As evidenced by the video below, Wednesday night's first Social Media Day was a big success in Miami. It was an epic celebration of everything social media, and the Miami festivities were the biggest in the Southeast -- even bigger than L.A.'s. Miamians have once again proven their digital prowess, for more than 100 social media aficionados "checked in" to the Pelican Hotel and Restaurant on Ocean Drive, giving a whole new flesh and bones meaning to the term social networking site.
For possibly the first time in history, it was actually OK to look antisocial and tweet and text while socializing in public. Only this time, we weren't excluding everyone around us -- we were including them in the conversation, with @'s, and letting them see what we were saying with our #SMDayMiami hashtags. Could this be a new revolution in social media? Crowds live-tweeted and pulled out their iPads en masse and were caught by SocialBuzzTV cameras, and we weren't ashamed.
Social Media Day, or #SMDAY, as it was affectionately known in the Twitterverse, was the creation of Mashable, and Meetup was the HQ, calling upon each city's social media mavens to organize their own observance. As Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable explained, "I see Social Media Day as the beginning. We would like you to use this platform to continue to organize regular meetups in your area."
The BRPR Group answered the calling of the almighty Mashable as agency director Christopher Renz raved, "Being a part of the first ever Social Media Day is like being present for the first ever Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. OK, maybe not exactly the same, but it is huge -- especially being on the ground and knowing how fast social media is growing. It was an honor for us at the BRPR Group to be able to work with Mashable, and we are very happy to help position Miami at the forefront of the revolution."
SocialBuzzTV and USTREAM were large contributors, documenting this Social Media Day extravaganza for the ages. Live-streaming for nationwide bragging rights and an incredible postcelebration recap made Miami's #SMDAY so much more than a trending topic on Twitter.