We’re less than a week away from our Social TV event. Have you registered? What are you waiting for? RSVP now: smclasocialtv.eventbrite.com/

Do you watch the local KTTV Fox news? Do you visit the Fox News website and their social channels? Guess who manages the digital strategy behind Fox Television stations in LA? One of our Social TV speakers!

Patrick O'Brien, Digital Director of KTTV Fox TV Stations

Meet Patrick O’Brien. Patrick is an Emmy award-winning digital director at FOX Television Stations here in Los Angeles. He directs the strategies for all web, mobile and social platforms operated by KTTV and also works with the FOX Television Stations group.

He is new to Los Angeles after spending time in Washington DC at Gannett/USAToday on social media initiatives at both the corporate and local levels. For many years, he has been in the thick of the evolution TV has made from traditional to social media and helps lead social media efforts for the properties he manages.

He is a mobile app junkie (and can’t stop talking about Evernote).  He received a double bachelors degree in media/marketing from Webster University in St. Louis and is enjoying his new Hollywood digs.

Chris here.

So… Evernote… he’s my kind of guy! Back to the topic at-hand. Who here still watches the news on TV? Who gets their news from the internet? From mobile apps? From Twitter? All of the above?

I’d like to know from Patrick:

- Many of us find out about the news via Twitter (or another social channel). How is regular TV news competing against social media? What are traditional news channels doing to embrace social channels and not kill their “viewership” on regular TV? Does it matter?

- How are you measuring success? Are there metrics that you are using to prove (if you still have to) that social platforms are working FOR traditional news outlets?

- Are you hiring for the summer? Graduating college seniors want to know.

Tune in on Wednesday May 23 at the Edmunds.com headquarters and listen to what Patrick has to say about my questions AND OTHER QUESTIONS BY YOU!

source: http://www.youngdigitallab.net

What is social TV? How do you define it? Is it just YouTube and Ustream.tv for you? Do you watch videos and live events on your mobile device? Are you watching programming as a game? When you were watching the live stream of Coachella this year, did you comment on its respective channels? Are you a network or agency that is reporting data of viewership and device sources for your primetime tv show or independent production? Are you an agency working on campaigns using entertainment programming?

Save the date! We’ll be delving into the Social TV evolution with our guest panelists and YOU.

Social Media Club LA Tunes in to the Social TV Evolution!

Who: Panelists TBA!

When: Wednesday, May 23

Venue sponsor: Edmunds.com

Where: Edmunds.com HQ (@edmunds)
1620 – 26th Street, Suite 400 South
Santa Monica 90404

Parking: Parking available for $5 in the Water Gardens’ parking structure.
From Colorado Avenue, turn right into the second Water Garden Visitor Parking driveway, just before 26th Street. Drive down into the underground parking structure, visitor parking is on Level P1. Look for the orange elevator lobby.

RSVP HERE: http://smclasocialtv.eventbrite.com/

Still on the fence about joining us next Tuesday evening, April 24th at the ING DIRECT Cafe LA for our Social Games Explosion panel? RSVP NOW: http://socialmediaclubsocialgaming.eventbrite.com/

Do you or someone you know play Farmville? Well, let me introduce our third guest speaker for the evening.

Sizhao “Zao” Yang is currently the COO/co-founder at BetterWorks, Inc., a perks platform for small and medium sized businesses.

Zao Yang, COO of Betterworks

Previously, he co-created Farmville, and was the CEO/co-founder of MyMiniLife, Inc. (sold to Zynga Game Networks, Inc.).  After the acquisition, MyMiniLife became the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users including games like Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. He also designed the Farmville iPhone application (top iPhone app), and worked on corporate development deals including Microsoft, Yahoo, Zynga Japan, and Zynga corporate strategy. He is also an active investor with stakes in companies like Hipmunk, GroupMe, Facebook, Zynga (acquisition stock), and SV Angels. He received a B.S. in computer science at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Betterworks is a start-up in Santa Monica that focuses on rewarding your workforce. Have your ears perked up? This is a business platform where employees can earn rewards and members (participating partners) has the group-buying power (like Groupon) to get those perks to their employees. It can be tough to get those big corporate discounts for employees if you don’t have the volume of a Fortune 500. What if you only have 4 employees but still want to reward your small but mighty staff?

While I’d love to be a small business that takes part in Betterworks, we have to go back to the subject at hand. I still have some questions about social gaming and Farmville for Zao next week:

1. Who/what/how did Farmville get started?

2. While the cash to coins market isn’t new (see World of Warcraft), did Farmville’s popularity make it the biggest social game for Facebook commerce (cash for coins)?

3. What advice do you have to budding social gaming agencies who are looking to be the next Farmville or Draw Something?

4. Are you still playing Farmville? *g*

5. You’ve come from playing and designing games on Facebook to designing a platform for small and large businesses to leverage their ‘buying’ power and reward employees. Where are you in the Betterworks timeline and where do you want to take Betterworks?

Don’t want Zao to answer my questions? No problem. Head over to ING DIRECT Cafe LA next Tuesday evening and put your hand up! We want you to ask questions and learn from all of our panelists! See you there!

If you ask Trina Finton, she was born a geek girl at heart. Starting with the Atari 2600, Trina was quickly hooked. By eight, she was programming games in Basic and starting her collection of comic books. Trina has appeared on panels and been interviewed about her strong opinions about women in gaming and technology fields. If she’s not working on GamingAngels.com, she might be cheering on the Vikings, playing videogames or reading Twitter.

Trina Finton, Founder of Gaming Angels

Most recently, Trina has been voted Fast Company’s Top Women in Games in 2010, featured on NBC LA twice as an expert in Women in Gaming, and is launching the first Women’s Media Network focused on geeky subjects. Gaming Angels also gave away their first scholarship for a young girl to attend National Computer Camp.

Find Trina here:
Personal Blog: http://www.thegamingangel.com
Corporate site: http://www.shesgeekyinc.com
Gaming Site: http://www.GamingAngels.com
http://www.GeekGirlstv.com
Twitter: @GamingAngel

Chris here. I’m pretty excited to meet Trina in person. I’m so happy to see women founding communities and businesses in a traditionally male industry. Gaming Angels isn’t just about gaming – they’re also a community of geek girls, gadget fangirls, and all things tech fangirls. Seeing that Valeska (and Zao – spotlight next!) work businesses with the games and connect them with consumers, I’m interested in seeing what Trina has to say about gaming agencies like Rivvid and Betterworks from a gamer perspective. Here are my questions for Trina:

1. What has the Gaming Angels community seen as a trend in social gaming?

2. Is there a popular platform that works best for casual gamers? FB app? iPad? Mobile format?

3. What about “traditional” game companies like EA or THQ or Activision? Have you seen any interest from them to create more social games or bridging games with commerce (or e-commerce)?

4. What’s the last drawing you created on Draw Something?

If you’re interested in chatting with Trina about her community of gamers, video games, social games or anything else, come by to the ING DIRECT Cafe LA on Tuesday evening, April 24! RSVP to our Social Games Explosion event!

Now.

Do your friends groan when you win trivia games against them? Are you one of those people who just knows everything about something? Do you know about Rivvid? Do you know about online trivia games where you can win prizes like a Target gift card, BCBG gift card, or an American Airlines gift certificate? Check out who Valeska Jacques is and what her company is all about at our April 24 Social Gaming Explosion panel!  RSVP now!

Valeska Jacques, Co-Founder of Rivvid

Meet Valeska Jacques. Valeska is Co-Founder of Rivvid, a unique video trivia platform that allows anyplayer to convert any YouTube video into trivia. Rivvid has been featured on Channel 10 news,ESPN Deportes, and local magazines. So far, brands such as Southland Mall, Teeccino, Zoo Miami, XMA (Extreme Martial Arts), and many local small businesses have started using video trivia to create “share-worthy” content and leverage it for cause related marketing. Valeska’s literacy and Don’t Text and Drive video trivia campaigns have captured sponsors such as Purina Mills, State Farm, and many local businesses to advocate the cause.

In 2007, she launched the Miami Beach Technology Council in Miami Beach and served 4 years on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Women Business Owners in Miami. Currently she serves on the board for the President’s Assembly national organization of the National Association of Women Business Owners and sits on the Communications Committee for NAWBO’s Los Angeles chapter. In 2011, she moved her family to Los Angeles, California to spearhead Rivvid’s product launch.

Chris here. Learn more about what Rivvid is doing with companies in the social gaming universe at our April 24 panel. I’m interested in what the gaming demographics are for her clients as well as effectiveness of trivia games online. I’ve always wanted to battle it out in a sci-fi trivia game. Maybe I can find one that’ll suit my needs. Some questions I’d like to know:

1. What sort of companies has Rivvid been working with lately?

2. How does Rivvid (or their clients) integrate this kind of gaming campaign into the clients’ existing marketing plan? OR do they? (Is this a one-off?)

3. What have you seen work that you can share as a best practice?

4. I won 580 points on the Line Dancing video trivia. What can I redeem those points for?

Get your questions ready for Valeska and the panel when we head to ING DIRECT Cafe LA on Tuesday evening, April 24!

source: dparkphotgraphy.com

At our SMCLA events, we ask that our professionals join at the professional level or power up with their colleagues at the business level. Did you know that when you join SMCLA, you’re also a card-carrying member of the national Social Media Club organization? In addition, all of these events SMCLA puts on each year are sustained by membership fees. We need your help to make the LA chapter a strong group of social media pros who can help each other and help others.

Please join us as official members of SMCLA! We really appreciate your support and reach!

[For a full list of memberships, please click here: https://socialmediaclub.org/membership]

Professional ($100)

• Members will be able to join our email lists and our social network where you can connect with others in Social Media Club who have similar interests or needs.
• Access to special information, how to’s, and the shared knowledge of the information created at all the chapter meetings and events we organize.
• All Professional members have the opportunity to be listed in the Speakers Directory.
• Special invitations to Professional Member-only events.
• Discounts to the various events that are organized by Social Media Club or its partner organizations, such as SocialMediaCamp.org, SocialMediaMasters.com and SocialMediaClubhouse.com.
• Opportunity to highlight work/services in monthly newsletters.
• Ability to publish in the Social Media Club Journal.
• Membership kit with a Social Media Club Member Card and stickers.

Student ($25)

• Members will be able to join our email lists and our social network where you can connect with others in Social Media Club who have similar interests or needs.
• Access to special information, how to’s, and the shared knowledge of the information created at all the chapter meetings and events we organize.
• Special invitations to Professional Member-only events.
• Discounts to the various events that are organized by Social Media Club or its partner organizations, such as SocialMediaCamp.org, SocialMediaMasters.com and SocialMediaClubhouse.com.
• Those at this membership level will receive a membership kit with a Social Media Club Member Card and stickers.

Must have an email address ending in .org, .edu or .gov

Forgot the link to join? Here it is! https://socialmediaclub.org/membership

From all of us on the SMCLA Board and the SMC mothership, we thank you for your support!

Betterworks - Rivvid - Gaming Angels

Ever wonder what the heck happens with the user data that gets collected when you play Farmville or Draw Something? How about when you’re playing a game on a movie website to gather enough coins to open up special sneak previews? As a business, what are your end goals when you decide to use a “game” to entice consumers?

Businesses are working hard to acquire and retain an audience by gamification these days. What is gamification? What are companies doing in the social gaming realm to set up that customer relationship? What are some examples that are working and not working? On the flip side, we want to hear what social gamers think about these “freemium” games and what they expect from them. If you’re managing a brand and have thought about using a social game as a promotion or a way to introduce an audience to your product, this panel is for you! If you’re a professional wondering how this will affect the way we see products within a gaming environment, this is for you! If you’re just curious to learn more about social gaming (Draw Something, anyone?), join us in April!

Join us for our Social Gaming panel on Tuesday, April 24 at ING DIRECT LA Cafe in West LA!

RSVP HERE: http://socialmediaclubsocialgaming.eventbrite.com/ or click on the Eventbrite widget on the upper right-hand column of our site!

Our guest speakers:

• Zao Yang – COO, Betterworks, Co-creator of Farmville (@zamland, @betterworks)
• Valeska Jacques – Co-founder/Partner Channel/Strategy Agency Partnerships, RIVVID (@webbuzzybee, @rivvid)
• Trina Finton – Founder, Gaming Angels (@gamingangels)

Networking & Registration: 6:00 – 7:45Pm
Program: 7:45PM – 9:00PM

Location: ING DIRECT Cafe LA
11175 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 445-0429 ‎

NOTE – We’ll provide the pizzas, drinks and parking!

One of the best parts of working for Ford is the opportunity to experiment and try new, innovative ways to tell the story of our company and our vehicles. Tomorrow night, we want you LA social media folks to have an inside peek at our latest endeavor, Escape Routes.

A little background first: with the Fiesta Movement in 2009, we put the brand in the hands of 100 consumers; in 2010 we were the first automaker that skipped the auto show and went straight to our fans and revealed the Explorer on Facebook; in 2010, Focus Rally: America showcased the all-new Ford Focus in an online interactive reality show.

This year with Escape Routes, we’re taking it to the next level as we make the ultimate interactive reality show bigger, better and even more exciting. The program, Escape Routes, will consist of a six-week interactive road-trip featuring six teams of two that are vying for $100,000. And this week, we kick it all off in Los Angeles.

Tomorrow night, Ford Motor Company would like to invite you SMC LA members to a party the night before filming for the show begins. Our digital host, Justine Ezarik (perhaps better known as iJustine), will be talking about the show with the six teams competing to win. They’ll be at Wokcano in Santa Monica, talking about the show, and the intersection between TV and social media.  Come join us to hear more.

Where: Wokcano Santa Monica – 1413 5^th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

When: Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 6-7:30 pm

Refreshments served

RSVP today to Ford.westcoast@gmail.com