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The ANS Social Media Meetup

By Eric McErlain

When NEI launched NEI Nuclear Notes almost seven (!) years ago, the nuclear energy blogging landscape was rather bare, as was our blogroll. The term "social media" was still on the horizon, Faacebook was still in its infancy, and not everyone inside our own organization was convinced that starting a blog -- whatever the heck that might be -- was an altogether good idea.

As I was walking into a conference room at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington last night for a no holds barred discussion on social media sponsored by the American Nuclear Society, I had to wonder out loud what anyone had been afraid of in the first place. So, while there was a time when we were so happy to find a blogger who supported nuclear energy we started a regular feature, it was nothing but standing room only in that hotel conference room last night.

As you might imagine, the debate was freewheeling, which it couldn't help but be when you stuff 60 or so bloggers into the same room for a couple of hours. And while we had our differences on style, there was a lot of substantive agreement in the room -- especially when it came to the value of sticking up for the industry and taking on our adversaries.

Thanks to Dan Yurman, chief cook and bottle washer at Idaho Samizdat for pulling the event together. NEI was flattered to be asked to co-sponsor the event with our friends from AREVA. Needless to say, we look forward to more freewheeling discussions with our friends.
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