UPDATE: In case you didn’t already hear, this event is now FREE; i.e., no cover charge, no ticket charge, etc. You’ll still be responsible for your own bill at The Pub, however.
New Media Cincinnati began in October 2007 as a simple meetup group of people in the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky areas who were passionate about new and social media technologies like blogging, podcasting, Twitter, etc.
The group consists of people who are using new and social media for a living, but also includes people who are simply involved as a hobby. Anyone interested in learning more about these technologies and in connecting with others is welcome to attend. New Media Cincinnati has become, as one attendee remarked, “the premiere social networking event in the Greater Cincinnati area.” The group’s mission has grown to one of promoting digital literacy in our community.
People who come to New Media Cincinnati Second Saturdays
- make and foster business and personal connections with at least one other person,
- have face-to-face time with social media connections made online,
- learn from one another about social media technologies as we share best practices and other tips
- have the chance to talk about their own online presence
- have opportunities to share something they know with the rest of the group
- partake of food and drink and in general have a great time!
Connecting at New Media Cincinnati Second Saturdays has led to new business and employment for some.
Sponsors
This month’s New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday is being brought to you by Daniel Johnson, Jr., The Pub at Rookwood Mews, and EJM Designs, a web design and internet marketing company. Follow Eric on Twitter (@ejmdesigns) and check out his blog at http://ejmdesigns.blogspot.com.
Special thanks to The Pub for their continued partnership and support of New Media Cincinnati in 2010; follow them on Twitter @PubRookwood.
If you or your company is interested in sponsoring New Media Cincinnati, please get in touch with Daniel Johnson, Jr. for details.
Topic: Privacy in Social Media
As a springboard from last month’s discussion about Google Buzz, as well as some other news over the past month about location-based social networking tools, this month we will have a panel discussion on Privacy in Social Media. We will have three panelists approach their use of social media with different levels of privacy.
As always, we will leave ample time for the open networking that so many of us enjoy.
Event Details
- Event Tags
- Twitter: #newmediacincy
- Elsewhere: newmediacincy
- Questions? Contact Daniel Johnson, Jr. via the Contact page or see below.
Create and Share Content
The strength of this group comes from everyone’s participation. The more you share about the group online and in-person with others, the wider reach this group will have.
To that end, unless otherwise specified, New Media Cincinnati events and content therein are licensed under Creative Commons to promote the sharing and distribution of new media content.
In other words, you are welcome to
- take pictures and add them to the Flickr group and elsewhere,
- record audio and video,
- blog,
- tweet,
- record audio and video,
- live-stream, and
- otherwise create and share content to document and promote this event on the internet
More about the New Media Cincinnati web presence can be found at the website.
Participating in the event means that you understand that your image and voice may be captured and used for non-commercial use.
Late-breaking news
Any late-breaking news will be communicated via either Daniel Johnson Jr’s personal Twitter feed(@danieljohnsonjr) or the New Media Cincinnati Twitter feed (@newmediacincy).
See you on Saturday!
Founder, New Media Cincinnati
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How is it that we have both a sponsor and a ticket fee this month? Was this explained in the planning meeting, or have I missed a post?
It was.
We are trying something new this month and want to make sure people
who sign up to come will come.
Past events have had free registration, and we have packed the patio
at The Pub. While we are not trying to turn people away by requiring a
small fee, we recognize that it may turn some people away who might
not want to commit.
Even so, we believe the value people get from coming to New Media
Cincinnati far exceeds this small fee.
Hope we'll see you there, Jeremy!
Like I said on IM Daniel… no offense, but you're going to get far fewer people going to this event. Some might even be offended about the charge. I strongly urge you to rethink this.
To be honest, New Media Cincinnati has never truly been FREE. In a way, no
event ever is. It is subsidized by event sponsors and volunteer hours. You
attend a free event because someone else paid your way. Simple as that.
I have put these events on for free over the past year and a half, and this
time, in an effort to make sure people who register actually come, I require
a small amount of $5 to ensure that there is enough room for people who
really want to be there.
As you think about this, I encourage you to think about the value you have
obtained from being at these events. If you seriously think hard about it, I
would hope that it's worth more than $5.
Absolutely worth it!
However, from my personal perspective, things are extremely tight for me right now, and by the time I add gas (48 miles roundtrip) and a possible order at The Pub (I feel guilty when I don't order anything), it's getting up there, and I personally may have to reconsider for the next few months.
I say all of this with a supportive attitude.
The only other thing I would suggest is something in writing explaining the change, 'cause it's a big one. I'd say that the majority are unable to attend the planning meetings, and honestly, I have yet to listen to a recording of one after the fact. 
BTW, Eventbrite is charging quite an extra fee–$1.11 on a $5 charge?
I am just getting into social networking and realizing its benefits of being able to access such a large audience.
I'm curious — Is the Rookwood Pub charging you to use the space? You really need to be upfront about the charge.
Does it matter? I'm in BNI and I have no idea what they pay for our venue. That's a lot more than $6.11 per month. New Media Cincy isn't a non-profit organization that needs full-disclosure.
I organize some groups and it's a lot of work. If paying a small fee will keep the RSVP count more accurate and make it worthwhile for Daniel to keep putting these events together, I'm happy to pay it.
Does CincySMB or Cincinnati Women Bloggers charge? How about the Tweetups and Meetups around town? Sometimes they get sponsors, but generally, there's just a lot of volunteer time involved. Last I checked, “volunteer” was defined as “working without pay”. Most volunteers do so because they're passionate about something and their only return is the good feelings they get from it. They're not trying to profit from some so-called “expertise”. You're not bringing in someone with a speaker's fee. You're just a dude who has a gathering at a bar where everyone pays for their own drinks and food, but you want to charge for the hours of putting an eventbrite invite together. You say yourself that you pack the back patio. So what's the concern with RSVPs?
Wow. Some of you are really guzzling the kool-aid, aren't you? Nobody pays a bar a fee or needs sponsors to cover costs – when event guests are covering their own checks. Fees are warranted when you're renting space, bringing guests from out of town or providing attendees with a takeaway – unless it's gratis swag. This has become social media Jonestown, hasn't it?
Great comments here from everyone. I think this is definitely something worth talking about. I appreciate the feedback. I've been sick the past few days and have been dealing with some other stuff. I'll get a blog post out later today.
I agree with Jeremy L. The events I have been to are definitely worth more than $5 in value, however, with gas (60+ miles roundtrip) and ordering even water and an appetizer, I am already about $15-$20 out of pocket, and that is if I come alone. If my husband joins me, we are looking at $30-$40 total. While $5 is definitely reasonable for an event of this nature, the overall cost is too much on a monthly basis. Also, I haven't been in a couple of month's due to scheduling difficulties, but where does the $5 go? If the $5 were to go towards my drink/meal purchase, I would definitely consider coming back, as that could help cut cost.
Well, there you have it, the internet is free. Which derives down to “everything related to the internet is free”. Thus music downloading, software “borrowing”, and a jillion startup companies going out of business because the world at large won't pay five cents for their product when it saves them hundreds of hours. Either that or pages crammed full of ads that annoy the users enough to get them to flee to the next startup foolish enough to flush their life savings down the internet toilet.
People wonder why so many great free services suddenly disappear. This is why. People are ignorant of the true cost of the service. Dozens of hours of time (Daniels and others) go into planning each NMC meeting. Are you willing to piss away dozens of hours of your time each month for something like this? No? Well, then how about buying 15 minutes of someone elses time to do your part for you? Tada. $5 cover charge.
I'm all for it. Last time I sat in a Lawyers office for 15 minutes of professional advice cost me several hunderd dollars. Saved me thousands. NMC is a timy micro version of that. Plus I can have a beer. Hmm, really need to talk to my Lawyer about selling beer at the office. And Burgers…and…
I agree with Jeremy and John, especially the comment about internet and the idea of free. Its 5 bucks, by far cheaper than a lot of the networking groups around town. It covers bringing together a great group of people in a nice venue, with A/V support, speakers (whether paid or not), and professionalism. In the AdClub you pay a yearly membership or 10-15 at the door for events. At user groups its the same way with membership dues or or an event cover. I wholeheartedly feel for everyone who has to drive that much, I'm feeling the hurt as well, but maybe it should be an every other month kind of thing in your case. I personally have not been at a meeting in a while, but I think what you get out of the group is more than well worth five dollars.
Jeez, people. $5 is nothing. That won't even get a lunch these days, except for the dollar menu at Wendy's. Yes, there is gas and ordering food from the Pub, but if you attended New Media in the past, you were already paying those things.
Personally, my constraint is time, not money (well, not $5). The value is worth way more than $5. If you do choose to weight value against the gas and food, you need to ask yourself why you go. For fun? For business? Looking for new clients?
My only criticism, Dan, is yes you need a blog post explaining the reasoning, and also where the money will go. Even if you say, “I'm keeping it for myself, hosers” then that's fine with me, cuz as we all know, time is money.
I kinda of like the “value received” model for this type of thing. Show up, then at the end, pay for the value you received. Might be $0. Might be a lot more than $5. Do a couple of these and see if your “average ticket” is more or less than $5. Would be interesting I think. Gives you an idea about how much “value” you are really providing.
So, again, my complaint is not that it's $5 – it's just what the heck is the $5 for anyway? If it's for DJ2, then so be it. Great. Let the market decide if he deserves it (he probably does). It's this sneaky stuff that I do not like. And DJ2, your response sounds like you are going to be standing at the New Media Cincinnati exit with a wad of $5 bills, handing out those to people who showed up to “reserve their spot.”
I couldn't agree with you more Gerard. In my mind, the issue isn't about the ticket price or if it is for profit – there are plenty of meetups where the organizer hopes to earn money from organizing. If this is the case, then it isn't for compensating “volunteers”, it is to run a for-profit meet-up, which is fine. Are any volunteers other than the organizer being compensated? Just be open about it.
If the issue is time vs. money I suspect that there are a number of people who would be happy to volunteer their time to help out to keep the event accessible to the entire community. There are a lot of people who are passionate about this space who would happily donate (without any expectation of compensation) their time. Many people in the city are happily donating their time to run similar events because they are passionate about the space, and any sponsorship $$ go back into the event (ie. to cover snacks, breakfast, drinks, etc).
So, I don't think that the question is about value of the event – I think that it is around transparency about where the funds will go and whether this is a community event or a for-profit event.
[...] are some video comments I recorded in response the the reaction to this month’s New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday being [...]
[...] are some video comments I recorded in response the the reaction to this month’s New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday being [...]
Agreed Krista. I just got a bad taste in my mouth that I felt like it was just sprung up. Granted, I could have called into the call the week before, but I would have argued with Daniel again that just changing it like this is a bad idea.
It's not that fact that it's paid… like you said, I've been to plenty of events where I've had to pay. Now, typically I get something in return (book, shirt, drink tickets… you know what I'm saying)
Transparency is the key… and for someone who's so connected to Twitter, Facebook and the like – it wouldn't have been difficult to address this much, much sooner. Yeah, $5 isn't a big deal… but don't offer something for free for years, then just expect me to start paying for it without notice.
Just recorded a video and will post over here as well as at http://danieljohnsonjr.com/main
An interesting idea, but I almost never carry cash.
And, given the fact that some in the past have forgotten to even pay their tabs before they left …. :-/
Really glad to see most people having a positive discussion here, and that the snakiest comment was anonymous, which pretty much removes all credibility.
It appears that the consensus is simply that people were surprised, couldn't find a written note acknowledging and explaining the change, and are a bit curious as to what the money is for, though not that concerned.
I'm sorry Daniel, but if that video was supposed to provide answers, I couldn't find them.
What's the problem with a simple bullet-point list?
WHO decided to “monetize”
WHY it was decided to “monetize”
WHAT the funds collected will be used for
HOW those funds will be handled
Rambling phone calls and videos are all well and good, but as you have noted: time is money. If you want your point heard, make it and make it succinctly. There are no right or wrong answers, but obfuscation does not engender trust.
I've already made piece with the fact that I'm most likely going to tick off people I've met and known thru NMC – but I'll lay out what I'm feeling.
I was slated to be on the panel at NMC this Saturday and canceled for a few reasons… charging was one of them, if not the main one.
Before you all string me up — and I'm sure you will anyway, let me explain.
My reasoning is really easy…
* The last NMC I went to was like every other one I went to — sure I saw people I know, shook some hands, talked — and that's great, but I didn't get any new insights to social media and my place in it…
* I really thought that talking about privacy was really important, a lot of new people are opening themselves to things in Facebook, Twitter and new location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla — I was charged up for this panel, and I was really looking forward to it.
* When I saw the charge I felt three things: 1) How can you start charging for something out of the blue when it's been free from day one? and popular at that. 2) If you were going to decide to charge – why not let people know weeks in advance… you tweet more than anyone I know, couldn't you have spent 140 characters and said – “Hey gang… we're thinking about setting a nominal fee for NMC going forward… opinions?” and finally 3) I just feel weird about speaking at something that people have to pay for… I don't want people to pay to hear me speak about this topic – for me it feels slightly exploitative.
So with that, I declined speaking at NMC – and will most likely stop going all together. I haven't been in a few months – not because of a lack of wanting, but timing and I have been busy with my own business…
Again, I don't wish ill will on NMC or DJJ – I just think this could have been handled way differently and it has left a bad taste in my mouth.
I agree. I watched the video because I have enjoyed the time spent at NMC events and reading about them on Twitter when I can't go. Like most have said, I think $5 is reasonable, and actually wouldn't mind paying, but I feel this change has come very quickly and without explanation. With some clarification and more advanced warning I think the backlash of charging could have been avoided. Another alternative is to give away a certain # of free tickets (say 10) and charge $5 if you aren't the first 10 to register. This is common practice and if you really want to come, you know there could be a charge in advance.
Very much agreed with foxydot.
To disclose – I've never attended NMC as other things tend to conflict with the schedule. In the grand scheme of things, $5 is not gonna hurt me. That's a cup of coffee. But you cannot claim transparency and not answer the basic questions of why, what and how. It shouldn't take over a day to respond to this. There shouldn't be a long delay of “writing a blog post” and then posting a practically incoherent rambling video. How difficult would it be to say “I want to monetize because I want the money, because I feel like I need to be paid”? THAT'S transparency. What you're doing is plain out shady. No one should have to have a private conversation to ask you why you want our money to sit in a restaurant and talk about the twitter.
I completely disagree with you, JG, on the point that it shouldn't take a day to answer. I believe that this situation has incited some much-needed discussion about finding value and communication. I've apologized for the miscommunication.
Everyone makes a decision as to whether they want to come or not. I'm sorry that you haven't been able to come beforehand. I think you would have gotten some good value out of it.
I could have spent more time gathering thoughts and putting things out there, but I honestly wanted to use the time to gauge where the community was at. It's been interesting to note that the people who've seemed to be the most affected by this emotionally are the ones who have been marginally involved with the group.
You say it shouldn't take a day to respond. This community does not need to know every last detail of how I spend my time. You say there shouldn't be a long delay of “writing a blog post” and then posting a video. You act as though it's been days. Are you paying me for a response? Why should the amount of time spent between that matter?
How is what I'm doing shady? Don't come to an event if you're not comfortable with it.
As I said earlier, those who see the value in it will come; others who don't won't.
I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, Catherine. This was simply one of many things going on and I felt any answer was better than none.
I don't have anything else to say right now.
Trolls and anonymous commenters have no place in our home over here. I've deleted the comments in question. I reserve the right to clean up, modify, and even delete comments made over here and on all my blogs.
I'm letting this comment in because it adds value to the conversation, but, in the future, I will not allow them. Just an FYI.
As I said in my email, Chris, I'm bummed that you've bowed out. I think the community would have benefited greatly from hearing you share your perspective.
All things considered, I respect your position and understand. You've been a great friend and colleague.
Daniel, you claim to be a “community builder” (which I still haven't figured out what that means. If I start a chatroom for furries, am I building a community) and you essentially ignored that same community when they question your actions. Not answering the question directly is what I mean by being shady. You are blowing this up to be a bigger deal than it should have been – for what, blog hits? Twitter mentions? No publicity is bad, right? All you had to do was address the question succinctly. Should have taken 5 minutes, not a day. That's why the timing matters. It makes it look like you're crafting a response instead of being forthright with people. If I had started a group for people to network and multiple people questioned something I did, I'd answer it immediately and 100% honest. This is the transparency people are talking about.
On a side note – someone who updates twitter as much as you stating that the community doesn't need to know how you spend your time is pretty hilarious.
WAIT! I GOT IT! This is a test, right? A warm up for privacy in social media? This is the privacy you're talking about, yes? I can't believe we all fell for this one. Well do.
Massive marketing mistake. You don't build a community or fan base that is based on open participation and free of cost, and then jump in to impose a cost. You're going to kill the community, you're upset the balance by not meeting the expectations that were created in advance, and an established part of the community. If you wanted to monetize the community in some way, there are plenty of other options to create product launches, etc… around the membership base dealing with social media. I look at master marketers like Frank Kern, who give away freely to his customer base, and then when he launches a product it's a no-brainer to buy in. He can generate millions in sales in a couple of days.
I've been following this group for a time, trying to decide if it's something I want to participate in and get behind. I was actually planning to attend the upcoming event, but have decided to skip. The truth is, social media has no geographic boundaries, and people in Cincinnati are no less accessible than people in LA. Attending webinars, virtual events, etc.. are all options now, and if I want to meet people and have a beer, I can do that at any number of professional networking meetups. This demonstrates that you have a way to go to understand the marketing side to social media. Not that the $5 is anything special, but that you simply don't understand the “social” part of “social media” and I value my time and relationships – choosing to work with people who are professionals, not hacks.
As mentioned in the CinDaily podcast (@CinDaily) earlier today, I've refunded everyone who had paid for a ticket and changed the tickets so that they are all FREE.
Out of curiousity, what made you decide to take the tickets back to their original “free” status?
[...] Johnson Jr on his program yesterday to talk about New Media Cincinnati and specifically the recent “tempest in a teapot” situation that occurred over the past week. It was a great opportunity to tell the story of New Media Cincinnati and how this social media [...]
[...] had me on his program yesterday to talk about New Media Cincinnati and specifically the recent “tempest in a teapot” situation that occurred over the past week. It was a great opportunity to tell the story of New Media Cincinnati and how this social media [...]