26.point.1

Why something new? Because of everything old.

// August 6th, 2009 // Random Stuff

So I sent out a few emails yesterday after mining a few local repositories for the names and email address of Leeds digital marketing agencies, and got a remarklable amount of response for ’social networking Zero’. Lots of people also emailed me telling me it was a great idea, and how they were looking forward to it. And not mutually exclusive from that last group of people lots of people asked:

a) Why I haden’t liked GeekUp?
b) Had I tried OpenCoffee, GeekUp and other alternatives?

For many of them I attempted a response and at the last minute thought better of it before simply remarking that I looked forward to seeing people, and leaving those two questions unanswered. The questions had answers… a, can be found a few blog posts back, and the answer to b is that No, I haven’t… I just wasn’t in the mood for sharing that information - mostly because the two questions hit at the heart of why I was so unsure about this whole thing in the first place - nights, mornings and afternoons exist already where nerdy/administrative/management types (and other types for that matter) get together and talk about nerdy/administrative/managerial stuff all over Leeds.

And that is why I’m wanting to do this … because those things happen. And none of them “fit” who I am as a guy who works in digital marketing in Leeds - I used to be a developer, but I’m not a geek, and don’t belong at GeekUp. I am a manager, but I don’t have the time to make to go to OpenCoffee once a month, and it strikes me as really way too “work focussed” anyway.

What I really want social media Zero to be is something that transcends the boundries which I perceive things like OC and GU to have - it’s for everyone who works in digital media in Leeds (those that aren’t geeks and those that can’t have the morning off every fourth week to go drink crappy starbucks coffee)- and if 10 people turn up that I don’t know and my social circle grows to include them, then I’ll consider the whole exercise a success, and if twice that number turn up then this doubt will all have been worth it. And I might have someone design me a logo or something - it seems the rage.