There’s something special happening in Baltimore right now. Something almost indescribable.
The best way to explain it is to say that there’s a social media revolution happening in and around the city of Baltimore. That’s right – a social media revolution. And if you’re reading this, you’re about to watch a beautiful (and somewhat nerdy) flower blossom.
Each and every day, we witness a whole new flock of businesses and consumers joining the many social sites that we’ve been following for a quite some time now. They’ve heard the buzz about these new communication tools, and they want in. They’re expanding their personal networks, but also fueling a growing machine that’ll eventually connect each and every individual in and around the city of Baltimore.
On top of that, local web developers and marketing teams are developing ideas, sites and tools that are positioning the city as a major player in the social media realm. Here are a few examples of what’s happening (if you haven’t already heard):
Developed by FastSpot for the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, this reincarnation of a previous video-sharing site serves as an aggregator for all things Baltimore on the web. Driven by three primary content areas – Watch, Look, and Listen – the site pulls in videos, pictures, and ‘tweets’ from the user’s accounts on the major social sites (YouTube, Twitter, Flickr). The site’s users utilize this constantly updated content to define local attractions, events, restaurants, etc. The site is years ahead of its time, and will undoubtedly be “mimicked” by other destinations.
*Disclaimer* The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is a client of MGH. The site is still awesome though.
There are an endless number of consumer review sites floating around the web right now, but 600Block.com is the one that finally got it right. Local reviews of restaurants, attractions, and stores written by those who know them best are what make 600Block special. Users create their “scene” in order to receive updates about the city’s newest dining options to the drink specials that can be found in town on a random Tuesday night (you have no idea how handy this can be). Rumor has it that there’s also an iPhone application in development. Okay…it’s not a rumor. I saw it, and it’s awesome.
What do you get when you shove a bunch of developers, designers, and entrepreneurs into a room? Most of the time, a lot of arguing and bickering. But that’s not the case for Beehive Baltimore. Beehive’s mission is to provide a common workspace for Baltimore’s creative professionals, hoping that ideas will be “cross-pollinated” (get it?) and that the business community will be better off because of them. For a minimal fee, anyone can spend the day at Beehive and bounce ideas back and forth between the center’s attendees. It’s a new way of doing business, and one that’s sure to produce results that will benefit the city as a whole.
It’s been said that Baltimore would be more aptly named “Smalltimore”. Cliché, yes. But as these connectivity tools continue to develop and become populated by the city’s residents, we might need to request that name change.
Image c/o Grufnik (Flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/grufnik/
Written by Ryan Goff (@ryanatmghwom)
