FastCompany is making waves and getting a ton of attention right now with their Influence Project. Whether that project is good, bad, worthwhile or worthless, the people behind FastCompany are profoundly influential even though a pictogram probably won’t ever display their influence. One of the charming people of influence from FastCompany paid us a visit last year: Ellen McGirt.

Ellen not only knows social media, she also knows the people behind social media—she’s had conversations with Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and the folks who conceived and executed MyBarackObama.com.

Thank you to Bobby Rettew for both the original video and for recently pulling it out of archives and recompressing it for us. Thank you, too, to Robbin Phillips and our friends at Brains on Fire for making it possible for Ellen to be with us. Finally, thank you to Richard Peck and the folks at Table 301 for making the morning at Soby’s so memorable.

An informational meeting to hear what our elected officials think of social media, how they’re using it, and their expectations for future use.

Social Media Club meeting downtown Greenville at Michelin on Main brought a great crowd to enjoy an open conversation between Trey Pennington and Bob Inglis, all wrapped around politics of social media.