Monday, March 12, 2007

SXSW "vi-twitter-ously"

I'm experiencing the SXSW conference this week "vi-twitter-ously". I couldn't go, but people I know or know of are there, and they're all Twittering furiously. Here's a taste from today:

stevegarfield Heading over to the Yahoo! BarTab Party at Light Bar 408 Congress at 4th, then GOOD/Creative Commons party at Uncle Flirty's 325 E 6th.

Zadi heading to yahoo party half a minute ago from txt Icon_star_empty

Scobleizer OK, we're on our way to Salt Lick (the original one, not the 360 one). I have my cell phone again. 425-205-1921. 2 minutes ago from web

rudyjahchan Anyone doing lunch in the next hour? My next window is after 3?

Twitter is an incredible force for keeping people connected and helping them find each other, even better than just a cell phone itself because you can reach many people at the same time. It's carrying around a group of friends no matter where you go. It's nice to feel connected like that.

Think about how many times you've been to conferences in the past and found yourself alone, wondering where the heck everyone you knew is, or where they were going for dinner, or where the slammin' party was that night. Twitter is great for keeping in touch, and it allows you to let out only as much info as you care to.

Like a lot of other people, I was skeptical about Twitter, but I've been quickly converted. No wonder they won the Web award at SXSW.

It's ironic that a few years back, people were concerned that the web and Internet were going to turn people into pasty house-bound recluses with little social interaction. It's having exactly the opposite effect. It's connecting people and bringing them together in myriad new ways. I've met so many interesting and different people through blogging and vlogging and I can't wait to go to PodCamp NYC and meet even more.

And next year, I'm getting to Austin if it kills me!

Twitter on, peeps!

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, Joe -

Thanks for your comment on my blog re: Twitter. I was one of the Twitter fiends posting my every move while down at SXSW :)

Twitter definitely got a lot of press last week (aside from the award nod, they had a sizeable marketing team down there on the panels, handing out t-shirts, etc.), and the convergence of digital and virtual worlds has been a dominant theme in recent months (besides Twitter, look at the activity on MeetUp, Outside.in, and likemind.us among others).

Twitter is definitely a fun and useful tool when traveling in groups, but I've actually unplugged since returning home because the updates were just too much!

See you at WebInno :)

Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:34:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, for those of us still at SXSW, it quickly lost its usefulness. It shined when we were all doing the same basic stuff, in the same basic place, but now, I still can't get an address of a place I need because it got fragmented.

Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:51:00 AM  

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