Posted on June 30, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Where are they now? 14+ Social Media Professionals to watch for in 2010 from Triangle, NC area #smday

Happy Social Media Day everyone. If you don’t know what Social Media Day is, it’s day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social according to @Mashable. Mashable partnered with Meetup.com when they launched their everywhere platform to celebrate Social Media Day by attending or organizing a meetup on June 30. As of right now there are over seven Social Media Day events planned in North Carolina.

Being that it’s social media day and the last day of June, I thought it would be a good time to update my list of 14 Social Media Professionals to watch in 2010 from the Triangle, NC that wrote back in January. From the list of social media pros, a few have made some big changes since January, some are still crushing it and there are a few additions to the list.

Here’s the updated list of social media professionals in the Triangle Area who I believe are ones to watch in 2010 at the half way mark.

UPDATE: This list is NOT ranked in any order by their social media activity, it’s just a numbered list.

1. David Thomas
Title: Social Media Manager for SAS
Twitter: @DavidBThomas
Website: http://blogs.sas.com/socialmedia/
6 month Update: Still crushing it at SAS and helped SAS launch their Social Media Analytics platform in April.

2. Nathan Gilliatt
Title: Principal, Social Target and organizer of AnalyticsCamp
Twitter: @gilliatt
Website: http://net-savvy.com/executive/
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

3. Ginny Skalski
Title: Social Media Specialist for Cree
Twitter: @ginnyskal
Website: http://ginnyskal.com/
6 month Update: Still crushing it and doing some awesome adventures in the Triangle, check out TheFarmersMarketProject.com.

4. Morgan Siem
Title: Social Media Strategist at Media Two Interactive
Twitter: @morgansiem
Website: http://www.mediatwopointoh.com/
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

5. Adam Covati
Title: CoFounder of Argyle Social and Founder of http://idek.net
Twitter: @Covati
Website: http://adamcovati.com/
6 month Update: Launched Argyle Social a social media marketing platform that helps marketers link social media efforts (blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, etc.) to business outcomes.

6. Angela Connor
Title: Author of ’18 Rules of Community Engagement.’ Online community manager and strategist at WRAL
Twitter: @communitygirl
Website: http://blog.angelaconnor.com
6 month Update: Has a new job as the Social Media Manager at @Capstrat

7. Catherine Mears
Title: Social Media Specialist at AICPA
Twitter: @catmears
Website: http://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinemears
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

8. Dan London
Title: Director of Online Marketing @ ShareFile.com
Twitter: @Danlondon
Website: http://www.dan-london.com
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

9. Phil Buckley
Title: Support Developer at McClatchy Interactive
Twitter: @1918
Website: http://www.1918.com/
6 month Update: Has a new job as the Search Marketing Manager at Sinclair Institite

10. Karlie Justus
Title: PR/ Social Media Officer with N.C. State Fair & NC Dept. of Agriculture.
Twitter: @KarlieJ
Website: http://www.karliejustus.com/
6 month Update: Launched new blog, guest post on Socialmediab2b.com and now works as Associate Account Executive at Howard, Merrell and Partners.

11. Olalah Njenga
Title: Marketing Strategist at the YellowWood Group
Twitter: @Olalah
Website: http://www.yellowwoodgroup.com
6 month Update: Wrote a book called: 37 What Were They Thinking Moments In Marketing [not an affiliate link but it should be]

12. Gregory NG
Title: VP Creative Director at Brooks Bell Interactive.
Twitter: @gregoryng
Website: http://www.followgreg.com/
6 month Update: [ Still being awesome and his online video show Freezerburns recently joined the Hungry Nation network.

13. Brian McDonald
Title: Vice President of Marketing & Social Media at SignalShare
Twitter: @bmcd67
Website: http://zen-marketing.blogspot.com
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

14. Andy Beal
Title: Founder of Trackur.com, author of Radically Transparent, editor of MarketingPilgrim.com
Twitter: @Andybeal
Website: http://www.andybeal.com
6 month Update: Relaunched Trackur with a new look and new features as a white-Labeled social Media monitoring dashboard. I’m still expecting Trackur to be purchased by the end of 2010.

15. Chris Moody
Title: Social Marketing Manager at Bandwidth.com
Twitter: @cnmoody
Website: http://www.chris-moody.com
6 month Update: Still crushing it!

New half way point additions:
16. Lisa Sullivan
Title: Copywriter & Social Media Specialist at Media Two Interactive.
Twitter: @LisaSullivan
Website: http://www.mediatwopointoh.com/

17. Cara Rousseau
Title: Director, Partnership Initiatives, The Research Triangle Park
Twitter: @CaraRousseau
Website: http://www.thertpblog.org

18. Jeffrey L. Cohen
Title: Social Media Marketing Manager at Howard, Merrell & Partners
Twitter: @jeffreylcohen
Website: http://jeffreylcohen.com
*Partner/friend was on the first list but in the friends mentions section

19. Ryan Boyles
Title: Community Manager at IBM
Twitter: @therab
Website: http://flavors.me/rab
*Partner/friend was on the first list but in the friends mentions section.

20. Jason Peck
Title: Social media manager at @eWayDirect.
Twitter: @JasonPeck
Website: http://www.jasonfpeck.com/
*Jason should have been on the list the first time but I knew he was moving so I left him off but he’s a NC alum and doing great work with eWayDirect.

21. Kipp Bodnar
Title: Inbound Marketing Manager at @HubSpot
Twitter: @kbodnar32
Website: http://socialmediab2b.com/
*As many of you know Kipp is one my good friends and partners. He recently took a job at @HubSpot and said goodbye to NC but we still claim him anyway.

22. James Wong
Title: Communications Manager at iContact
Webiste:http://www.NauticalUrge.com
*Late addition but should have been on the first list. James knows email marketing and more.

Bonus!
Jay Dolan
Title: Jay Dolan is founder, editor, and blogger for The Anti-Social Media.
Twitter: @jaydolan
Website: http://theantisocialmedia.com
*If you’re tired of social media… read this blog*

Ignite Social Media and MMI Public Relations are two companies that I didn’t mention in the first post that offer social media services in the Triangle Area. Both have a great staff and if you’re looking for more social media professional both of the companies have hired smart.

Please note, I do know all of the individuals on the list and this not a buddy list or a list by the numbers of their twitter followers or etc. It’s a list of professionals from various companies in the Triangle who I believe will have an impact locally and nationally in the social media space. If you’re on the list, don’t let me down.

As for me, at the beginning of the year I gave the agency world a try and since then I’ve left to pursue my entrepreneur dreams and now working the location-based startup @TriOut, an augmented reality company that I’ll share more about later, along with speaking engagements and offering consulting services.

It’s been a great 2010 so far and let’s hope the next six months will be awesome for everyone and more.

What are your thoughts on the list and/or who did I leave off and why? Who do you think will be on or off the list by the end of 2010?

Photo: Social Media Participation Chart by Oversocialized

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