President Obama's election was credited by many to his social media-driven grassroots campaign. But social media is having an impact on politics beyond just the campaign trail. It is quickly becoming an important tool for constituent communications, media relations and for shaping the future of government. What are social media's full implications for the political process? Is even more change on the way? Voters may well be better served by more direct communications with their representatives, but do we lose anything in the process?

• Brian Reich is the co-author of Media Rules! and a regular speaker and writer on the issues involving the impact of the internet and technology on politics, society, and the media. He is the editor of the blog Thinking about Media.
• Matt Viser is a reporter in the City Hall Bureau for the Boston Globe’s City & Region section. He covers local and state politics and has written on such issues as Boston city politics, military base closures, and suburban growth.
• Brad Blake is the Director of New Media and Online Strategy for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he guide’s the governor’s social media efforts.
• Massachusetts State Senator Jennifer Flanagan serves as chair of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, and vice chair of the Transportation Committee.
  

Social Media Club Boston events are a little different than other panel events. We begin with a half hour of networking, where food and drink are usually served. The panel lasts about an hour, and is followed by 30-45 minutes of break-out sessions, where you have the opportunity to meet in a smaller group with the panelist of your choice. At each breakout session, recorders are nominated, who at the end of the program recap for the whole group some key takeaways from each breakout session. This makes for a more interactive--and hopefully entertaining--program.

Please tag all blogs, podcasts, vlogs, and photos of this event with the keywords smcboston and socialmediaclub.

Also, if you upload photos to Flickr, we would appreciate you adding them into the Social Media Club pool at http://www.flickr.com/groups/socialmediaclub/. Thank you!

When you sign up for this event, your name, company and URLs may be shared on the event page. All other information, including email, is not shared.

Attendees and speakers may be photographed, audio-taped or video-taped at any time; by signing up, you consent to having your photograph, voice or video appear online.

THIS FREE EVENT IS HOSTED BY MIT AND SPONSORED BY SLOWEY/MCMANUS COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIALSPHERE. 

Directions to Room E51-315 of the Tang Center are available on the MIT web site.

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