Foursquare Rules SXSW

If you’ve been keeping tabs on this blogger’s Twitterstream, you’re (painfully) aware that I finally made my way to Austin for the 2012 South by Southwest Interactive Festival. No longer a Newbie, I earned the 2012 SXSW Sophomore Badge on Foursquare upon arrival at Austin Bergstrom Airport.Whooppeee! Let the games begin.At last year’s SXSW, I…… Continue reading Foursquare Rules SXSW

SouthBy the Numbers

Outside Austin Convention Center (credit: Brittany Ryan)It must be that silly SXSW season again. I caught my pal Brian Solis’s tweet of the name of the opening keynoter for the 2012 SXSW Interactive festival in Austin. He’s Baratunde Thurston of The Onion, which this week celebrated the 3 million mark in Twitter followers. (Who’d a…… Continue reading SouthBy the Numbers

Geeks in the Pool

Few will dispute how the social media revolution has spawned a range of new communications competencies, if not industries. These burgeoning industries feature companies that specialize in SEO and SEM, Facebook engagement strategies, online listening and measurement tools, digital video production, mobile engagement solutions, and the list continues to expand.Of all the industries created by…… Continue reading Geeks in the Pool

Friday’s Video Views

SxSW via CNNIf you’ve visited these pages over the last week, you’ll have seen a decent helping of posts from this year’s South by Southwest Interactive conference, (i.e., it was overwhelming!). Here’s CNN’s 3-minute look at the sites and sounds from Austin’s (and the world’s) biggest geek fest. (Via SxSW Website)Tyson’s Bird AddictionDuring his keynote…… Continue reading Friday’s Video Views

And the Winner at SxSW is…

Unlike last year when location-based services Foursquare and Gowalla dominated the discourse coming out of SxSW, this year’s conference had way too many dimensions to declare a single company or technology as the clear winner. Some companies had great marketing and PR, but less than perfect applications. While others had mind-blowing apps, but PR and…… Continue reading And the Winner at SxSW is…

SxSW: A Perfect Storm

PepsiMAX lot at SxSWBuddy Media’s Michael LazerowBuddy Media chief Michael Lazerow took to the pages of the influential BusinessInsider yesterday to anoint SxSW as simply a “must-attend” event. He observed that SxSW Interactive today is larger than SxSW Music in which the legendary festival has its roots.What has suddenly driven the interactive conference’s success? In…… Continue reading SxSW: A Perfect Storm

Diller & Crowley @SxSW

CNN’s Poppy Harlow w/ IAC’s Barry DillerTwo of the more notable keynote interviews at SxSW happened Monday morning.The first featured CNN business reporter Poppy Harlow’s chummy tete-a-tete with IAC chairman Barry Diller before a packed house at the Austin Convention Center. The second showcased two Twitter-verified luminaries – Mashable founder Pete Cashmore and Foursquare founder…… Continue reading Diller & Crowley @SxSW

SxSW @ Night

South by Southwest is such an overwhelming and all-consuming experience, it’s impossible to fully capture its myriad sights and sounds. I saw one tweet that suggested starting a conference concierge business to help attendees sort it all out.Complementing the hundreds of keynotes, panels, exhibitions, and sponsor promotions are the parties by companies seeking to spur…… Continue reading SxSW @ Night

Lost at SxSW

Okay. I’m a newbie here, at least according to the Foursquare badge that declared as much upon my check-in at Austin’s Bergstrom airport. I suppose the other give-away was when my wife convinced me to abandon the 100+ person line for taxis after a ten minute spell with no cabs in sight. “Marketwatch’s” media maven…… Continue reading Lost at SxSW