Those using social media websites—such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—to connect with friends, clients and customers have a club in Hawaii where they can meet in the flesh.

Social Media Club Hawaii has been around since October 2008 and is looking to goose its game and upgrade to 2.0 with more professional members, so its next meeting will be just for them.

"We are trying to connect with the people who are bona fide SM (social media) pros," said Roxanne Darling, a founding member and a social media pro. "They do more than use the tools. They train others in using them, they develop social media strategy, they run social media campaigns."

All previous meetings have been aimed more at novices, but this one is specifically for the pros. "We’re trying to flush out of the weeds the people who can get together and talk shop," Darling said. It will not be a jargon-free zone.

The meeting will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and is open to all who, in club parlance, deliver social media with their professional services. The location will be announced online at smchawaii.org.

Hawaii’s chapter was among the first 50 of the now more than 200 Social Media Clubs. While SMC-HQ in San Francisco feels strongly that each club should retain its autonomy and reflect the unique character of its market, it also wants to embrace some professional standards to further best practices, Darling said.

SMCHI demographics are varied, "and everyone brings a fresh perspective to the table," said Tara Coomans, a professional member. "We share, we learn. In turn, we’re better members of the social media community in Hawaii. As a result, we’re better employees and better consultants."

As social media continues to evolve, "its best practices are still evolving, as are its ethics," Coomans said. SMCHI "allows practitioners to stay up to date so they can advise their clients and employees on best practices in this new field."

KUMU-AM sold

The owner of all-sports KKEA-AM 1420, Blow Up LLC, has bought its former rival KUMU-AM 1500 for $250,000, pending Federal Communications Commission approval.

KKEA, branded on-air as "ESPN 1420 AM," will use the just-up-the-dial airwaves for expanded sports offerings, said General Manager Randall Ikeda. "We’d like to cover more high school sports, and this provides us an opportunity to talk to the PacWest, HPU, Chaminade, BYUH," he said. There will inevitably be scheduling conflicts as many popular games are played on the same nights, but with expanded radio real estate, options are expanded.

Officials at Ohana Broadcast Co. LLC, licensee of KUMU-AM and other stations on Oahu and the neighbor islands, could not be reached.

"Hopefully we’ll do a better job with the San Francisco Giants," Ikeda said. Giants’ home-game timing often conflicts with KKEA’s afternoon-drive show, which draws a greater audience.

KKEA owner Duane Kurisu is a minority owner of the Giants as well as a minority owner of the paper you are reading.

Ikeda anticipates FCC approval early next month, followed by a hoped-for move into adjacent studio space in Pioneer Plaza. Additional hiring is unlikely, Ikeda said.