Sacramento's Social Media Day at News10

In just a few years I went from having a Facebook account to actually using it (now with more than 700 friends), signing up for Twitter (my first tweet was on October 16, 2008, since then I have "tweeted" nearly 1600 times and nearly 450 people seem to care) and now I attend "TweetUps" throughout Sacramento and Placer County, have joined a Meetup group or two, have been featured in several news stories just because I use social media, perhaps most importantly I have been fortunate enough to meet hundreds of great people from throughout the Sacramento region.

Mashable.com declared today, June 30th "Social Media Day," so like any good member of the Social Media universe I attended the official Sacramento party at News10 (KXTV).  The event, which included lunch, was sold out within hours (tickets were free, but limited to the first 75 to sign up) and it was a great opportunity to meet the people I follow on Twitter, talk to friends I have met via Twitter and learn more about how News10 is using social media to better connect with the community and in essence "give the station back to the community." Not only did we interact with people in the room, we also used Skype to talk to some friends across the pond at Manchester, England's Studio Skylab. To top of a great afternoon, we were granted a full studio tour, which included heading into the studio where they film every newscast, learning about the control room (most of the studio cameras are now automated so they can focus on having more crews and reporters in the field covering the news) and taking a peek at the newsroom (aka the room where all my phone calls go when I pitch a story).

Although not an exhaustive list of those that attended the event these are a few of the people I recommend following on Twitter that were at the event (please do not be offended if I didn't include you, there are lots of you ... if you really feel left out, please DM or @ me and I will add you to the list).

@alejandroreyes - Sacramento's top Social Media expert (in my opinion) also organizes SacTweetUps.
@SuzannePhan, @mponto, @queenkv, @willframpton, @RYamamotoNews10, @timgeraghtynews & of course @News10_CA - all great people at News10
@Lesley3fold - works at 3Fold Communications
@ashleegadd - works at the Citizen Hotel, also has a great blog
@laurenedvalson - works in the advertising department at the Sacramento Bee
@ScribbyKitty - works at the Zoo and tweets for them @SacramentoZoo
@Karen_Speaks - works at the Sacramento International Airport as their PIO
@SacComedy - interested in all things commedy, follow him
@Lucia316 - works for in the mortgage industry
@SacramentoMarko - GM at a Sacramento area hotel
@mariecfeldman - does some great video work
@AlliMFuller - works the League of California Cities and formerly the United Way
@lttlewys - this mom also has a great blog
@plumaslaker - state worker, social media "networker"
@Karenof4 - a mom and a blogger, but not a "mommy blogger"
All of the tweets from the event can be found at #smdaynews10

Again, if you're not on the list, please do not be offended, just let me know and I will add you ... these are just a few of the many people whose tweets I read daily and spoke with at today's event.

News10 Celebrates Social Media Day (text and additional pictures, including one of me "live tweeting" from the event)
UPDATE: News10's blog linked to mine!!

*pictures taken during event by me and others, taken from Twitter feed and News10.net