Business & Tech

Socializing About Social Media

Portsmouth Breakfast Club gathers each Wednesday to talk tech, social media.

While most of the city is still rubbing sleep from its eyes, a group of social media savvy citizens gather each Wednesday morning at the Works Bakery Cafe in downtown Portsmouth.

Depending on the day, the topic could be a new app, the Facebook IPO, or something completely unrelated to the world of high tech.

The Portsmouth Breakfast Club (#PortsBkfstClub on Twitter) was the brainchild of Crystal Paradis of Brown & Company Design. After , she missed seeing some of her friends on a regular basis and decided to organize the weekly get-together.

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"It all started from Crystal," said Jason Boucher, founder of Social Media Club New Hampshire and a breakfast club regular. "She said she missed seeing everybody's faces. It was just a few of us the first week, and it grew steadily each week."

They meet every week at 6:48 a.m. – "Because 6:45 is too early," Boucher said.

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Usually there are about a dozen people, and they typically stick around till 8:30 or so. Many of those who attend are the same people you'd be likely to run into at a Social Media Club or Digital Portsmouth event, like Doug Ridley of , Monte Bohanan of , or Mark Galvin of the New Hampshire Innovation Commercialization Center at Pease.

This week, the new bit.ly app was a big topic of discussion. Also on the agenda were Fenway Park's Social Media Night, and QR codes.

"Each week it's something different," Boucher said. "It could be an app, it could be a history lesson on downtown Portsmouth."

Boucher said the Portsmouth Breakfast Club is open to anyone. "The more the merrier," he said. On Wednesday, he said someone showed up who had just moved to Portsmouth and was looking to learn more about the city and meet some new people.


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