Last night we celebrated another great year of RefreshMiami meetups (slideshow here).

During the year, our membership doubled as we accomodated about 35 presentations by South Florida new media startups, entrepreneurs, and freelance professionals. Our meetups were attended on average by 50 people, with some events drawing about 100. We’re particularly grateful to Yahoo! Hispanic Americas and to Brikolodge for hosting most of our meetups, as well as to our sponsors for providing the catering.

What’s in store for next year?

As the new media community continues to grow, we plan on providing more services throughout the year. This means we’ll look into incorporating as a non-profit early in the year, building a team, and setting objectives. It has been a rewarding adventure so far, and we look forward to our next stage of growth.

Thanks for taking part!

This has been a turbulent year by most accounts, so I spent Thanksgiving remembering those who stuck by me through thick and thin:

Brian Breslin has been a constant friend as well as a partner in organizing RefreshMiami, BarCampMiami and building StartPR. When I struck out on my own earlier this year, Brian lent me office space: thank you. Whether it’s to bounce around an idea, startup something new, evangelize the South Florida new media community, or just chew the fat, he has been a welcome and much appreciated source of support. Yvette Ferry is another friend who also always present with good advice and great cheer through the best and the worst of this year, and I could not have made it without her either.

BarCampMiami was held in February 2008 just prior to FOWA, the Future of Web Apps Conference. About 16 sponsors and partners chipped in to make our BarCamp possible, where 300 people attended. People who had travelled from across the US, Latin America, and even Europe for FOWA, took time out to attend BarCamp. We could not have held the event without the help of Mel Kirk, who was with FOWA at the time, and from Nick Dominguez, Michael Montgomery, Yvette Ferry, Brian Breslin, Chris Saylor, and our local community (RefreshMiami) who helped spread the word about both BarCampMiami and FOWA.

We hope to three-peat BarCamp next February, now with a WordCamp organized by Alex Harris. A number of people are heping this year, including the already mentioned and Agustina Prigoshin, Christine Adolf, Ulisses Orozco, Michael Castilla, George Drage, and Christian “Fanless” Calzadillas.

The RefreshMiami community is a regular source of inspiration, motivation, and friendship for me, and I appreciate all that this passionate community of technologists and new media practitioners does throughout the year. They have enriched my life in ways untold. Thank you also to our great sponsors, including Ali and Eduardo at Brikolodge coworking, and the Yahoo! Latin America team.

Paul Kruger: thanks for your support and your advice.

Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells championed the Social Media Club and it is an honor to work with them at the national level as well as in organizing the new chapter of Social Media Club South Florida with Yvette Ferry, Christine Adolf, Agustina Prigoshin, Ulisses Orozco.

The Knight Center for International Media and the University of Miami School of Communication (UM SoC), where I teach social media and work on new media projects: in particular, I appreciate the help, encouragement, and friendship of Kim Grinfeder, Lelen Roberts (retired), Sanjeev Chatterjee, Christiane Delboni, Lauren Janetos, and Trevor Green. In addition to their support, they also push my limits and I’ve learned alot from them.

UM SoC students involved in the Knight Center, including Greg Linch, Walyce Almeida, Andrea Balloch, Matthew Byrnes, and Shell Jun Zhu. Among other things, they recently successfully petitioned to have a class on social media taught at the university, based on my syllabus. I am deeply honored by their collective action on my behalf and I look forward to great things from them. They are absolutely brilliant!

Mark Krupinski of Rasmussen College and Doterati in Orlando. He’s organizing a quickly growing and very active web/tech community in Central Florida and it’s been a real pleasure to work on some joint projects with him this year.

Mobile Monday Miami is a budding community of mobile phone professionals in South Florida, and my gratitude goes to Michael Tangemann and Jeffrey Sass as we get this started. We appreciate Nokia’s support with their sponsorship and hosting.

Alfredo Sanchez of QoS Labs, Victoria Edwards of The Collins Center for Public Policy, and Melissa Raulston of Florida State University, who included me on discussions about statewide digital divide issues with the objective of setting up a Florida 2.0 social network. It’s an ambitious task and a work in progress, but the interaction has opened new possibilities for all of us. I also appreciate Alfredo’s collegiality and the new doors he has opened for me.

Pat M., Laura V., Susan K., and Bill R.: thank you for looping me into your projects whenever you get the chance.

Shel Israel, Tara Hunt, Leah Jones, Fred Pullen: thank you. You know why.

It’s been amazing to work with such talented and motivated people throughout the year on such diverse projects. More than just colleagues, they have motivated me to see things in new ways and to learn new skills.

A huge word of thanks goes to the those who interact with me on Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. Individually and collectively, they have propelled me forward and have propped me up. I can only hope that I am adding to my connections’ lives as much as they are adding to mine.

I am also thankful for my family and friends that I have not named here; I would have been toast without them! They know it, and they know who they are

Note: I apologize for any omissions, they are not intentional.

Quote attribution from the post title: “La reconnaissance est la mémoire du cœur.” -Jean-Baptiste Massieu, French ecclesiastic (1742 - 1818).

We had another great meetup at RefreshMiami last night at Yahoo! Hispanic Americas. Adam Singer presented a “Coffee 2.0″ social media case study, Michael Montgomery spoke about microformats, I presented “You, the online brand“, attached below, and Davide Di Cillo presented his new Twitter social football service, Twootball:

Just why did Davide create Twootball? He says:

I was in an unfortunate bind: I am Italian and I love soccer. Of course, I wanted to create a Twitter application about soccer.

But then I realized that no one in Italy uses Twitter, and no one here watches soccer!

So I had to make a Twitter application about American football …

LOL!

The presentations were great and it was fun to catch up with everyone afterwards at Novecento’s.

• Wednesday’s RefreshMiami is oversubscribed, please plan to arrive early. http://tinyurl.com/3vs4ey #

On Wednesday, May 2nd, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of RefreshMiami! When a few of us first met at a Starbuck’s in South Beach on May 5th, 2006 (Brian Breslin, Chris and Rebecca Saylor, Robert Murray and I), little did we know how significantly the RefreshMiami community would impact our lives. As Brian writes on the RefreshMiami blog:

"So its been 2 years. Wow. In the last 2 years I have either met or interacted with hundreds of great people in the south florida tech community. Lots of people have gotten jobs, made friends, and had a great time. So with that in mind, I think its time we celebrate."

Celebrate we did! Here are some photos. Michael Tangeman compares RefreshMiami to the First Tuesdays and such of the early dot.com days (see also comments on his post):

"It is so refreshingly unlike the dot.com days here in Miami. No suits, no VCs just flown in from the Valley, no investment bankers looking to take somebody public, no lawyers handing out cards and wanting to get in on the deals. The talk is about technology and apps and projects and what people are up to, not about shares and options and exit strategies."

If you’re new to Miami and looking to meet and connect with other web entrepreneurs, developers and designers in South Florida, here’s how to participate:

1) join the 220 member strong RefreshMiami Google Group for discussion on local tech issues, job postings and more;

2) join our group on Facebook;

3) if you’re on LinkedIn, we just started a group there. Here’s the link to join;

4) Subscribe to the RefreshMiami blog;

5) Come to our next meetup! Our next event is on May 28th in Coconut Grove … see you there!

• 00:19 RefreshMiami & @brbreslin thanks for enabling connections, exchange of ideas and more than a fair share of serendipity over the past 2 tears #
• 00:20 And that would of course be years, not tears #
• 13:21 Met with a local startup in stealth mode with an innovative e-commerce concept and revenue model. Miami can haz tech. #
• 14:34 Reading new comment thread on BusinessWeek listing companies using Twitter tinyurl.com/5ncmpp #
• 14:43 “The result is the mass amateurization of efforts previously reserved for media professionals” -Clay Shirky, in “Here Comes Everybody” #
• 14:57 @andrewhyde You know it! But Twitter’s still unknown to most. A consumer web startup recently asked me: “should we be on Twitter?” #
• 15:09 Uploaded first set of RefreshMiami pictures from last night’s party, have about 10 more to upload tinyurl.com/57e976 #
• 15:23 @michaeltangeman writes a great post about Miami tech, incl. RefreshMiami, BarCampMiami, coworking at Brikolodge tinyurl.com/5hbkha #
• 17:08 Posted last night’s RefreshMiami anniversary photos incl. Lola, our mascot tinyurl.com/47yah9 Thanks everyone! #
• 17:47 @jrwoodward Why do you suppose golfing is embracing twitter? Know of other sports into Twitter? @pgagolf @2008players #
• 18:40 This is so cool … but I wonder how it got on @Mashable? invites.mashable.com/site/startpr @kristennicole2 #
• 19:50 Stunning sunset! Hope a local Flickrer captuted it … #
• 20:49 @brightkite You can check in but you can never leave? (ie., you can leave a place by phone but not through the website?) #

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• 23:36 @ashleyb33 Good point! You can comment shared items on Bloglines, but not on Google Reader. Seems like an obvious feature to have, right? #
• 06:01 Took a friend to the airport and now working early at the office: no traffic for once #
• 10:00 @shelisrael Surely due to an online shift of ad and direct marketing budgets … #
• 10:31 Brightkite looks neat … does anyone have a spare invite? Would appreciate it! www.brightkite.com/ #
• 10:33 @martinbowling Thank you! It’s alex@alexdc.org #
• 10:51 @martinbowling Thanks for the Brightkite invite, I’m signing up now. Thx @onajide @pbacgrad @jbruin @pcarles I’ll see you on the other side. #
• 10:55 @MarkTap @pcarles There must be a way to set privacy. By the way, I see the usual suspects & super-early adopter set is alreadyhere;) #
• 11:07 Brightkite’s orange bubble looks much like Plazes’ blue bubble. Lifestreams / microblogs and geo-location go together like hand in glove #
• 11:13 Brightkite is cool. For some reason I thought FireEagle was going to have similar features … #
• 11:20 @enzobalc My single invite just went out … No GPS required b/c you manually enter in your location #
• 11:27 Obviously Brightkite should repost our tweets inside Brightkite … and I’m quickly turning off the post to Twitter from Brightkite! Doh! #
• 11:30 @enzobalc LOL. Looky here twitter.com/nateritter/statuses/800441455 via @nateritter #
• 11:31 @pbacgrad I got suckered by Brightkite into posting my exact location to Twitter. Doh! It’s in your account settings: careful w/ ur privacy! #
• 11:36 @DevBear Choosing GTA4 over 2 year anniversary of RefreshMiami tonight? Come to think of it, GTA4 is prolly safer than driving in Miami #
• 11:44 Retweeting @strategicast: Trying to get an invite to brightkite. Does anyone have an invite to spare? It would be much appreciated. Thanks. #
• 11:55 @brightkite The privacy option should be on “locked” by default, I just tweeted my location to Twitter by mistake (not happy about that). #
• 12:53 @brightkite Publicly tweeting exact address details is for teh suck! Rather, you should enable our tweets *within* Brightkite. #
• 12:59 @brightkite Well, I’ve deleted by now, haven’t it? I syndicate tweets to FriendFeed Tumblr FB Jaiku. Dude, mistakes are 2 easy w/ brightkite #
• 13:07 @brightkite Indeed I did. The privacy settings are on a separate page from Twitter settings. It’s too easy to make the same mistake I did. #
• 13:17 @brightkite I completed first step of wizard and clicked out. I suppose I should read instructions when assembling Ikea furniture as well? #
• 13:36 @brightkite Thanks, I wish that had already been in place. Good luck with your service, looks promising. #
• 18:28 @macaia Did you see Brazil’s now upgraded to investment grade? tinyurl.com/5ojfuj Parity’s not unrealistic! tinyurl.com/67m59v #
• 18:32 Heading to RefreshMiami two-year party at the Brikolodge, see you there! tinyurl.com/6ocf6h #
• 18:51 “Woman and child” memorable still from One Water, the movie tinyurl.com/6yl55a @1h2o now has a Flickr group tinyurl.com/5elxx8 #

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• 09:30 @ikepigott More than just lazy, it’s also sleazy, slanted and sensationalist journalism. Whatever sells, right? tinyurl.com/6xjyvn #
• 09:34 Coldplay’s song is not entirely free, they’re collecting your email. I wonder what they’ll do with it. www.coldplay.com/song.html #
• 09:45 Retweeting @jamesbuck Free mohammed, send an eCard to the consul attiyashakran@hotmail.com tinyurl.com/6m4dcn #
• 12:36 Wine wholesaler fell thru! Need new sponsor for RefreshMiami 2yr partytomorrow: ~$150 for wine, 50people attending tinyurl.com/6ocf6h #
• 13:00 @lsal77 Thanks for the Flipshake sponsorship of RefreshMiami! w00t! flipshake.com/ #
• 13:27 @quiverandquill @gregoire mapovino.com/ @montgomery @onajide Thanks for your offers and tips, it’s very much appreciated. #
• 13:30 @quiverandquill Kudos for “Rubber Chicken Social Club” in Boston! tinyurl.com/5t7kpq Informal meetups are generally the best kind. #
• 13:50 Without a moment’s hesitation and nary a doubt, he swiftly declared RSS bankruptcy and breathed a sigh of relief. #
• 13:56 @rrodgers On the contrary, it means I clicked the “Mark all as read” button. A refreshingly blank slate (screen, rather) stared back. #
• 14:01 @rrodgers Blog posts unread may rest in peace. They’re gone for good … unless someone links to them from Twitter, that is #
• 15:35 I love Twistori twistori.com/ #
• 16:35 @jpostman Visually stunning style, congrats. But I don’t agree w/ communist/socialist theme to describe social media is.gd/aaI #
• 17:05 Pre-ordered @missrogue ’s “Whuffie Factor” tinyurl.com/6bt2n9 & ordered @cshirky ’s “Here Comes Everybody” tinyurl.com/5w3r49 #
• 17:26 @jpostman It certainly makes a bold statement and will get some attention Good luck with your new consultancy, you’ll do well. #
• 17:29 @thorpus @yourdon I look forward to reading Clay’s book. I’m halfway through Groundswell - the Technographics chapter is very good #
• 17:33 Mobile Monday Miami at Myxer’s office on May 12th. The following one’s at Nokia’s on June 9th. Thanks @sass and @michaeltangeman . Rock on. #
• 17:36 @PelleB Agreed. I understand it’s meant tongue-in-cheek: twitter.com/jpostman/statuses/799845488 Take it up with @jpostman #
• 21:27 It’s really too bad you can’t customize the style of Google Reader shared items page, they all look the same tinyurl.com/4gov23 #
• 21:36 @kingsley2 I’ve got Tumblr, just added you tapio.tumblr.com/ #
• 23:36 @ashleyb33 Good point! You can comment shared items on Bloglines, but not on Google Reader. Seems like an obvious feature to have, right? #

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• 10:58 @GeoffLiving Agreed. Also, more fine-grained privacy control, app-request blocking and the new chat have breathed a lot of new life into FB. #
• 10:59 @montgomery @brbreslin You can figure out reciprocal follows by using “Twitter Karma”; Google it to find it. #
• 11:08 @BarbarKB No one disputes RL is more vital On the other hand, there’s arguably greater chance of serendipity online. A balance b/w both? #
• 11:13 @brbreslin Understood, I was responding more to @montgomery. Twubble partly does what you’re looking for, though not exactly. #
• 17:50 Nice, brief summary of the evolution of the Miami web-tech community, by @brbreslin tinyurl.com/3vw635 It’s been fun! @refreshmiami #
• 19:55 Will the Brazilian Real be on a par with the US Dollar in a year or two? (click on 5-yr graph) tinyurl.com/5oftpe #
• 20:28 @RichardAult If I think far back enough, I think I could have done this too www.flickr.com/photos/ault/1278303843 (great shot!) #

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• 08:03 @greghaase Thanks for sharing this list of Mail/Addressbook/ical plugins: www.hawkwings.net/plugins.htm #
• 09:20 “Mowser is at the end of its life in its current form.” - @RussB tinyurl.com/573kp4 #
• 09:33 “GroupTweet is confusing and if you make a mistake, your direct messages are made public.” - @techcrunch tinyurl.com/5vu8eo #
• 15:14 @DougH Drinking tea is the only reasonable option at this point! Enjoy your vacay #
• 15:37 @ken_neth Welcome to Twitter. Check out the Miami Twitter Pack: tinyurl.com/2f8s7n #
• 16:38 Next Mobile Monday Miami on May 12th at Myxer, thanks to @sass for hosting. Know someone in mobile? Plz tell them! mobilemonday.net/ #
• 18:35 RefreshMiami two year anniversary is next Wednesday, April 30th … everyone’s welcome! tinyurl.com/6ocf6h #
• 19:35 Miami’s on Forbe’s sinful city map for Avarice, Sloth and Pride (not surprising) but not for Lust! Huh??? tinyurl.com/3286by #
• 19:40 We’re getting close with StartPR! Very soon we’ll invite those who signed up at startpr.com #
• 19:54 Uploaded first set of pictures to @1h2o on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/1h2o/ #
• 20:02 If you’re on Flickr, please consider adding 1h2o (thank you) www.flickr.com/people/1h2o/ and on twitter @1h2o #
• 20:29 @shamir Thanks for your help with Flickr, it’s much appreciated! You rock! flickr.com/people/shr/ #

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