911 PlusTen

For those loyal readers still remaining (thanks, Ari), you know that I seldom use this medium to share my thoughts or write about Twitter. Life changes, too many other commitments, not enough time nor interest. However, after reading a couple of poignant posts from David Armano, Where Were You?, and Adam Kmiec, September 11th, Ten Years Later, I thought it was time to share.

Ten years ago, I left Boston on a beautiful, sunny Tuesday for an early morning flight to the west coast, headed to an Abacus class in Seattle. But unlike the fateful American flight 11 or United 175 jets full of innocents, I was on a Delta flight with a connection in Cincinnati. In fact, I think our flight took off in between those two. At the time, little did I know that selecting Delta turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

When I made my reservations several weeks earlier, the travel agent had booked me on the American flight to LA. However, a few days after the booking, I decided to switch to the more expensive Delta flight for the chance of an elite upgrade (not) and usage of the Crown Room lounge. So you could say that vanity saved my life!

We landed as scheduled in Cincinnati, unlike many other flights that were diverted to adjacent airports. I turned on my cellphone to discover several voice
mails from friends and family who knew that I was traveling that day. I called my wife immediately and was grateful to hear her voice, knowing how close I came to missing that forever. The airport announced that all flights were currently grounded by the FAA. In the Crown Room, we all huddled around the TV and saw the carnage. I quickly found a hotel room on that crazy, chaotic morning. We now know that all airport traffic was shut down for several days. but at the time several times each day, I would check in with Delta to try to find a way home. The people in Cincinnati were very kind caring, and hospitable, but the sense of separation, loneliness, and fear of what's next was too great. I couldn't wait to get home and hug my wife and young children.

After 4 days, flights resumed. However, as the initiation point of the tragedy, Boston's airport was taking a more cautious approach to security and remained close. Thus, I flew home via Hartford. The Cincinnati airport was a mad house as you could imagine. Lines everywhere. Soldiers with machine guns patrolling every corner. It seemed as if martial law was in force. There was an interminable delay, but no one seemed to mind as we were all headed home.

As you can imagine, that flight to Hartford was pretty empty and most of us were afraid of what we would find when we arrived. I don't think we were allowed to get up throughout the flight, but then we all would have been too suspicious of anyone who did. Our small intrepid group of passengers rose and gave the flight crew a standing ovation and many hugs when we landed.

Arriving at the airport in Boston, I encountered a ghost town. The airport was still closed, the parking garages full of cars, but seldom a person seen. It was quite a surreal, eerie situation, almost Twilight Zone like.
Technology changes and especially social media have improved our ability to connect and keep in touch with loved ones and community. Yet, nothing will ever take the place of being in the same room, face to face.

I never made it to Seattle for my meeting, although I did end up moving here four years later. Like many people, this day always fills me with sadness, but also with pride for the rememberances of heroism, selflessness and valor from so many. However, for me, there will always be a sense of gratefulness that a last minute change removed me from being one of the innocent victims.

SXSW Twitter Panels

There has always been a strong connection between Twitter and South by Southwest, since Twitter took the festival by storm in 2007 and won the web award. Four years later, the relationship is still as strong as ever, both as a community platform and as a subject.  There are 43 twitter related panels that are currently proposed for SXSWi 2011!  All listed below with descriptions from the panelpicker, certainly something for everyone. Voting ends at 11:59 CDT on Friday, August 27.

 

 

Teaming Up On Twitter Is Great For Business

Kendall Morris, Fahrenheit
We’ve seen Twitter grow from infancy to a major player in 4 short years. Where is it going next a... READ MORE We’ve seen Twitter grow from infancy to a major player in 4 short years. Where is it going next and how can businesses get the most from it? When a big business stakes a claim in the Twitterverse it can quickly become a full time job for one or more people to manage the conversations, content, relationships and resolutions. Twitter teams are often a solution but learning how to manage the team can be a big challenge. Identifying the right approach for your business is critical to the success of your program. Is it better to have one handle with multiple people behind it or many handles with common branding? Twitter has been beta testing a feature called “Contributors” that could be a boon to businesses. It allows for the benefits of individual profiles as well as a unified branded voice. There is also great potential to marry “Contributors” with “Places” for a customer experience that is personalized and highly relevant to the consumers needs. Tools developed by Hootsuite and Co-Tweet have team oriented capabilities that help develop a unified voice for your brand as well as the ability to manage multiple people working towards a common goal. Leveraging the resources available can really gain a big return for businesses looking to use Twitter to their best advantage.
Branding / Marketing / Publicity Business Strategy, twitter

 

Building with Twitter – How to Dominate the API

Vishal Sankhla, Viralheat
Few API’s spew out as much data as Twitter’s does, and few come anywhere close to its popularity... READ MORE Few API’s spew out as much data as Twitter’s does, and few come anywhere close to its popularity with developers. But it’s not a walk in the park. It takes a lot of careful design and experience to build apps that please users even when Twitter is overloaded or the API’s limitations get in your way. In this panel, we'll talk about lessons from developers in the field who have tapped into Twitter’s API successfully. The panelists will share their technical and strategic tips for how to build applications with the API that perform consistently, reliably and innovate beyond basic uses. If you’re thinking about using the Twitter API for the first time or are a seasoned pro – this panel will be an insightful discussion about the techniques and strategies that help you make the most of it.
Web Apps / Widgets Application development, how-to, twitter

How to Revolutionize Healthcare with Clever Twitter Applications

Tal Friedman, lifeaftercancer.wordpress.com
Want to learn how to use Twitter as a game-changer in healthcare? Find out how we can go way beyond... READ MORE Want to learn how to use Twitter as a game-changer in healthcare? Find out how we can go way beyond just tweeting at, following and friending doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers and actually BUILD applications and communities to make a quantum leap forward in how we communicate our healthcare needs, share tips and gather information we can trust. I'll show you sample Twitter applications that make clever use of lists, private accounts and even Twitter bots to revolutionize healthcare in the 21st century.
Health applications, Health , twitter

 

Secrets of Fake Twitter Accounts Revealed (maybe)

Jasper Slobrushe, @JasperSlobrushe
The most dead-on social commentary of the BP gulf oil spill came in the form of a parody Twitter acc... READ MORE The most dead-on social commentary of the BP gulf oil spill came in the form of a parody Twitter account—who would have thought? Much has been made of the potential for social media to promote brands, but what if you don't have one? Many folks haven't let that stop them, either inventing or taking on the persona of an existing company or public figure. What's the point? The panelists will discuss exactly that.
Social Networking fake, parody, twitter

Pets, They Are Atwitter

Sloane Kelley, BFG Communications
Thousands of pets, animal owners and businesses make up an ever-growing and active niche community o... READ MORE Thousands of pets, animal owners and businesses make up an ever-growing and active niche community on Twitter, where some have even gone so far as to create Twitter personalities for their pets. This group of “anipals” (as they’re known on Twitter) and their owners are in constant communication, entertaining one another, building relationships and sharing information. What other Twitter communities can boast a band (The Shibbering Cheetos @ShibberingC), a newspaper complete with advice columnists (The Anipal Times @anipaltimes), and even a suave government spy (@JamesBondTheDog). The group also uses Twitter to organize virtual and real world events, many of which have a charitable tie-in. Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised for animal-based charities thanks to this very passionate community and its series of “pawties.” For years, the web has made it easier for niche groups like this to communicate but social media and Twitter, in particular, have made it even easier and more fun. This session will take you behind the curtain into Twitter’s animal community, its organic rise and the people who’ve made it happen. We’ll also talk about what other niche groups can learn from “anipals” on building community and making a difference.
Community / Online Community Charity, pets, twitter

Using Twitter to Improve College Student Engagement

Reynol Junco, Lock Haven University
While faculty and staff at higher education institutions have experimented with the use of social me... READ MORE While faculty and staff at higher education institutions have experimented with the use of social media, there has not been a concerted effort to integrate these technologies in educationally-relevant ways. Emerging research in the field of social media, student engagement, and success shows that there are specific ways that these technologies can be used to improve educational outcomes. This presentation will focus on reviewing and translating research on the effects of Twitter on college students into effective and engaging educational practices. Background research on the psychological construct of engagement will be provided and will be linked to engagement in online social spaces. In addition to presenting cutting-edge research on how to create engaging and engaged communities, the presenter will review specific ways that Twitter can be used in the classroom and the co-curriculum. The presenter will discuss how academicians can hack existing technologies, specifically Twitter, for educational good and will present the results of his latest research on the effects of Twitter on student engagement and grades.
Education Engagement, Higher Education, social media

Building Relationships -- and Revenues -- Through Twitter

Justin Goldsborough, Fleishman-Hillard
10 ways to profit off of Twitter participation without a book deal, sponsorship or selling your star... READ MORE 10 ways to profit off of Twitter participation without a book deal, sponsorship or selling your startup. We're all asked to justify the ROI of our time spent on Twitter. Some people land book deals. Others get sponsors. But the rest of us can also make a profit off our tweets. Anyone can do it, and you don't need 60,000 followers. This presentation will show you how to increase billings, drive new business, get better customer service and even find a job in 140 characters or less. The presenters co-moderate #pr20chat on Twitter, a weekly conversation about technology's influence on communication. We can directly tie increased business revenues to our participation in the chat and engagement in social media.
Entrepreneurism / Monetization #pr20chat, Social Media ROI, twitter

Startup Marketing: It's More Then a Twitter Account

Saul Colt, Saul.is
Have you ever looked at the Sky Mall catalog and say to yourself "How have I gone this long without ... READ MORE Have you ever looked at the Sky Mall catalog and say to yourself "How have I gone this long without an ankle air conditioner?" Probably not but the fact is that there are a lot of start ups and more will be formed before you finish reading this description. It's getting harder and harder to get the attention you need to prosper and reach your prospective audience but that doesn't mean it is impossible! This talk is going to cover a few tricks and tips for actually marketing your business from a start up perspective and you may be surprised that this talk isn't going to be all about Social Media!
Branding / Marketing / Publicity marketing, Startup, twitter

 

Twittering with Bedouin; Delivering Social Media to All

Darrin Husmann, lalaOKC
This presentation will address the social and technical issues surrounding the development of a semi... READ MORE This presentation will address the social and technical issues surrounding the development of a semi-ubiquitous social networking platform. It encourages participation by understanding participant motives, culture and technology. Current social media platforms are limited in their ability to decrease opportunity costs and provide value by requiring specific platforms, interfaces, access to technology, expectations of a certain level of education (or knowledge) and/or cultural outlook. Many of the social media platforms use the influence of market exclusivity to create demand; effectively omitting large segments of users by design. I will discuss and demonstrate an application that seeks to dramatically expand the availability of social networking, across limits in technology, cultural changes and demographics. This application will unify emerging & current technology with third world communication networking platforms. The goal is not to provide everyone with HTML 5, it is to effect real-time communication across a larger segment of humanity. This application will integrate intelligence and social media platforms in a manner that is holistic with the consumers tastes. The efficacy of this program will be demonstrated/discussed with coupons, sms and a micro business. It will be fun.
Accessibility Culture, marketing, social media

 

Twittersex: Tweet Me for a Good Time. #oxytocin

Jennie Chen, Chenergy Consulting
The internet isn't just the information highway anymore. The internet is a place where relationships... READ MORE The internet isn't just the information highway anymore. The internet is a place where relationships can start and communities are built. With the growing popularity of social media, it is increasingly socially acceptable to make relationships in real life with people we meet online. Online dating is no longer taboo, though many people still feel that a genuine connection and chemical spark can't be started merely through online interactions. Cybersex is one way that the human body can be sexually aroused through online interaction, and now there's growing evidence that biological changes related to emotional bonding (not just sexual pleasure) can be stimulated through online interactions. Oxytocin, known as the "cuddle hormone", is released during bonding moments and social support, which includes physical touching. There is now evidence that oxytocin is released when interacting with others via Twitter, perhaps with users that one has not yet met in real life. This shows that intimate relationships, both emotional and physical (in the form of foreplay and sexual arousal), can be started online. However, there is more to getting the hormonal relationship juices to flow than just flirting on the internet. We'll explore how social interactions can release various types of hormones. Learn how that translates into developing romantic and businesses relationships using social media tools.
Online Relationships hormones, Relationships, social media

 

Using Twitter and related technologies as research tools

Elizabeth Winkler, University of Texas at Austin
Our goal is to present new research techniques which the academic world has developed that can benef... READ MORE Our goal is to present new research techniques which the academic world has developed that can benefit the industry in areas such as market research, advertising, and consumer relations management. Blending together computational linguistics, natural language processing, computer science, marketing, and advertising the panelists have managed to use Twitter and other social media for research. The results, and the processes leading to them can greatly benefit the industry. The panelists are world renowned professors know to be at the forefront of technology as well as the Online Managing Editor of the Massachusetts' Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Sloan Management Review, a publication targeting top industry executives.
Social Networking machine learning, market research, natural language processing

 

Twitter Killed Christmas & Other Social Media Myths Dispelled

Vikki Chowney, Reputation Online
This session will look at ways in which various companies that have seen customer service problems t... READ MORE This session will look at ways in which various companies that have seen customer service problems turn into serious online crisis might have responded and how social media could then have succeeded in turning a negative into a positive. Many 'social media fails' turn out to be nothing to do with the new technologies shaping this young industry, but a lack of response to customer complaints. Here at Reputation Online, we've become increasingly frustrated with the sensationalism surrounding some of these situations and want to start talking about the real cause of so many issues - customer service. The past 12 months has seen the Twitter-obsessed social media industry stuck in a kind of never-ending loop, in which the same mistakes are being made by different brands. In the UK we've seen high-street stationer Paperchase accused (but subsequently deny) plagiarism of a designer's work before denouncing the situation as proof of the 'dangers of Twitter'. Eurostar faced criticism for not using Twitter during Christmas 2010 when people were stuck on a train somewhere between London and Paris, and even Nokia failed to spot a filmmaker's complaint in the midst of a copyright debacle. Editor of Reputation Online - Vikki Chowney - will re-imagine some of the high-profile 'fails' that have seen their fair share of negative press as if customer service had been established as the primary objective of the brands involved. We're sure we'll have Tony Hsieh's vote on this one at least.
Online Relationships customer service, reputation, social media fail

 

Making Money on Twitter: The Story of @DellOutlet

Ricardo Guerrero, Social Media Dynamo
Dell is the case study most often sited regarding successful sales strategies via Twitter. In Decemb... READ MORE Dell is the case study most often sited regarding successful sales strategies via Twitter. In December 2009, Dell released numbers indicating it had made $6.5M dollars since starting their Twitter sales accounts 2.5 years earlier. Specifically, the Dell Outlet started them on this path with the launch of the @DellOutlet account in June 2007, and it was predominantly @DellOutlet that drove those sales and established a model for use by other Dell departments and regions. Although a lot has been written in blogs about this case study, much of it has been opinion pieces and has rarely, if ever, included the perspective of the founders of @DellOutlet. The purpose of this panel is to highlight both the history of this Twitter success story from the perspective of the individuals who came up with the approach and helped grow it as well as sharing lessons learned that can be applied at other organizations, large and small. Ample time will be allotted for questions and dialogue with (and hopefully amongst) attendees of this session.
Social Networking Dell, twitter

 

OMG, My Customer’s Pissed and Uses Twitter

Rob LaGesse, www.rackspace.com
Too many customers are sitting listening to hold music waiting for their problem to get resolved. In... READ MORE Too many customers are sitting listening to hold music waiting for their problem to get resolved. Instead of stewing privately they are now airing their grievances publicly. To anyone and everyone that will listen. The BP oil spill and Toyota recalls have showed us how people are using social media tools to give pissed off customers a new voice – and it’s a megaphone. Knowing your customer and understanding how to address everything from a crisis to the everyday question quickly and effectively is critical. Learn about some of the biggest flubs from 2010, how the ball was dropped and what could have been done differently. Don’t make the same mistakes they did. Learn how not to mess up.
Social Networking customer service

 

Follow Me - Using Twitter to Save Lives

DJ Edgerton, www.pixelsandpills.com
Could you save a life in 140 characters? That was the challenge put to the development team at Zemog... READ MORE Could you save a life in 140 characters? That was the challenge put to the development team at Zemoga, a leading interactive agency. Using the Twitter API they created Follow Me, a Twitter app that connects patients, doctors and caregivers. While many pharma and healthcare companies have grappled with how best to use social media, firms like Zemoga have taken it to the next level by focusing on the patient first. Follow Me lets disease state sufferers update physicians, family members and other caregivers on their health states as easily as tweeting about Justin Bieber or last night's baseball game. An easy to use interface let's them select an emotional or physical state and it's sent out to a private Twitter network made up of followers that have been authorized by the patient. Doctors can view all of their patients statuses through a customized dashboard and follow up with the ones who've expressed a negative emotional or physical state. They can ask questions about physical conditions, compliance with drug prescriptions, and other highly relevant and personal subjects. Family members and caregivers can also check in, monitoring conditions and sending reminders to patients about diet, compliance or other healthcare related matters. While a Follow Me demo will form the heart of the presentation, we want to encourage a discussion about how pharma/healthcare can move beyond the current "mass market" approach to patient communication and engage individuals using social media.
Health Health , social media, twitter

 

Crowdsourcing Academe: A Twittered Panel

Virignia Kuhn, Institute for Multimedia Liteary, University of Southern California
Social media and newer Information and Communication Technologies have begun to shape the slow-movin... READ MORE Social media and newer Information and Communication Technologies have begun to shape the slow-moving culture of higher education in vital ways. In seven days scholars from across the globe crowdsourced a 'book' submitting work via Twitter and blog posts. The project, titled Hacking the Academy, was begun Tom Scheinfeldt and Dan Cohen as a project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. Although this project is not unprecedented--indeed in 2003 academics at the Computers and Writing Conference at Purdue assembled a digital book in an afternoon--but it is a remarkable both for its reach and its use of Web 2.0 tools designed for social networking as authors submitted from disparate geographic locales. Such projects beg pressing questions about the viability of the way that universities conduct the business of education and knowledge production in the 21st century. This panel will examine the ways in which digital technologies challenge disciplinary, professional and pedagogical boundaries. We have already crowdsourced participation in this panel by tweeting a call for interest through the Hacking the Academy hashtag and will include a simultaneous vibrant Twitter discussion which our remote international colleagues will facilitate.
Education

 

Exploring the Twitter APIs

Matt Harris, Twitter
This panel will cover the recently released and popular features of the Twitter API and explore crea... READ MORE This panel will cover the recently released and popular features of the Twitter API and explore creative ways they have been used. We'll discuss the developments over the past year and what you can expect from the API team in the future. We'll also be sharing some stories about how some of these new features came to be and reveal some of the challenges we had to overcome to release them. The panel will respond to a selection of questions received before SXSW and open up for audience questions as well.
Web Apps / Widgets API, twitter, twitterapi

 

Geppetto's Army: Creating International Incidents with Twitter Bots

Greg Marra, Google
Twitter has proven to be an invaluable tool for communication during intense periods of political un... READ MORE Twitter has proven to be an invaluable tool for communication during intense periods of political unrest and social suppression. When thousands of people tweet about oppressive regimes and violence against protesters, the outside world gets a chance to understand events on the ground. But what if none of those thousands of people were real, and the events never happened? Previous research has shown that Twitter bots can build up a following, garnering hundreds of emotionally invested followers who are fooled into believing the bots are real. A single puppetmaster could create hundreds of Twitter bots, letting them live perfectly normal and believable lives for months while they build up followers. Then one day, a careful crafted false story unfolds on the stage of social media, played out by a single director with hundreds of actors. Incidents like Balloon Boy demonstrate that powerful stories can become widespread before there is time for fact checking. Before anyone realizes all the TwitPics of the massacre are faked, the fake event will have made international headlines. This presentation will discuss the technical feasibility of such an attack on the global media infrastructure and discuss the implications of a news system that trusts "recent" over "reputable".
Journalism journalism, misinformation, twitter

 

Dining Out in a Twitter Generation

Darcy Cobb, www.urbanspoon.com
New mobile devices, local apps, social media, rich media (from YouTube to Flickr) have transformed t... READ MORE New mobile devices, local apps, social media, rich media (from YouTube to Flickr) have transformed the way that consumers communicate with and about their favorite local businesses, and also the way that businesses reach out to audiences and manage their reputation. This panel will examine how local/mobile/social technologies and consumer behavior are changing the way we do business, what businesses need to do to become more plugged in, and which companies are driving innovation in the space.
Online Relationships Geo-tagging, Local mobile, online reputation

 

Developer Communities: Scaling Twitter-Like Ecosystems

Jonathan Markwell, Inuda
Over 75% of Twitter's traffic is to its API, from the ecosystem of applications that are built by th... READ MORE Over 75% of Twitter's traffic is to its API, from the ecosystem of applications that are built by third party developers. With other services headed in a similar direction, it's time to explore the challenges that come from scaling the communities of developers that form around APIs.
Community / Online Community community, developers, platforms

 

How Twitter Parties Can Help Your Biz

Crissy Herron, Indie Biz Chicks
Everyone knows that Twitter is a hot topic. There are lots of "gurus" and "experts" with opinions on... READ MORE Everyone knows that Twitter is a hot topic. There are lots of "gurus" and "experts" with opinions on using Twitter for business, but one thing these people often fail to mention are Twitter Parties! I host a weekly Twitter Party, #indiebizchat, and have also been a panelist on #GNO small business sessions. I know first hand that Twitter Parties are a great way to reach a wide audience, gain a large number of followers in a short amount of time, and of course, market your business. This presentation will teach people how to create Twitter Parties for free, how to find topics that will attract their target audience, how to find guests and panelists that can provide great info on the topic, how to use these parties to promote a business, as well as how to earn additional income through the parties.
Branding / Marketing / Publicity social media, twitter, Twitter Party

 

Facebook, Twitter & Beyond: What's a Parent to do?

Keri Pearlson, kp partners
This interactive session is a discussion hosted by a mom and her 14 year old daughter about using so... READ MORE This interactive session is a discussion hosted by a mom and her 14 year old daughter about using social networks. Mom works on social networks as part of her job. Her daughter played on NeoPets when she was 7. At 12 she asked for a 'Facebook'. As a young teen, she attacked Twitter. MySpace isn't of interest. She attended SXSWi sessions last year to learn more. Her parents set boundaries for each tool, and monitor her activities. She's always finding new apps, and trying them out. She likes to be on social networks while watching TV and would be on the computer all the time if not for the boundaries. Fights occur every time a boundary is pushed. What's a parent to do?
Social Networking Facebook, parenting, Social Networking

 

Twitter Annotations and the Real-Time Semantic Web

Joshua Shinavier, Franz Inc.
There's more to the real-time Web than snippets of text. Real-time services such as Twitter and Face... READ MORE There's more to the real-time Web than snippets of text. Real-time services such as Twitter and Facebook have, additionally, begun to provide rich, structured metadata for use by applications: data about places, events, web pages, and, with Twitter Annotations, anything else that can be described in JSON or XML. This data opens the door to mashups with the large bodies of linked data already deployed on the Web, enabling new and smarter applications. Instead of a stream of tweets tagged with #sxsw, for example, how about a stream of tweets by anyone attending SXSW, about films by young French directors or presentations by anyone the user has co-authored an article with. In such scenarios, the Semantic Web offers a shared information space in which applications can simultaneously interact with data from disparate datasets and real-time services, cutting down on case-by-case application logic and manual integration of data sources. This session will explore the intersection of Twitter Annotations with the Semantic Web, including 1) interlinking Annotations resources and vocabularies with the Web of Data 2) using graph databases for geospatial and temporal search on the Semantic Stream 3) Annotations and the Internet of Things 4) social network anaysis enabled by Annotations and linked data 5) tools and techniques for end-user application development
New Technology / Next Generation realtime, SemanticWeb, twitter

 

The Future of Local: Foursquare, Twitter and Yelp

Eric Singley, Yelp
Local search as we once knew it has been redefined. Today consumers are increasingly relying on loca... READ MORE Local search as we once knew it has been redefined. Today consumers are increasingly relying on location based mobile apps to discover what's around them. What does this shift in user behavior look like and how are small business owners leveraging these channels to attract new customers. The land grab for mindshare and a piece of the estimated $130+ billion local ad market* has been fast and furious. Product gurus from Foursquare, Twitter and Yelp sound off on what type of engagement they are seeing from both consumers and small businesses. (*BIA/Kelsey’s Local Media Annual Forecast, Feb 2010)
Geolocation local, Mobile Consumers, small business

 

Twittering in Jungles: Social Tools and Developing Economies

Annemarie Dooling, Independant
Travel has made a big name for itself on the Internet. Digital nomads use social networking to find... READ MORE Travel has made a big name for itself on the Internet. Digital nomads use social networking to find out complete news on new destinations, lodging and friends across the globe, and to contact service providers for problems, tips, and deals. Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and others, are making it easy for travelers to connect, find their passions and means, and head out into the open road. Philanthropy, not to be outdone, has made its mark, too. Twestival, Tweetsgiving, and the numerous crowd sourcing charity ideas that circle the web now make it easier than ever for you to give and make your mark on this world. It was only a matter of time before these two amazing social networking power genre’s got together: there’s a whole great big world out there that we are apart of. If you don’t stand up and change it, who will? Whether you’re a digital nomad keeping the States up to date on worldly situations via Facebook, or a fundraiser who’s crowd sourcing your mission to build schools in Haiti, you’re probably knee-deep in new social tools and wondering how you can best utilize them for your needs.
Social Issues crowdsource, Non-profit, travel

 

Twitter / Facebook – Your Customer Re-Activation Program

Greg Bright, Greg Bright
Want new customers? – Get SEO. Want to reactivate and engage existing customers? – Get Twitter a... READ MORE Want new customers? – Get SEO. Want to reactivate and engage existing customers? – Get Twitter and Facebook. Unless you are Zappos, you are wasting your time trying to gain new customers from Twitter or Facebook. Selling to existing customers is many times easier than fighting to get new ones. In fact, it’s up to 60 times easier. The pot of gold is right under your nose! Hear two veteran internet marketing professionals present case studies from restaurateurs in Austin and Fort Worth who are using social media to shine a spotlight on their businesses - while giving the owners one big ass megaphone.
Branding / Marketing / Publicity Internet marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing

Food Goes Social! Marketing Kogi, Fatburger & Calbi

Mike Prasad, {M} Consultancy
The last 2 years have seen an explosion of food brands attempting to market via social strategies an... READ MORE The last 2 years have seen an explosion of food brands attempting to market via social strategies and technology. Some get it, and some don't. Learn the strategies behind three of the most successful and groundbreaking campaigns, with behind-the-scenes insight on how social marketing and branding was seeded, leveraged and grown, presented by the one person involved in all of them. Starting with a look at how Kogi BBQ used Twitter and spurred a worldwide mobile food trend, continuing with Fatburgers first use of Foursquare's location-based offer feature, then finally with Calbi BBQ’s issues of turning a “me too” brand to a distinctive offering, this presentation will look at each unique brands cases, issues, innovations and solutions that drove their engaging campaigns. Also included will be details on the Baja Fresh vs Kogi BBQ Twitter fight, and how Kogi BBQ won.
Branding / Marketing / Publicity food, Social Marketing & PR, twitter

The Anatomy of 140 Characters: Short Form Shakespeares

Victor Pineiro, Big Spaceship
Four years into Twitter and six into Facebook, short-form status updates are now many people's and b... READ MORE Four years into Twitter and six into Facebook, short-form status updates are now many people's and brands' primary medium for communication with their audience. If this is our new language, surely we have a few Shakespeares by now. Is there a formula for a perfect tweet? And is it art or science? We'll explore how far we've come, and what the hindrances of short-form dispatch-style communications are.
Social Networking Facebook, tweets, twitter

The Tweets That Time (And You) Forgot

Mick Darling, Tomorrowish LLC
The conversations on Twitter and other social media add value to the common discourse, but even as t... READ MORE The conversations on Twitter and other social media add value to the common discourse, but even as the conversations happen we miss massive pieces, and afterward they become very difficult to find. The reliance on #hashtags and lack of intelligent searching and filters on most twitter clients complicates this conversation gap resulting in a balkanization of the Twitter-sphere. At the last #140Conf in NY during the course of one hour over 75% of the tweets on topic about the conference would not have shown up in a search for "#140conf" which is the main way for outsiders to get in on the conversation. My company is collecting comprehensive conversations from events like the #140conf events in LA and Boston, major sporting events, television premieres and political events like the Presidential State of the Union Address. We will be collecting as much of the complete conversation from these events as we can using smart searching techniques, special filtering techniques, and good old fashioned human processing. Over the next year we will be harvesting the tweets from these events and will demonstrate how content producers and audiences can recapture lost conversations. At SXSWi 2011 we will compare what parts of these conversations are most talked about and demonstrate what the audience has been missing, providing insights and techniques to bring more people into the public conversations.
Community / Online Community analysis, conversion, twitter

Subscribers, Fans & Followers: The Audience Is Always Right

Jeffrey Rohrs, ExactTarget | CoTweet
Email. Facebook. Twitter. While they get lumped together as "social media," they are--for all intent... READ MORE Email. Facebook. Twitter. While they get lumped together as "social media," they are--for all intent and purposes--today's direct marketing trinity, a trio of online channels that connect billions of people around the world seamlessly. But how do consumers view and utilize each of these channels? Do their expectations differ when they're a brand subscriber versus a fan versus a follower? Should these consumer perceptions matter to marketers today? In 2010, we sought the answers to these questions and more by surveying over 1,500 consumers about their use of email, Facebook and Twitter. After publishing the results in a series of research papers (http://www.exacttarget.com/sff), we realized there was even more to the story and we set about literally writing the book on subscribers, fans and followers. What did we learn along the way? Join us for this interactive session and we'll share our favorite "Ah-ha moments" from the research and book. We'll also tell you what consumers love to love AND love to hate about your marketing via email, Facebook & Twitter. At the end of the session, you'll emerge with a wealth of actionable insights that can be put to immediate use with your own subscribers, fans and followers.
Social Networking email, Facebook, twitter

Caring For Your Online Introvert

Joanne McNeil, The Tomorrow Museum
If you are a geek, you are probably introverted. But you might not seem introverted online. In the c... READ MORE If you are a geek, you are probably introverted. But you might not seem introverted online. In the comfort of your own home, you can have endless conversations on message boards and mailing lists, have several instant message chats simultaneously, and thrive on these controlled social interactions. This also works in reverse. An overwhelmingly extroverted person could be too busy going to parties or talking on the phone to keep up with Facebook, appearing introverted when it comes to social media. Some of us are offline and online introverts. We don't like tagging people on Facebook. We don't @ reply very much on Twitter. Communicating through social media feels like small talk to the average online introvert. Social media can feel as draining as a cocktail party. Introverts sometimes appear standoffish to extroverts. Online introverts are similarly misunderstood by online extroverts. This panel will discuss the conflicts that occur between online extroverts and online introverts. We will also discuss "netiquette," as it relates to different personality types.
Social Issues Facebook, introverts, twitter

Putting the "MED" in Social Media

Julian Bond, Detroit Medical Center
As the use of social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter has become increasingly "sec... READ MORE As the use of social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter has become increasingly "second-nature" to many users, the way that patients, doctors and even hospital/health systems communicate with each other has changed dramatically. Instead of just the usual face-to-face doctor's office chats and traditional hospital marketing methods, social media has opened the doors to new ways of communication in the health community. So with more and more people using this new technology, a good number of health/hospital systems have caught on to it and as a result have started to put the "MED" in the social media movement. At SXSWi during the SXSW Health track, come check out our panel to hear some of the people from a number of major health and hospital systems as they discuss how they have used the power of social media to reach their core audiences in various unique ways.
Health Health , social media, twitter

Tweets from September 11

Charles Mangin, Option8, LLC
2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. Since that day, the world h... READ MORE 2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. Since that day, the world has changed in significant ways socially, politically and technologically. Consider recent natural and man-made disasters - earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Iceland's volcanic ash cloud - as well as politically divisive events - elections in Iran, US health care legislation. Facts, opinions and speculation for each new event spread faster than the last, through online social networks. More and more people are getting news of current events from sources like Twitter, and even network and cable news outlets are sourcing material from tweets and Facebook status updates. This panel will explore the emerging and historic role of social networks in disseminating news and information during disasters and other significant national and international events. It will also attempt to assess how differently the events of 9/11 would have been reported if Twitter and Facebook had been introduced to the world ten years earlier. With smartphones and handheld video cameras in the hands of thousands of people on the scene, would conspiracy theories and unanswered questions still swirl around Ground Zero? Would the events have changed at all, or their aftermath be different? In the context of these and other questions, we will speculate on how future disasters will be reported.
Social Issues 9/11, social web, twitter

 

You Should Be an Internet Personality.

Darrin Robertson, Orange Coast College
It has never been easier to be heard by so many people as it is in today's socially networked world.... READ MORE It has never been easier to be heard by so many people as it is in today's socially networked world. But what does that mean for us? What incentive is there for us to create anything online at all? Is our individual online presence and personality good for anything beyond simply getting attention? This panel will discuss the impact of tools such as twitter and tumblr on our ability to see and be seen, and why we should or should not be devoting time and energy to the pursuit of internet adoration.
Social Networking podcasting, social media, twitter

Social Media FAIL: Lessons From the Dark Side

Mark Williams, LiveWorld
Have you ever seen a social media FAIL in progress and wondered why the brand involved couldn't see ... READ MORE Have you ever seen a social media FAIL in progress and wondered why the brand involved couldn't see the mistakes they were making that made the situation worse? Doing everything 'right' in social media planning does not necessarily guarantee success, but doing the wrong thing will definitely ensure failure. This workshop takes a look at recent social media FAIL case studies to help intermediate to advanced social media practitioners acquire skills and strategies to manage their communities and social media campaigns better. What do you DO when you realize that your ongoing efforts are not achieving the results you were looking for or worse... you find yourself in the middle of a crisis or a social media FAIL storm that is brewing? This workshop looks at a few notable social media FAIL examples and then adds a comparison/contrast of brands who have successfully navigated treacherous waters and concludes with best practices to help extract your company from a bad social media experience. Bring your real-world problems--we'll spend at least 1/3rd of the time workshopping attendee issues.
Branding / Marketing / Publicity community, Facebook, twitter

 

Corporate Quandary: Who Should Own Social Media?

Chris Harris, Canwest Broadcasting
Marketing department. Publicity. Consumer relations. Digital team. A senior executive. Social media ... READ MORE Marketing department. Publicity. Consumer relations. Digital team. A senior executive. Social media guru-for-hire. The intern. All potential answers to a crucial business question - who should own a company’s social media strategy? The question has been with us for years but the answers remain diverse and debated. Through examination & discussion of successful case studies, this session explores how to maximize a brand’s social media efforts through organization, collaboration and authenticity.
Social Networking Corporate Social Media, social media management, twitter

Missing the Point: The Long v. Short-Form Debate

Thessaly La Force, The Paris Review
It's time to move on. Let's retire the debate about whether or not short-form writing on the web wil... READ MORE It's time to move on. Let's retire the debate about whether or not short-form writing on the web will replace long-form writing. In the same way that it's generally understood that bloggers will not replace journalists, Twitter will not take over The New Yorker. Tumblr will not eliminate the novel. But if we concede this point, then what are the ways in which these two forms will co-exist? Is it a peaceful but distant pairing? Is it symbiotic? Is it contentious? What does it mean to have community?
Journalism journalism, media, twitter

The Harassment Predicament: Minimizing Abuse, Maximizing Free Speech

Del Harvey, Twitter
Online services tread a narrow line between enabling free speech and preventing abuse of members. Of... READ MORE Online services tread a narrow line between enabling free speech and preventing abuse of members. Offline, harassment is often determined contextually; unfortunately, website owners and operators often lack the time, insight, and ability to determine the context surrounding a given behavior. Additionally, the speech itself may not be directly abusive; thus, identifying other vectors for abuse is becoming increasingly important. As a result, Del Harvey, the Director of Twitter's Trust and Safety department, has spent a significant amount of the past two years working to develop objective litmus tests for evaluating potentially abusive behavior in the absence of context. This presentation will draw upon the work done at Twitter as well as Del's previous background working with online safety advocates to provide practical and doable policies and suggestions for sites to utilize with a minimum of engineering investment and personnel needs.
Social Issues free speech, internet safety, twitter

 

Tiny Strategies: Social Media in 60 Minutes or Less

Annie Lynsen, Small Act
In this quick-hit, practical-tips-focused panel, nonprofit social media experts will share their str... READ MORE In this quick-hit, practical-tips-focused panel, nonprofit social media experts will share their strategies for maximizing their social media impact with very little time to devote to it. We'll go round-robin style to find out how you should spend your time, whether you have 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes a day to devote to social media.
Social Networking Facebook, nonprofit, twitter

 

 

Tweet and Check-in Your Way to Love

Laurie Davis, eFlirt Expert
You notice her tweet, check-in or status update and feel a tingle through your iPad. Could it be ins... READ MORE You notice her tweet, check-in or status update and feel a tingle through your iPad. Could it be instant virtual attraction? Though you’re in-touch with your digital aura, how can you translate that into finding love? We’ll teach you how to flirt in real-time and transition your avatars seamlessly offline. From the first tweet to the last check-in, this session will teach you how to best position your love life in a 2.0 world.
Online Relationships dating, Real-Time, twitter

Own Social Media; They Do

Jay Dolan, The Anti-Social Media
All of the major social networks are controlled by private companies. You and your business are put... READ MORE All of the major social networks are controlled by private companies. You and your business are putting your social strategy in the hands of people you've likely never met. You pray they don't change the terms of service yet again. You hope that another fail whale doesn't surface just as you start trying to launch your next campaign. All the while, they glean information you put out there for their own money-making purposes The time is now to start telling our stories in a way that isn't controlled by a handful of corporations. The problem of the closed social network goes beyond just making one based on values of open-source and privacy such as Diaspora. It involves deeper questions of the value of our real identity online, and whether the convenience and entertainment of social networks is worth the sacrifice. It's time to start realizing how big the problem is and why the time for an open solution is now.
Social Networking Facebook, twitter

 

Automated Content in Social Media the Right Way

Tatyana Kanzaveli, Social CRM World
This will be a controversial topic, especially for so proclaimed social media experts... We will ove... READ MORE This will be a controversial topic, especially for so proclaimed social media experts... We will overview ways to extract great content and share it with your friends and followers on social media channels in automated ways: auto-tweets, auto blog posts. I will give concrete examples on how this concept works. Tested for a long time on a number of twitter accounts, facebook pages, etc.. We will look at content aggregation tools and their use in content management space.
Content Management content creation, content curation, twitter

 

Going Social? Start with Your Own Web Property

Jason Jaynes, Demand Media
Web sites are dead! Facebook and Twitter should be your focus! At least, that’s what some pundits ... READ MORE Web sites are dead! Facebook and Twitter should be your focus! At least, that’s what some pundits would have you believe. But in reality there’s no place better than your own Web site for generating brand loyalty, giving your customers a place to energize and support each other, and gaining insights into your customers and your market. You ignore your own Web site at your peril, especially now that it’s so easy to connect your property – on your terms – to the Web’s giant social destinations. How do you properly integrate with social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn? What types of social applications should you consider incorporating directly into your site? What types of traffic increases and time-on-site can be expected by incorporating these techniques? How do you accurately measure the business value success of your social investments? What types of marketing benefits can be leveraged by having a community on your site? All these questions and more will be discussed, with illustrations from real-world brand and publisher deployments.
Social Networking Facebook, owned media, twitter

 

23 hours in London – WTF?

Family commitments and an important sales call put me in London overnight.  I think I spent more time on the plane than I did on the ground! You know it’s insane when you have the same flight crew that took you returning to the US the next day.  All this international travel is filling up my passport.  A couple more trips and it’s renewal time.  Anyhow, the trip was successful, but I’m glad to sleep in my own bed. Jet lag? I think that’s a benefit – I haven’t stayed in one place long enough to be affected.

Anyhow, I learned a few more travel tips that to share:

• More Skype:
  • A new feature with Boingo, pay by the minute.  When you just need to have a quick chat, SMS, or send an email.  Just connect to Boingo via Skype and voila.  Much easier than connecting to Boingo directly and cheaper if you are only connected for a few minutes.
  • Get a free Skype phone number from Ring2Skype. This allows people to call you on Skype from a local landline.  Most cities and countries are covered.
• Helpful iPhone Apps:
  • Travel Tools
    • GateGuru shows food, shops and services for every domestic airport. It even has a social networking component by allowing you to share your location, tips and reviews with friends.  Although I prefer to use Foursquare for that.
    • USA Today Auto Pilot – The swiss army knife of travel apps. Integrated with Tripit, this app also provides weather information for your destination as well as flight tracking, delays, a directory of travel phone numbers, and travel content from USA today.
  • London Specific
    • Lonely Planet’s London Guidebook is comprehensive with coverage of every neighborhood.  Integrated with the GPS, it shows you points of interest nearby with tips and maps.
    • TubeMap is a great free app that will give you the quickest or simplest route from one station to another.  No more standing in the station and staring at the map!
    • Heathrow Airport Guide: Current flight info, shopping, airport maps and transportation guidelines to the city.
• Airline Elite tips:
  • Join one, join them all.  You don’t have to be George Clooney in Up in the Air to become elite with your favorite airline.  But once you become a well-respected road warrior by your favorite airline, contact the others to match.  I’ve been able to parlay my Alaska Gold MVP status to comparable elite on Delta and United.  Other domestic airlines also run similar elite match or challenge programs.  Just ask the frequent flyer desk and send them a copy of your statement.
  • United Premier Executive allows its members traveling internationally to use its Red Carpet Lounges and SkyAlliance Lounges.  Free wifi, food, and drinks in a comfortable, relaxing setting.  Especially since the status came from the match game above!

Helpful?  What are some of your road warrior tips?

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iPhone- Why are you so temperamental?

My recent trip to London started off with a bang. All kinds of iPhone issues - First, foursquare crashes, then it hangs in the appstore.  Of course it got worse: refusal to shut off and then finally, total failure – the device wouldn’t turn on.  It seems like this only happens to me when I’m on the road. I’ve had the hat trick of iPhone travel disasters.  A flight to LA with a device that wouldn’t shut off got fixed with a restore through iTunes in my hotel room. A wasted day in San Francisco playing service provider ping pong between the AT&T store and the Apple store down the street until it got fixed.  And now an international outage.  I was envisioning a night with the Genius on my return home.  And then I remembered.  Aaron Strout had a similar problem with his iPhone.  Thanks to Aaron’s description of his problem and how his wife helped him fix it, I was in luck.  I was able to put my phone into restore mode and synced everything up through iTunes. Good as new. But it was looking bleak for awhile.

Oh my beloved iPhone, why do you tease me so.  Hello Droid, can we talk?  What do you think, is it time to switch?

Travel Tips

I’ve been in Vietnam for the last ten days or so, visiting our Lift9 team and taking in the beautiful beach at Hoi An.  That’s why I haven’t posted in awhile – yeah right. I’ve posted a few photo albums on Posterous, one of the fabulous Thi Nhan restaurant in Hoi An that was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and another one of a fantastic seafood dinner that the Lift9 team had in Ho Chi Minh City. I’ll be posting another big one of Hoi An when I get home.

Anyhow, I figured out a few good travel tips on this trip, although they will probably go further in describing my ignorance rather than sharing anything that seasoned travelers don’t know. Traveling overseas can be difficult on communications based on distance, time zones, and costs.  I learned a few things about improving communications that I wanted to share.

Tip 1 – In my effort to avoid the usurious international data roaming rates that At&T charges ($20/MB), I typically keep my iPhone on airplane mode rather than than changing all of the push settings. Whenever I used the wifi, I would turn airplane mode off and go wifi.  Of course, in the past this created a couple of mishaps when the wifi didn’t really kick in, but the international data roaming did.  Last trip to Vietnam was an expensive 2 minute charge on a layover in Tokyo, for example.  So imagine my surprise when I tried the wifi with the phone still in airplane mode…and it worked! From now on, airplane mode is always on, with wi-fi.

 

Tip 2 – I use Skype to communicate back home, making PC to PC calls (or with the iPhone app). It’s a great service and free. This trip I had to participate on a conference call, so figured I’d try Skype’s paid VOIP service for calling land lines. Of course, the process of purchasing Skype credit was arduous with Skype’s agent,  Moneybookers. It seemed like they would throw up any security road blocks they could to inhibit my ability to purchase.  After finally setting up my account, Skype worked like a charm.  I called home and elsewhere for peanuts! And no more 30 minute setup times at home while my family would get things ready.  I know my wife prefers it this way.  I even got a Skype online number!

 

These tips have certainly made keeping in touch and communicating from overseas so much easier.  What tools and tips do you use when you’re traveling internationally to ease your communications?

How’s your bracket?

We’ve reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA College Basketball March Madness tournament. Although, I’m ecstatic that the University of Washington Huskies are still alive, my bracket is limping along as I only have two final four picks still alive. But it’s been great entertainment.

 

Yes Tim, it’s been a fun $10! This year has been a crazy tournament with so many upsets and the conversation has been enhanced via Twitter. I’ve written before how Twitter enhances the sports experience, whether talking about the Red Sox, Shaq, or the NFL.

Since those early posts, athletes from all sports, professionals and amateurs have joined Twitter to speak with their fans.  There have been so many athletes on Twitter that you may not be able to track all of your favorites. So I was quite pleased to learn of this fantastic site from the Wall Street Journal that allows you to follow the tweets of players and coaches in the tournament.

 

The site is organized like a bracket so that you can see the most recent tweets for the two opponents in each game.  It even enables you to follow a list of your favorite team’s players. Of course, I followed the Huskies.

So how is your bracket doing and who are you following?

 

 

 

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Speaking out

Yesterday I spoke on a panel about How to Use Social Media at MarketMix 2010 which was produced by the local Seattle chapters of the AMA and DMA. Our panel was well attended and it was great to engage with people at a conference from outside the social media fish bowl.  Since many of us have been deeply immersed in social media for what seems like a long time, it’s always surprising to find other marketers that are just starting out. There were many great questions, both from the crowd and our uber-moderator, Kunal Muzumdar, who kept things moving.  One of the most popular questions was for a book recommendation on learning about social media.  Although it seems like everyone in social media has a book (or at least an upcoming book deal), the one book that has had staying power for me is Join the Conversation by the inestimable Joseph Jaffe. Published 3 years ago, this book still resonates.  Jaffe is very passionate about the subject and gives  great examples of how companies are doing things right in conversational marketing.  And that means giving up control, not always being right, respecting people building relationships instead of running campaigns, listening and acting like caring human beings. And since I’ve now outed myself as a true Jaffe fan-boy, his new book, Flip the Funnel is a fantastic take on loyalty and Retention Marketing. A Must Read!

Now back to the conference

Seattle Chef Tom Douglas gave a fascinating lunch keynote in which he shared his approach to branding while he prepped a beautiful king salmon as a metaphor for his branding and connection to the local market. Fascinating speech with some great sound bites:

The conference was a big success with over 400 people in attendance, the most popular conference that we’ve had in a month of marketing/ social media conferences in Seattle.  Congratulations to conference organizer Brian Ratzliff for a splendid event.  At the end of the month, I will also be speaking on Listening at the Social Media Conference NW at Western Washington University.  I hope to see you there.

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