Albuquerque a D grade for Social Media

Men’s Health recently ranked Albuquerque for Social Media with a disappointing grade of “D.” I’m not surprised given that Albuquerque has only 6,725 people using twitter according to twellow.com, while small cities such as Boulder, CO, have 6,512.

What does surprise me is that Albuquerque comes from such a rich history of embracing new technology. Microsoft began its roots right here in 1975. Albuquerque had a large community of BBS’ers dating back to the late 80’s. Karl and I met on one such BBS. I would have envisioned Albuquerque being a hot bed of social activity some seventeen years later.

Instead, the prestige has gone to other cities like Seattle, Austin, and Denver. Did Albuquerque get off the tech train and let it pass us by? I’m not buying that. We have several quite large tech employers around. Seems to me they would hire people with strong tech skills…

Lockheed Martin Corporation • HP • Verizon • Air Force Research Labs • Honeywell • Intel • Albuquerque Technology Incubator • Emcore • Team Technologies

We even have our very own Science & Technology Park at UNM. Oh, and add to that Sandia Science & Technology Park.

There is still a vibrant, active tech community with similar demographics to the BBS’s of the 90’s…

Webuquerque • ABQ Web Geeks • New Mexico Tech Council • Meetup Groups Galore

So, what’s up, Albuquerque? Too busy creating technology to chat about it?

Tagged as: top

https://twitter.com/#!/see_the_sus @see_the_sus

Similar sitiuation: I went to a labor rally a few weekends ago. A rally sponsored by the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and other such organisations for the rights of unions/pubic employees and yet only around 300 or so people showed up. If "Labor" can't get more of its own people out in support of themselves how will progress be made and our voices heard? In order to move forward one must continue to evolve and accept some amount of change in their own lives and welcome such change or else we (i.e. New Mexico) will continue to be disregarded and/or looked at as still the "Wild West."
http://www.drakeintelligencegroup.com AshDHart

Over on twitter Chris Ortiz (@ChrisJOrtiz) suggested it might have to do with the college graduation rates. Some quick numbers:

According to facebook:

City: ABQ 27.7% Boulder 40.2% Seattle 29.9%
Population on fb: 295,920 128,880 1,082,200
College: 81,940 51,780 323,960

Per US Census
ABQ 31.8% with bachelors degree or higher
Boulder 66.9% with bachelors degree or higher
Seattle 47.2% with bachelors degree or higher

Albuquerque seems to have the lowest gap between college educated and those on facebook. We also have the lowest amount with a degree.
http://www.facebook.com/gwdcllc Greta

But according to facebook there are over 200,000 people from NM over 13 using FB, so that's not that bad. I think the problem is Twitter, not Albuquerque.
http://www.drakeintelligencegroup.com AshDHart

NM ranks 49th for penetration on facebook. We aren't doing any better there. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats26.htm
Thatepic1

My brother-in-law is one of the most tech savvy persons I know. An avid Unix user. But he is not social. Especially digitally. I think that the majority of the people in NM are a few years behind the trends. I’m a snowboard buyer and I have noticed what sells well in other parts of the country will not sell well here. It’s the land of mañana.