NRA Annual Meeting and Social Media Tools

This weekend, gun owners attending the NRA Annual Meeting in Charlotte will find that there are new digital tools that can help them find each other in real time - and in real life.

NRA has now set up a Twitter account to make announcements, share news, and stir up the conversation about the event - @AnnualMeetings. In addition, they have embraced a hashtag already used by members, #NRAAM. It will allow members to keep track of what others are doing, seeing, and experiencing on the floor so they can get in on the action on site or follow along from home.

In addition, members are organizing a Foursquare swarm for users of the location services social application. By "checking in" using the service, it announces to the user's closest friends that they are taking part in a massive event - upwards of 80,000 people are predicted to attend this year's festivities.

Given the scale of the NRA Annual Meeting, it also makes sense that NRA has finally expanded into mobile technology for users on site to keep up with everything going on. In recent weeks, they have announced both an iPhone app and a mobile Annual Meeting website. With more than 6 acres of exhibit halls and events that span three days, it makes sense to enter into this new arena of technology.

Are any VSSA members planning to attend the events in Charlotte? If so, will you use Twitter, Foursquare, or other mobile tools? If you're staying at home this year, will you follow along with the Twitter conversation by using the hashtag? Let us know in the comments.

(Note: A number of bloggers, podcasters, and other social media users, will be covering events at the weekend's NRA Annual Meeting. One of those is Christie C. She is very active in the firearms freedom community and has used social media tools extensively in her activies. Christie is the author of the above post.)