On Friday, September 10^th, 150 people from all over Northern California watched Shel Israel, Robert Scoble and moderator Jeremiah Owyang discuss the evolution of social media. The Wisdom of We 2010 Seminar & Tweetup, sponsored by Democrasoft was an hour and a half long seminar which looked at the idea of social media vs. “traditional media,” blogging and how the public gets information.

Images provided by Eric 先魁 Hwang

“Let’s go back…. BFB… Before Facebook.”  - Jeremiah

After looking back on some original innovators in technology, like Douglas Engelbart who invented the mouse back in the sixties – to the present influence of Klout scores – to what the future can become, the three took questions from the audience.  Questions ranged from politics, to location based services, to connecting with people, to what technology gives them the shivers.

“The next iphone and Siri, (a virtual personal assistant).  This is the world I am excited about.” – Robert

“The technology that I am excited about, it doesn’t exist yet… It is e-telepathy – when these devices become so small.  I can find out his (Robert’s) Klout score just by looking at him.”  -Jeremiah

“Technology’s impact on humans.”  -Shel

The San Bruno Fire which happened the day before the seminar was a great example of how social networking has changed how we view breaking news.  People were watching tweets about the fire which were more up-to-date than television or radio.

“We have become their feet on the street, but in the end, their sitting rooms still do a damn good job of getting information out.” – Shel

“ABC News Bay Area had the best Twittering (during the fire). They were Retweeting things and really doing a good job.” –Robert

“I get so tired of social media and traditional media, it is all media. Social Media uses traditional media as sources and they do us.”  -Shel

Many people have asked what Wisdom of We stands for and our answer is that our product Collaborize is an online collaborative decision making online and voting tool based on the idea that working together is the best way to get results.  Creating a community within an organization or group of people with a common passion is one reason why social media works so well as a marketing tool.  It is the personal connections that differentiates social media marketing from other mediums.  This topic was brought up by Roohi Moolla from Social Biz Now. “It is so personal. Anyone who says (social media) is hype is wrong. It is about personal connections.” Attendees mostly came from the wine industry in Napa and Sonoma County through connections that the Democrasoft team has created via social networking.

“We don’t have pen pal’s anymore, we have Facebook friends.” – Jeremiah

Over a thousand tweets with the hashtag #WOW10 were shared, many people sharing quotes from the speakers and talking about the wine.  We held a twitpic contest and while there were many great pictures (I am fond of the ones of me on stage), there can only be one winning picture. The marketing team chose one by Rebecca Martin, aka @NapaWineGal on Twitter.  Not because it said my name or because it made us all laugh – but we loved the use of new technology to display a message written on old technology.

Hey there @sharayray were soaking up #wow10 but again @yo_harryo is forced to get creative http://yfrog.com/7fsutgj

After the Seminar, everyone gathered into the Sonoma Ballroom for some appetizers and of course, some wine. Nine Wine Road Wineries including; Peterson Winery, Hobo Wines, Limerick Lane, Sheldon Wines, White Oak Winery, Merriam Vineyards, Battaglini Vineyards, J. Keverson Wines and Siduri Wines were generous enough to pour some of the best wines in Northern Sonoma County. We had a raffle with prizes from the amazing Sizzling Tandoor, The Wine Spies, D’Argenzio Winery, Franco’s Ristorante, and Sift Cupcakery.

Images from the event can be found on Eric 先魁 Hwang‘s Flickr.

“ Sonoma County is…  A really collaborative experience, a great place to be.” – Beth

I cannot help but agree.