The infographic designed by Dopamine says it all – over 1,000 events in 12 cities on five continents. But don’t let the stats fool you…New York City contributed over half the activity at Social Media Week worldwide…several hundred keynote, seminars, talk-backs, entrepreneur forums, and socials. I got to about 15 events over the five days.
Everyone’s asked me what it was like, so the bottom line is that it was exhilarating to find out how the best minds in advertising, publishing, brand management, creative enterprise, and finance were thinking about social media 2.0. Best of all, we met inside the most cutting-edge spaces in the City –Bloomberg, JWT, Hearst, and Quirky’s new digs at the High Line – watching the infographics and Twitter feeds streaming live.
But more than that was finding out what was trending…”second screen”, how marketing is migrating toward Facebook, the importance of “stories” in branding, new metrics to measure us, and FOMO (“Fear Of Missing Out”). We heard lots about Facebook, Twitter, and new platforms. I didn’t count many mentions of LinkedIn, but there was no mention of Google+ without a rolling of eyes or deep skepticism. If I had a nickel for every mention of Pinterest, we could all retire (PS: It began in the Midwest!).
I’ll be posting various summaries to explain what movers and shakers are thinking, starting with the following comments, insights, and questions by keynote speaker, David Eastman, CEO/Worldwide Digital Director of JWT:
- Social media is a core disruption to “the Internet”
- Facebook’s social platform has become “the Internet” for many people (like a new “Windows”)
- Apple has turned iTunes into a “digital passport” linked to over 200M credit cards
- Kindle is key to Amazon’s ploy to controlling the market (AMZN revenue will reach $100B soon)
- Google has been more advertiser-focused, so it’s trying to catch up with Google+
- Brands need to have conversations with customers via social media (just starting on Facebook)
- Pressing “Like” is fine, but it’s important to understand what people truly care about
Eastman wants to know:
- Is Pinterest turning us from active hunter-gatherers to passive “pasters and copiers”?
- If geeks are the success stories of our time, are business plans the latest art form?
Discussion?To be continued…
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