Twitter), and Pune (Twitter). Several of these aren’t yet active, so if you want to take the lead in your local Social media Club, write to @evansdave on Twitter or volunteer on the Social Media Club wiki.
The Delhi Chapter of Social media Club held its first meetup at Hauz Khas Village on November 21, 2009 (the first Social Media Club meetup in India?) and some 40 odd people turned up.
I gave a talk on digital activism in India and China to emphasize the idea that social media goes beyond business and marketing.
In the discussion that followed, I suggested that we keep the focus of Social Media Club meetups on big ideas so that not only social media enthusiasts and practitioners but also marketers and non-profits are interested in getting involved. I would love to attend talks that teach me something new about social media in India, for instance —
- How are Janaagraha, Breakthrough and Cry uses social media in India.
- How are Zoho, Deskaway, Uhuroo, Cynapse, YouSuggestand Remindo are building SaaS-based collaboration products out of India?
- How are startups like Quippy, Fachak and Lifeblob building consumer focused social networking platforms from India?
I hope Dave and the other good folks who are setting up Social Media Clubs in India will keep their eye on the big ideas and make the Indian chapters some of the most vibrant communities in the Social Media Club ecosystem.
Cross-posted at 2020 Social: Because Business is Social.
