The social media community is fairly vibrant and well-established in the Newcastle area now. I think its about time to highlight the great writers, photographers, sights, scenes and ideas floating around the region and put them all in one easy place for everyone to find.

This photo is here for no other reason than its of a Newcastle beach

My team and I are putting together a side project to curate the best Hunter-based content.

That’s where you come in. We’re looking for people who’d like to contribute to a well-run online magazine for Newcastle and the Hunter. Its a chance for you to raise your profile, discuss burning issues, highlight the things you love and get some additional traffic and link-love along the way.

It’s a little bit Huffington Post (without heavy politics), a little bit Daily Candy, a little bit Digital Ministry (community contribution, not the geeky content), a little bit Gridskipper.

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Popularity: unranked

Earlier this year we were involved in the publication of the collaborative marketing book Age of Conversation 3: Its time to get busy.

Join the Age of Conversation

The book has gained plenty of attention but this Friday 15 October we want to dial it all the way up to 11 with a concerted online effort of promotion and sales.

Friday is Blog Action Day – and this year’s focus for Blog Action Day is water. To participate in Blog Action Day, you simply register your blog and then write a post. BUT what can you write about? Here’s where Age of Conversation comes in!

You see, our chosen charity for this edition of the Age of Conversation is Charity: Water, who are also one of the participating partners for Blog Action Day. So what we’d like you to do is to help us with a Bum Rush on the Amazon charts – generate sales for AoC3 and raise money for charity: water.

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.

Amazingly, just $20 can give one person clean water for 20 years. An average water project costs $5,000 and can serve 250 people with clean, safe water – so purchasing a copy of the Age of Conversation 3 really can make a difference to someone’s life!

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Popularity: unranked

How many marketers and advertising experts actually practice what they preach?

Until recently it probably wasn’t a very viable option.

How many times has your media rep, who happily suggests where to spend your hard-earned advertising budget, actually “invested” his or her own funds in an ad campaign?

How often has your agency account manager had to feel the anxiety of committing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a campaign that could make or break their business?

For that matter, when was the last time you saw an advertising agency run their own highly-creative, cutting-edge 30 second television spot during prime time?

You haven’t, have you. Agencies enter awards and then drum up column inches in trade press. Its called PR.

Truth is that most of the marketing and advertising experts who businesses rely on don’t actually practice what they preach. And, to be fair, in many cases its not very practical to expect them to.

But the emergence of social media and inbound marketing means that a new generation of marketers has emerged who do have skin in the game, who do actually live, breathe and experience the highs and lows of the strategies they extol.

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Popularity: 2%

If you want to learn about social media and modern marketing then look no further than Age of Conversation 3. In one book you can hear from 171 of the World’s leading bloggers and marketers as they discuss 10 fascinating topics such as Conversational Branding, Measurement, Influence and Pitching Social Media.

For the third book in this series, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan undertook the mammoth task of attracting, editing and compiling in a wonderful example of modern collaboration. Fifteen countries are represented with authors coming from places as diverse as Oman, Finland, India, Mexico, Portugal, Ukraine and of course Australia and the USA. It truly is an International effort.

I think John Rosen says it best on the back cover:

Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan have created a true phenomenon – one that will be studied for yours and be recognized as a turning point in our vision of the author……the author of the future will be a coordinator, conductor and guide who directs a global workforce of the best and brightest in completing the ultimate endeavour.

Age of Conversation 3 is now available on Amazon in hardcover, softcover and even a Kindle version. Once again, all proceeds from sales of the book will go to children’s charities.

I am extremely proud to be a small part of the Age of Conversation for a third time. Please buy a few copies for yourself, your clients or your company. Spread the word and help us raise some money for children’s charities. But most importantly – get busy and join the conversation.

Meet the authors:

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Popularity: 7%

Coming soon, Age of Conversation 3

The latest edition of the exciting collaborative Age of Conversation marketing book series is about to go on sale with the release of “Age of Conversation 3: Its time to get busy” now at the publishers.

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have had the monumental task of compiling and editing the contributions of around 170 authors from around the world and now the book is close to release.

Very soon you will be able to purchase it directly from Amazon or a number of other online book stores. The new cover was designed by Chris Wilson. And the new website was created by the hard working team at Sticky.

There are some extremely talented marketers contributing this book so I can’t wait to read it myself. Stay tuned for more announcements soon, but in the meantime you can meet the authors:

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Popularity: 10%

Every Friday morning since March 2009 an intrepid crew of social media types have gathered at local cafes to chat and meet in real life (IRL). As social networks such as Twitter have grown, so have the number of people who have been dropping in for a coffee and a chat. This has recently included Anthony Scully of 1233ABC radio who interviewed several of us at a recent coffee morning.

You can listen to the interviews with  @billfredtom @hyperbrendan @jentally @mediahunter @ofdphoto @the_git here on the ABC website

Meanwhile, Newcastle Coffee mornings are being held each Friday from 745am to 9am at Sprocket Cafe, cnr Hunter & Watt Sts Newcastle (except over Xmas break). Follow the #newcastlecoffee hashtag on Twitter to keep up to date.

Popularity: 1%

I have had the distinct honour over the last 3 years to contribute to an ambitious and exciting publishing project titled: Age of Conversation. Initiated by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, the Age of Conversation books (two so far) saw respected bloggers and marketers from around the world pool their talents to create a groundbreaking effort in collaborative publishing.

Now its on again. Drew and Gavin have decided to move forward with the 3rd installment and are calling for contributors to join the core of original writers who have returned for another edition.

Here are their two blog posts explaining all. Come and join the conversation…..

Drew McLellan

Gavin Heaton

Note: Call for authors has closed already. Fully subscribed within a few hours.

Popularity: 1%

From humble beginnings only three years ago the short messaging, social networking service known as Twitter has exploded onto the Internet to become one of the hottest online applications. Originally the love child of tech geeks, it initially took off at South By South West Interactive Festival, Twitter may have just gone mainstream judging by the amount of traditional media coverage it has recently attracted.

The New Year has seen a myriad of Twitter stories in the mainstream media and an explosion of users.

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British blogger Neil Perkin has done it again. He has created a presentation (with the help of many of the world’s best marketing thinkers) that goes to the core of the social media ethos. A Presentation About Community, by the Community is essential viewing for brands and marketers trying to make sense of the new digital world order. For more great thinking and presentations, please take the time to visit Neil’s blog Only Dead Fish.

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What is it? The Age of Conversation is a series of books discussing the social media paradigm

Who wrote it? The latest one has 237 authors actually. Some of the best marketing minds from around the world have collaborated to create an amazing collection of thoughts and observations.

Where do I buy it? The book is for sale online at lulu.com.

Where does the money go? All proceeds go to Variety, the Childrens Charity. Last year we raised over $15,000USD.

Who are these so-called ‘marketing geniuses’? Glad you asked, check out the following list and visit their sites:

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Popularity: 1%