Celebrate Bike Month at the #SMCSTL Happy Hour on May 1st

SMCSTL board member Jess Leitch (@jessleitch) is giving up her car for National Bike Month. She’ll be learning to navigate St. Louis in an entirely different way using a bike and public transportation. Follow along as Jess blogs about her adventures on connectingstl.org and cityinajar.com.

Join us this Wednesday with Connecting STL (@GreatRiversSTL) at Handle Bar (@HandleBarSTL) in the Grove as we kick off Bike Month with the #CarFreeSTL Happy Hour.

Register here

#CarFreeSTL from Jessica Leitch on Vimeo.

Ameren MO & STL Blues Team Up On Energy Efficiency

What do you know about power plays? Forget what you know, because Ameren Missouri and the  St. Louis Blues want to teach you how to make your own energy efficient power plays at the new Pi Pizzeria downtown on Wednesday, March 27.

Why? Ameren Missouri has launched a Facebook contest where Missouri residents can win up to $5,000 worth of new appliances and improvements for their home. It’s part of the company’s ActOnEnergy initiative that offers rebates and incentives to help customers be more energy efficient.

To celebrate, they are hosting a tweet-up with the Blues at Pi from 5 – 8 p.m. There you can learn more about Ameren Missouri’s 11 new ActOnEnergy energy efficiency programs and meet St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis Blues alumni and KMOX Blues radio broadcaster Kelly Chase, and Fox Sports Midwest Blues broadcaster Darren Pang. You’ll also have the chance to win cool prizes, including signed hockey sticks and other Blues memorabilia.

SMCSTL members can RSVP to Allison Hughes at ahughes@webershandwick.com, but be sure to reserve your spot fast – tickets are limited. Once our 30 reserved tickets are gone, you can RSVP to the Eventbrite page for the general public. Follow @AmerenMissouri and the @StLouisBlues for event updates and information, and check out (and use) #ActOnEnergy during the event. Tweet you there!

Saint Louis: Did you Attend South by Southwest in Austin, 2013?

If you attended SXSW Interactive this year, Social Media Club Saint Louis wants to hear from you!
We’re writing a blog recap of the experiences of Saint Louis based startups and digital pros, as well as looking to feature your experiences and insights at our March 20th SXSTL event.

Click here to send us your insights and feedback!

 

Tweets of the Week

Every two weeks, SMCSTL Board Members share some of their favorite tweets about St. Louis and by St. Louis.

_______

RT @: ITEN and Kauffman bringing 1 Million Cups program to St. Louis http://t.co/5hfWaJG2 via @
@stlouisbiz
STLBusinessJournal
Here's a fun visualization of the 16 countries that applied to Arch Grants in Round 2. #globalstartupcompetition http://t.co/k79JkqoG
@ArchGrants
Arch Grants
Follow me on Instagram. @ No pics yet but we'll get goin on that tomorrow.
@dfreese23
David Freese
Well, it's official. @ rocks. Thanks for helping me with my #ValentinesDay surprise! http://t.co/Mwx2QtPS
@STLDanni
Danni Eickenhorst

St. Louisans try out the new video-sharing app – #Vine

Have you checked out Vine yet? It was all the rage at last Thursday’s SMCSTL happy hour.

What is Vine? Here are 5 quick facts from Wired’s recent coverage on why the Vine app is going to grow into something huge:

  1. Vine is a “video sharing app” but it’s not like the others you’ve seen for mobile before.
  2. “Vine lets people shoot and share six-second looped videos.”
  3. “There’s no way to edit your footage, no filters, no red “record” button. No play button, even. It’s touch to shoot; scroll to play.”
  4. “Videos are square and low-definition. And they always loop back on themselves again and again and again.”
  5. Vine “unlocks creativity in six-second bursts, a powerful tool for real-time journalism, an entirely new art form.”

I downloaded Vine on my iPad mini and my iPhone last Thursday and I quickly noticed friends and followers of mine on Twitter using the app.

I think following local folks on a new app like this is a great way to A) learn about the benefits from people you trust, and B) get a local flavor of what’s new and what’s going on in Saint Louis with new technologies like this.

Here are a few people you need to follow on Vine, and what they’re doing on the app:

You can’t miss how “all over Vine” Chris Reimer (@RizzoTees) has been this past week. From videos of his daughters sledding after our snow storm Saturday night, to his interview with Angela Hutti (@AngWxGrl) on Fox 2 TV, he’s the first person I suggest you follow on Vine to start understanding its utility and fun.

 

St. Louis On the Air (@STLonAir) is the first local company I’ve seen start using Vine to engage with their followers.

Spencer Reed answers the phone when you call into @. #vine http://t.co/LUnJkUN8
@STLonAir
St. Louis on the Air

Recap: #SMCSTL at Robust Downtown at The MX

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last night’s happy hour at Robust Downtown at The MX. It was a fun evening filled with great wine, food and conversation!

Below is a sampling of some of our favorite tweets and pictures from the evening.

Read More…

Tweets of the Week

Every two weeks, SMCSTL Board Members share some of their favorite tweets about St. Louis and by St. Louis.

________

Great panel at #SMCSTC! Thanks for sharing @ @ @ @, and to @ for great moderating!
@simpsontd
Tom Simpson
Thousands pay tribute to #STLCards Stan Musial, a man whose legacy, as one visitor put it, is "as big as the Arch": http://t.co/fEKO0eQm
@LangoschMLB
Jenifer Langosch
A nice, brisk walk to get a cup of coffee reminded me how much I love living downtown. #stl
@timjeby
Tim Eby
Have you checked out actual Facebook Graph Searches yet? Have you done any graph searches that are helpful to you? http://t.co/Y0YUdI7W
@lisackeller
Lisa Keller

Read More…

St. Louis Start Up Heavy Hitters Make Alive Magazine 2013 Buzz List

Congrats to Gabe Lozano and Sarah Spear, who are both featured on Saint Louis’ Alive Magazine’s “Buzz List of 2013,” Lozano as “The Heavy Hitter” and Spear as “The Arch-etype.” Both Gabe and Sarah will speak at our panel event at Kaldi’s Roastery on February 20th: “Leading Perspectives on the St. Louis Start Up Scene – #SMCSTL

Gabe (@gabelozano) of Saint Louis based start up, Lockerdome (@LockerDome), talk about his experience starting and leading a sports-centered social media site, and Sarah will talk about Arch Grants (@ArchGrants)—a global competition providing grants to start-ups based in the city.

Originally, Lozano created a “Facebook for sports” model, but the idea didn’t stick. “We realized we were hitting users with the wrong equation,” he says. From there, he and his team built a more interest-based platform that spoke to multiple fans through sports topics like athletes or teams.

“When St. Louis starts to become part of the national startup conversation, and people start moving here because of it, we’ll know we’ve succeeded,” Spear says.

Visit the full article, and follow Alive Magazine at @AliveMagSTL

 

Story: Edited by Jennifer Dulin Wiley; Written by Katie Davis, Amy De La Hunt, Ryan Martin, Gwen Ragno, Christopher Reilly, Matt Sorrell and Jennifer Wells Photos: Tuan Lee

 

Tweets of the Week

Every two weeks, SMCSTL Board Members share some of their favorite tweets about St. Louis and by St. Louis.

________

@RallySTL: #STL rated one of the Top 10 Happiest Cities to Work In! http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/01/09/the-happiest-and-unhappiest-cities-to-work-in-right-

 

@explorestlouis: Will u be traveling to #STL in 2013? @Foxnews selected our city as a top destination for 2013! article: http://ow.ly/gFZBO #explorestlouis

 

@debrabass: Spoke too soon. I’ve just been introduced to the word “meggings” (leggings for men). I wish I could unsee these. pic.twitter.com/t1OlU91C

 

@MRHibbard: RT @TwitterForNews: Please welcome to Twitter First Lady of the United States, @FLOTUS, the official @WhiteHouse handle for @MichelleObama

 

@AHawkCollinger: Twitter is great way to gauge conversation on locally unfolding news, still need to look with critical eye at source.

 

@feastmag: National online #foodtruck locator, @RoamingHunger, adds #STL to its list: http://bit.ly/WL2Wvp #stlouis

 

@ParkAveCoffee: Our very own @AnnandAllen gooey butter cake is featured on @fab today! http://fab.com/sale/16027/

 

@techguerilla: Distinguishing between ‘social business’ & ‘social media’: Driving The Social Media Pickup Truck http://twb.io/VUrX8w #socbiz

 

@LayneHellman: @ernievol have you heard?!?! Panera has a secret menu! How am I just finding out about this?… http://fb.me/SFqNnNgz

 

@EvanBenn: Got passed by car w PALEO license. Slow down, hotrod. Has the wheel even been invented yet in your world?

 

@ErinE : QUOTE OF THE DAY by @daniellesmyname “Ever feel like ‘Try a new browser’ is the new ‘just blow on it’ to fix technology?” cc @creativereason

 

@EdwardDomain: St. Louis startups work hard, play hard!! http://lnkd.in/PMZxnA [NoteIf you like this tweet, you'll love our February event! Make sure to subscribe to our email list to get the invite before it's released on Facebook and Twitter.]

 

Nonprofits: Join us this month for #SocialIRL

Social:IRL is back in Saint Louis. This great one-day social media summit will focus on nonprofit social media this time, and is free for nonprofit attendees. The date is set, and a venue will be announced soon! Follow @SocialIRL and get more details here.

Join us

Tuesday, January 22, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

 

Also in 2013:

The SMCSTL board is busy planning many panels and events for the new year!

For February, we are working on a panel discussion with Saint Louis area Start-Ups in February. Stay tuned for more details, and send your panel, speaker and discussion topic suggestions to Erin Moloney at @ErinE.
And…

  • A panel to discuss the Arch grounds with Missouri tourism and Great Rivers Greenway project
  • This Spring: Local hot spots for family, friends and fun – how they’re using social media to attract visitors.
  • Micro breweries in Saint Louis using social media to grow
  • More social media panels and networking events with great mobile sponsors and give-aways!