how online and mobile technology connects us: SXSW Interactive

[this is cross-posted from Learnings @ Leadership Network]

I attended a part of the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin last week. An incredible time to get a preview of what the new world will be like with emerging technologies becoming more and more a part of our everyday life.

SXSW is like 3 conferences in 1 -- film, interactive (technology), and music. I think most people go to 1 of the 3, and I was most interested in the interactive part, though if I had more time, I'd love to go to all of it. I described it as the one place to hear from culture creatives and to get a pulse on technology and culture. There was no way to take it all in, with SXSW being such a big conference, with like 20 breakouts going at the same time. In the evenings, like 12 parties scattered all over downtown. I can only be one place at once. Good thing they record all the sessions.

Here's some of the ideas I picked up, with some thoughts on implications to the church:

• A lot of the buzz during SXSW Interactive revolved around Twitter and Facebook. SXSW was where Twitter really took off 2 years ago, long before it became mainstream. This year, 25,000 tweets were sent out on the peak day 3/15. Looks like both of these have some staying power.
• Why you should twitter? If you want to be a part of the converation, get on twitter. People will talk about relevant topics in near real time, and if you're left out of the conversation, you won't have your say. And if people aren't talking (twittering) about you and/or your church, you aren't going to connect (as well) with that group of people -- currently around 4 million.
• Why show your face on Facebook? This is the currently the most active social network, with around 150 million active users around the world. It seems to me that people use Facebook to maintain their connections with people they know, and sending out event announcements. The future has tons of potential using something called Facebook Connect. This will enable other web apps to connect with your circle of friends, so you could watch a sporting event online with your friends connected via chat room, play online games competing with your friends, or check movie ratings from your friends -- whose opinions probably matter more to you than total strangers.
• Susan Weinschenk, author of Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? described a compelling idea: 11 million sensory perceptions are coming at you every seccond, and only 40 are conscious. This means that our subconscience and emotions largely inform and influence our response to life happenings, and to websites. What provokes a response: trigger words that connote urgency, scarcity, and strong emotions. Plus, present fewer choices -- this helps people decide.
• More provocatively, content is (essentially) free in the online world. Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. He describes that with distribution cost essentially near zero, content can flow freely. Charging for something will have to be derived from other means, i.e. monitizing your celebrity status, providing premium service, creating experiences. He describes this more in his forthcoming book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Of course, the book's content will be made available free, probably via PDF, and the printed book will be for sale at market value.
• Listen to audio podcasts of SXSW sessions.

For my conclusions, click over for the rest of the post at Learnings @ Leadership Network >>

// DJ Chuang is a Director at Leadership Network, launching digital initiatives, and connecting multi-site churches and Asian American pastors.

Comments

[Richard]

I have a hard time connecting on Twitter, even using an app to help me keep up with people by keyword. It seems that Twitter is mostly about people who would normally converse offline doing so online.

I find Facebook easy to use and easily connect with others even with no app for searching by keywords. I subscribe to "Groups" by email, which "sucks me back in" regularly.

Shouldn't the opposite be true?

I attempted Twitter to promote a church using the church's location (city) as the keyword. Plenty of Tweets come up using that keyword but almost no one responds to me.

Is it me?

[djchuang]

Richard, thanks for your comments. I'm not sure what to tell you. There are some people that connect better with others in Facebook, while some people connect better via Twitter.

A comparison I've heard is that Twitter is like an having a conversation at a reception, where you would talk to a few people at a time. It would not be as appropriate to "shout out" an announcement on Twitter, just as you wouldn't shout out an announcement at a reception.