For a while I’ve wanted to create a series of posts that bring together two of my passions - Social Media (Web 2.0 sites and tools) and the nightlife scene.  Now is the time! More and more nightclubs, bars, restaurants, etc. are connecting with people online.  It’s actually starting to be a rare occurrence when a nightclub does not have a Myspace account, or a restaurant does not have a Yelp listing.  People today want to consume information on the go and on demand, and luckily, the smart business owners out there are starting to listen.  Also, lots of venues purposely leave their websites somewhat information scarce (how many times have you gone to a club’s site looking for dress code or music genre information and left disappointed?).  Exploring their Social Media offerings may give you a better solution for those often overlooked issues.  Here I’ll show you some cool ways to connect with your favorite night spots and in some cases maybe even save a little cash.

Tweet Tweet! Twitter is the current web darling and is increasing in popularity at an astronomical rate, so naturally a lot of people are starting to notice and hop on board the bandwagon.  This of course is also true with the nightclub, bar, and restaurant industries.  These guys want to go where the eyeballs are as well, and a good amount are.  They’re realizing that different people like to consume their content on different platforms, not everyone likes to be spammed via email, or overloaded with invites on their Facebook profile.  So what exactly do they tweet? Sometimes they’ll tweet about party notifications, respond to specific customer inquires, link to images, announce DJ appearances, and discuss various news items.  If you’re lucky (or they’re good at Twitter) you might even be able to find some deals — whether that’s drink specials or discounted items on a menu, savvy marketers are using twitter to their advantage and you should be indulging them.  

Here are some noticeable SF venues:

http://twitter.com/VesselSanFran
http://twitter.com/SutraSF
http://twitter.com/slidesf
http://twitter.com/infusionlounge
(ahem…and fellas…and I guess some ladies too, a few adult clubs also are on Twitter as well. *I was just browsing ;)

http://twitter.com/sf_centerfolds
http://twitter.com/pinkdiamondsf


Facebook became really powerful to business owners once they created Fan Pages.  Business entities can now interact much more effectively with Facebook users than ever before.  On a tangent, one of my Favorite blogs, Mashable, published a pretty good post on 5 great Facebook Fan Page case studies.  Smaller business are starting to pay attention and create good portals to engage their customer bases.  Similar to Twitter, everyone has different tastes when it comes to interacting with brands, so Facebook Fan Pages do work for a lot of people.  Admins can get pretty creative with the layout and apps they add to fan pages, giving them more weaponry when it comes to reaching their goals.  Additionally, because of Facebook’s great event feature, party promoters favor using this over similar sites like Myspace - search for your favorite promo group or individual on Facebook and I’m sure you’ll find them.  Utilizing Facebook is another great way to connect with your favorite venue or restaurant and potentially save you some coin.


Some of my favorites on Facebook (these guys clearly don’t know they can get vanity URLs):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-CA/RNM-Restaurant/132761032845
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Vegas-NV/XS/71135799816
http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-CA/LOT46-Nightclub-Lounge/109640988334
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roscoes-Chicken-and-Waffles/69139906606




Foursquare is a pretty fun game that has been growing more popular over the past few months.  Not yet on the same level as Twitter and Facebook, Foursquare is a cool way to interact not only with Venues, but to interact with your friends as well.  You get badges (web bling) for accomplishing different tasks (i.e. going to 4 different places in one night, going out after a certain time during the work week, etc.), you can also become Mayor of venues, which means out of all the Foursquare users you’re at that place the most.  It’s cool to take part in heated Mayorial battles here and there, it’s all in good fun.  Sometimes you can even get perks for being the Mayor of a venue, for example certain places give discounts to their biggest fans.  Foursquare utilizes Twitter and can update your feed upon request.  It will also let you know how many other Foursquare users are at the same place you are (if any) — it’s definitely a conversation starter.  This is a cool way to keep track of your friend’s activities, and have them keep tabs on you.  If you have stalkers, or are just paranoid, Foursquare may not be for you, but if you like being the life of the party this is something for you to check out.  Lastly, Foursquare is not limited just to restaurants, clubs, and bars, you can check in from parks, stores, grocery markets, gyms, etc.  Pretty much if you’re at a place and you’re unsure about it, try checking in, you may be surprised to find it’s already on Foursquare. 

Here are some of the places where I’m Mayor (try and unseat me, bring it!):

Sutra
Vessel
Fluid
Apartment 24



Myspace is the standard, it’s been somewhat of the energizer bunny when it comes to social networks. If you’re in the nightlife industry and don’t have a Myspace account you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of years.  Myspace is a great way to share additional information like pictures, event flyers, news, and more.  While some of their tools are not as efficent as competitors like Facebook (see event creation and photo tagging), Myspace still has millions of dedicated users. Tons of clubs have yet to embrace some, if not all of the sites/services listed above, so I’d start my club research by searching on Myspace before all else.  It’s a great way to figure out what acceptable attire is and even figure out what the resident DJ is famous for spinning (I have yet to find a DJ that does not have a Myspace account), essential information for planning a good night out. Because Myspace is more customizable than some of its competitors, clubs can do more with the layout and overall environment - basically making their profiles an extension of their actual websites (check out the one for Tao in Las Vegas, they do a good job of this).  Overall, Myspace while not as cool or useful as it once was, is probably one of the best ways to connect with nightlife venues at this time.

Some good examples:

http://www.myspace.com/taolasvegas
http://www.myspace.com/templesf
http://www.myspace.com/saborsj
http://www.myspace.com/sutrasf

Bottom line, connect on your own terms, there’s plenty of information out there for the finding. That’s it for now, more to come in the near future.