This post is part of Mashable’s Social Media Hub Series, which shines the spotlight on local social media communities, companies and personalities. The series is supported by Virgin America.

As one of America's oldest cities, Boston is rich with history and cultural importance, and the same holds true for the city's social media significance. Many of the founding fathers and ground-breaking women of social media have their roots in Boston. This means that a good deal of popular catch phrases and ideas we share on Twitter, dissect in our blog posts, and expound upon at conferences, can be tied back to this savvy bunch.

As with any major city where social media takes a hold, Boston has become ripe with community-driven events for academics, podcasters, early stage startups, and media makers. Since Boston’s so imbued with the spirit of social activity, we couldn’t possibly mention every prominent person, event, or company, but you can use our guide as a starting point to familiarize yourself with the lay of the land.

Social media for higher learning

Danah Boyd: Not just all Twitter talk, Boyd [@zephora] approaches social media with her research hat on. Given that she was an intern at both Google and Yahoo, currently a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and a Researcher at Microsoft Research New England, her blog and Twitter feed are excellent resources for higher education in relation to social media. You can find Dr. Boyd (she holds a PhD) speaking at both local and international events (such as Le Web, as pictured above).

Doc Searls: Every time you or someone you know talks about using the web to join the conversation, you're paying homage to Searls [@dsearls]. As co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto (published in 1999), Searls is credited with the markets are conversations movement, and is a widely respected thought leader and blogger. Searls is also a senior editor for the Linux Journal and a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center.

Josh Bernoff: Co-author of Groundswell, Bernoff [@jbernoff] is an analyst and vice president at Forrester who has a penchant for discussing and dissecting the social phenomenon as it pertains to businesses.

Beth Kanter: Highlighted as an innovator in social media by Business Week, Beth Kanter [@kanter] is in the business of educating nonprofits on how they can use social media. She's also a prolific and widely read blogger, author, popular public speaker, and an expert in using social media for fundraising and cause recognition.

Jonathan Zittrain: A professor of Law at Harvard and co-director at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Zittrain [@zittrain], or Prof. Z, uses social media (he's an avid blogger and Twitterer — even while in class) for professional purposes. His research and social insight expands upon the legal implications (ie. TOS, privacy rights), as they pertain to end-users, of popular online sites and trends. He's also the guy behind the site Herdict, which crowdsources data for real-time information on website accessibility.

Paul Gillin: The former Computerworld editor in chief and author of the book, The New Influencers, also moonlights as a research fellow for the Society for New Communications Research. Gillin [@pgillin] also keeps busy with speaking engagements at a myriad of enterprise-focused educational conferences and events.

Even more bright Boston minds

Chris Brogan: Mayor of Twitterville, Chris Brogan [@chrisbrogan] has managed to build up a dedicated following of blog readers and Twitter friends simply by practicing what he preaches. As the president of New Marketing Labs and co-founder of Podcamp, Brogan practices social media as a lifestyle. Since he's constantly traveling and speaking at events, and he makes it a point to be 100% approachable both online and off, you can't escape Chris — even if you tried.

Laura Fitton: Boston's Twitter queen, Laura Fitton, or pistachio as you may know her, is a highly respected social media socialite who's been working in communications for over 15 years. As CEO of Pistachio Consulting, her resume includes consulting on social projects for Ford, SAP, and Johnson & Johnson, and she also currently advises both TipJoy and CoTweet.

C.C. Chapman: Podcaster, photographer, and all-around socially aware new media guy, Chapman [@cc_chapman] is partner at The Advance Guard, a marketing agency that's hip to current Web trends and calls companies like HBO and Coca-Cola clients. Chapman is probably best known for his love of independent music, his acclaimed music-mix podcast, Accident Hash, and the new media podcast, Managing The Gray.

Halley Suitt: Blogging since the early 2000s at Halley's Comment, Suitt [@Halley] is considered a pioneer in the space. Her social media early adopter status is also coupled with career milestones like appearing on Oprah and being CEO of the startups Top Ten Sources and Stylefeeder.

Best of Beantown community events

Boston Media Makers: If media making is your passion and Boston just happens to be the city you call home, then you should spend the first Sunday of every month with Steve Garfield [@stevegarfield] and the Boston Media Makers. Definitely come prepared to make media as events typically involve live Twittering, vlogging, and mo-blogging.

PodCamp Boston: Boston is the home of the new media unconference movement known as PodCamp, the brainchild of Christopher Penn [@cspenn] and Chris Brogan. Boston's PodCamp currently has three incredibly successful events under its belt, with a fourth in the works, and has inspired other cities across the world to start PodCamps of their own. PodCamp Boston 3 not only served to highlight, inspire, and inform hundreds of new media mavens, but also worked to raise $1,000 in cash for the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Social Media for Social Change: Social media can be more than just status updates and blog posts, that's why Gradon Tripp [@gradontripp] started the Social Media for Social Change group [@sm4sc] with the purpose of motivating New Englanders to change the world together. Last October's inaugural event raised over $20,000 for Jane Doe Inc., a nonprofit that hopes to end domestic violence.

Social Media Club Boston: The Boston branch of Social Media Club is run by Tod Van Hoosear [@vanhoosear] and typically brings together 50 - 150 professionals for informative presentations, panels, and discussions. The March event took place at MIT and included a panel of legislators and reporters who participated in a discussion on social media in government.

Social Media Breakfast Boston: Host of eleven successful Boston breakfasts and counting, this chapter of the Social Media Breakfast group recently attracted a bevy of Boston-bred thought leaders (eg. Beth Kanter) for action-oriented discussions on social change, which included a community food drive for The Greater Boston Food Bank.

The Web Innovators Group (WebInno): This Boston-based group is focused on bringing together entrepreneurs, visionaries, and creative thinkers to support each other in their quest to turn startups into viable businesses. Events typically occur every few months, are free and open to the public, and usually involve early stage startup demos. The next WebInno, number 22, takes place on July 15, 2009, and interested parties can register here.

Boston-baked social media savvy companies

Hubspot [@HubSpot], the socially savvy provider of an Internet marketing suite of products, not only calls Boston home but proudly sponsors and attends local social media events. Mzinga [@mzinga] is another Boston-based company doing big things in social media. They're not just a provider of white label social networks, but avid creators of great video and blog content, and participate in the greater Boston community (they were a PodCamp Boston 3 sponsor).

On the educational side of things, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society is a research center that promotes a better understanding of the Web, and host of a number of prominent events for academia and social media alike.

Other wicked awesome companies staking their claim include SHIFT Communications — they're making waves with social media and PR; MITX, the industry association for marketing and media professionals; web analytics resource Compete; market research firm Forrester; and job site Monster.com.

Special thanks to: Maria Thurrell, Chris Brogan, and Laura Fitton for their instrumental help in identifying some of the names and events included in this post.

Series supported by Virgin America

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See also: Social Media Hub: Los Angeles