(A refined transcript of my opening address at Social Media Week Berlin, Sept. 20)

Normally a conference organizer gets on stage to tell you about all the amazing speakers they have lined up for the week. But I’d like to tell you about a speaker who won’t be appearing at Social Media Week. His name is Ray Kurzweil. Unfortunately, for reasons I’ll now explain, he can’t be here to tell you about his theories.

Kurzweil is something of a living genius. His main thesis is that technological advance can be measured, graphed, and projected into the future. By charting the exponential improvements over the past fifty years, we can predict developments that are likely to come in the next half-century and beyond. For Kurzweil, many of these developments involve changes to the human body and mind. He predicts we will utilize computer chips to improve our health and augment our natural physical capacity, resulting in an elongated human lifespan and, eventually, immortality.

When I first began organizing Social Media Week Berlin, Kurzweil was top of my speaker wishlist. I did a few searches, found his contact information, and sent him an email requesting his attendance. Within a few days I received a reply from his secretary:

Dear Joel,

Thank you for your interest in having Mr. Kurzweil speak at Social Media Week Berlin this September. I am sorry to report that he is already confirmed to speak at two events in the U.S. on September 20 and 22 and so he will not be able to join you in person in Berlin.

He does give live virtual lectures followed by Q&A either by Teleportec or by standard videoconferencing. Our Teleportec system projects a live image of Mr. Kurzweil behind a lectern with the local back-drop behind him, creating the effect that he is on stage at the event.

His fee for a virtual presentation is $12,000 (this covers technical expenses on his end), plus the cost of technical expenses on the conference end. If you would like to use our Teleportec system, the technical cost would be roughly $9,000 which would cover system shipping and on-site technical support by our technician at the event….

My first thought upon reading about Kurzweil’s holographic presentation was this…

And although it would be fascinating to have Kurzweil’s hologram on stage, the cost was as staggering as the concept. At that price, I’d expect to be able to ask him to recite Princess Leia’s “Help me Obi Wan Kinobi” monologue.

To save costs, I thought I’d skip having Kurzweil speak in person (or in hologram), and instead deliver the talk myself. So here goes.

Part of Kurweil’s vision of the future is that we will upload our thoughts and memories into some kind of giant computer databank, thereby securing our brains against physical decay. How does any of this apply here at Social Media Week?

Well, consider some of the technology that already exists on social media platforms. We’re now all well aware that Facebook (and Google, and many other sites) tracks what we type, and returns advertisements based on our preferences. As Mark Zuckerberg told us last week at F8, Facebook will expand its data collection to track every single action we make on his platform. Every “Like” clicked, every event attended, every comment typed, will all be recorded in a databank that, over time, will become a historical record of our online personas.

This is nothing new. Google has been doing this for a long time. In fact, using its knowledge about your past search preferences, Google now predicts which search result you are going to click and begins loading that page in anticipation of you selecting it.

Given the technological capability to catalogue your behaviour and make predictions about future actions, it can’t be long before Facebook introduces an “autopilot mode” option. It’s conceivable, right? Utilizing its knowledge of your past “Likes”, Facebook could be enabled to go ahead and “Like” things for you, whenever you’re too busy or too offline to do it yourself.

At first this might be clumsy technology, liking only things you’ve liked before, or based on a few keywords. But as Kurzweil tells us, technological advance is exponential. It’s not far-fetched to imagine a world where Facebook is able to select events you will attend, choose new friends, break up friendships, and even write updates for you.

What would happen if you died? This self-automated online persona, created in your image, would go on existing. Is that a form of immortality? Would Kurzweil’s predictions have been fulfilled? Doesn’t that make social media a gateway to a strange form of immortality?

Another person I desperately wanted to invite to Social Media Week Berlin is John Gray, one of my favourite thinkers. Unfortunately I was even more unsuccessful in securing Gray’s attendance than I was Kurzweil’s. He doesn’t have any kind of web presence whatsoever.

Gray is a British political philosopher whose basic thesis is that our belief in constant and irreversible human progress is misplaced. All of our perceived gains can – and most likely will – be lost. He doesn’t see this as pessimism:

“Without diminishing the individual sufferings, what’s pessimistic about the notion that this particular species has demonstrated its incapacity? It’s only pessimistic if you think that’s the site of meaning in the world.” (Quoted in The Independent).

John Gray has a thing or two to say about Ray Kurzweil. He recently wrote a book called “The Immortalization Commission”, which takes a cold hard look at a variety of strange projects to achieve immortality. Of Kurzweil’s predicted computerized databank of human brains, he asks: what kind of “life” would that deliver? It would be a ghostly sort of immortality, a cartoon caricature of our personalities.

So think about that next time you “Like” something on Facebook. You may slowly be creating a caricature that will go on living even after you die.

- Joel Dullroy, coordinator of Social Media Week Berlin, and co-founder of Deskwanted.com

There were many highlights, including Gabe Zichermann’s entertaining talk on “gamification”; an emotional retelling of the Egyptian revolution by blogger Ahmed Abdel Alim; and an insightful political explanation of the rise of corporate social media by Thiml’s Dymitri Kleiner.

The lively Main Event at Festsaal Kreuzberg saw politicians from all parties debate the lack of citizen engagement online, followed by a frank discussion of “social shitstorms” from WWF’s Paula Hannemann, an unusual look at the world of party and protest planning in Berlin, and finally an hilarious slideshow and bingo game presented by the Gutentag Team.

Jobs were a major theme this year: the “community managers” panel at Festsaal Kreuzberg explained what this job is and how to become one, while on Thursday at Aufbau Haus the audience heard about Berlin’s booming social media jobs market and some tips on how to improve your employability.

The “Wahl Digital” event at BASE_camp heard widely differing opinions about the impact of social media on the Berlin city election; some argued that social media played no role at all, since the major parties barely used it, while others pointed out that the Pirate Party used Twitter and Facebook effectively and stole 9% of the vote.

The week ended with a buzzing party at our main location, Aufbau Haus, with a BBQ and beers supported by Jovoto and PANORAMA3000. All week the AUPEO! SMW Bar was a great meeting spot after the last events, with several networking drinks sponsored by Deutsche Telekom, Compuccino and AUPEO!.

Main sponsor Nokia surprised many visitors by giving away prizes for tweets which included the #Nokiaconnects hashtag. Our other main partner, MTV Networks, enjoyed plenty of on-stage attention during various panels and presentations.

All our visiting guests enjoyed the hospitality of 9Flats, which provided homely accommodation in apartments around Berlin. The SMW Berlin team drove around the city in DriveNow cars, which will be on the streets for public use from today.

The fantastic huge sticker in our main location was printed and installed by the team from Schulz & Schulz, which is located in the Modulor building. Our stylish on-stage chairs were provided by Wilkhahan and Minimum, which is also located in the Modulor building.

Wooga - one of the biggest social games developers – generously paid for our WLAN connection, while Sony lent us much of our technical equipment.

Social Media Week Berlin was produced by Deskwanted.com, the portal for collaborative workspaces worldwide. See you again next year!

The conference heard that Berlin is home to a thriving social media industry, thanks to the high number of start-up companies that are based here. Most require community managers to keep track of their social media presence, creating high demand for new employees. But rather than writing a traditional application and sending a C.V., the most effective method of getting a job as a community manager is to become a community member.

On Tuesday September 23, participants on the panel “Job Title: Community Manager” told the audience that showing initiative is important. Surya Santhi, a community manager for Nokia, said her company had employed people who were members of their social media communities, and showed knowledge, interest and enthusiasm.

Nadine Freischlad, community evangelist for Jovoto, agreed, and said she had obtained her job via that exact method.

“I joined Jovoto as a member early on, and was familiar with the platform and the people. When there was a job opening, I applied for it and got it,” she said.

David Noel, community evangelist at Soundcloud, said being involved in the platform early on was a very effective way to get a job there. A good approach is to target a start-up, join their platform, get involved in the community conversations, identify “pain points” that the company might be experiencing, then offer to fix them.

The panel also explained what a community manager is, and what their daily job consists of. David rejected the notion that a community manager is just somebody who sits on Facebook all day. They are far more involved in creating campaigns, crafting messages, responding to problems, communicating messages internally across departments, and analysing impact.

Later in the week, Raya Nikolova from i-potentials, a recruiting agency for start-ups gave some insights into the size of the social media employment market in Berlin. She said her company had over 400 open positions, with salaries starting from €30,000 and up.

Nokia, der Unterstützer und weltweite Sponsor der Social Media Week wird Berliner glücklich machen! Zum Abschluss einer spannenden Woche fliegen am Freitag als Eye-Catcher Hunderte blaue Nokia Ballons über die Stadt..

Jeder Ballon trägt eine Karte mit einer Nummer, darauf eine kurze Anleitung wie der glückliche Finder an seinen Gewinn kommt. Dazu muss die Karte fotografiert und auf Twitter gepostet werden, mit dem Hashtag #NokiaConnects.

Zu gewinnen gibt es Tickets und Karten für Veranstaltungen in Berlin und Nokia Smartphones. Auf diesem Weg will die Social Media die lokale Kreativindustrie unterstützen und zeigen, wie Social Media zum kontaktieren von Freunden und Familie genutzt werden kann.

Friend of Social Media Week (and global sponsor) Nokia will be in town, on the look-out for lucky Berliners to make happy with Random Acts of Kindness.

They’ll be looking to brighten up your day in lots of different ways over the course of the week – but the most eye-catching will be by giving away one hundred Nokia blue balloons. Each balloon will have a numbered card attached, with instructions for the user to claim their gift by tweeting a picture of them and their number using the #NokiaConnects hashtag.

Gifts will be tickets and vouchers for venues and events in the city  – with a few Nokia phones thrown in for good measure! This way, Social Media Week plan to support local businesses and get people using social media to connect with their friends and family.

All of Nokia’s events, all over the world, will be linked by the same #NokiaConnects hashtag. Keep an eye out for what other surprises they might have in store. Nokia is about to meet and greet people with Random Acts of Kindness #NokiaConnects during Social Media Week 2011 events around the world. Stay tuned!

Dr. Kerstin Ebock, M.I.L. vertritt Emerging Companies mit dem Schwerpunkt Intellectual Property, IT-Recht und Vertriebsrecht. Außerdem berät sie schwedische Unternehmen beim Markteintritt in Deutschland.

Mittwoch September 21, 16.00
Aufbau Haus, Berlin
Mehr event information

Im Vorfeld begrüßten Werner Hoyer (Staatsminister im Auswärtigen Amt), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments) und Ronald Meinardus (Regionalbüroleiter Mittelmeerländer, Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit) die Teilnehmer der zweiwöchigen Konferenz.

In ihren Grußworten betonten sie, dass die Bedeutung sozialer Medien für den politischen Wandel in der arabischen Welt kritisch hinterfragt werden sollte. Facebook, Twitter und Youtube seien eher als Katalysatoren der sozialen Prozesse und nicht als alleiniger Grund dafür zu verstehen. Außerdem könnten soziale Medien, als neutrale Werkzeuge, zwar einen Beitrag zur Demokratieentwicklung leisten, aber auch von Diktatoren missbraucht werden.

Damit sprachen sie einige der Programmpunkte der Konferenz an und machten Lust auf eine spannende Veranstaltung, die sich vor allem durch ihre Interaktivität auszeichnet. Die Teilnehmer können in live (Video) Chats und verschiedenen Foren sowohl mit den Rednern als auch untereinander in Kontakt treten. Zudem werden zahlreiche Materialen online zur Verfügung gestellt, die die Hintergründe der einzelnen Themen beleuchten.

Noch bis zum 30.9. diskutieren internationale Experten, Blogger aus sechs arabischen Ländern und natürlich die Teilnehmer der Konferenz, was bisher im sogenannten arabischen Frühling geschah, wie vernetzt die arabische Welt tatsächlich ist (20.-21.9.) und welche Bedeutung soziale Medien für die Revolutionen spielten (22.-25.9.). Des Weiteren wird thematisiert, ob soziale Medien auch eine „dunkle Seite“ haben, nämlich in wieweit sich Diktatoren die Werkzeuge zu Nutzen machen (26.-27.9.), und wie „neue“ mit traditionellen Medien, wie dem Fernsehen, zusammenspielen (28.-29.9.).

Alle online Beiträge sind in Deutsch und Englisch verfügbar und eine Anmeldung ist online möglich.

Text: Sandy Schumann

Social Media Kompetenz wird zu einem wichtigen Faktor auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. Ein schlechter oder gar negativer Social Media Auftritt kann Karrieren zerstört. Die wachsende Bedeutung von Social Media in allen Bereichen der Jobwelt verändert Karrierewege und Einstiegschancen bei Unternehmen, bringt neue Berufsbilder hervor und entscheidet über Ablehnung oder Vorstellungsgespräch.

Raya Nikolova, Personalverantwortliche beim Online-Jobvermittler i-potentials, stellt die fünf größten Fehler vor, die Bewerber im Umgang mit Social Media begehen können. Sie gibt auch Tipps und erklärt fünf einfache Wege um die Chancen auf den Arbeitsmarkt zu erhöhen.

„Ein starker Social Media Auftritt ist wichtiger, als ein klassischer Lebenslauf.“ So Raya Nikolova. “Viele Personalverantwortliche scannen Social Media Profile um Schummeleien im Lebenslauf aufzudecken. Das gilt besonders für das Onlinebusiness, aber auch immer mehr klassische Personalabteilungen setzen diese Werkzeuge ein – bis hin zu H&M“, so Nikolova.

Raya Nikolova spricht über „personal branding“ und erklärt, wie Menschen sich mit Hilfe von Social Media herausstellen können und stellt die Wege von erfolgreichen Bewerbern vor. „Ein Freund hat seinen Job über Twitter bekommen. Der Grund: seine Tweets.“ so Nikolova.

Suzanne McDonald, frühere Journalistin beim Boston Globe, spricht über die Fähigkeiten welche Studenten in der Arbeitswelt brauchen. „Im heutigen Wirtschaftsleben muss jeder Jobsuchende wissen, was mit Social Media passiert und braucht zumindest praktische Grundkenntnisse. Ich empfehle Marketing und Online-Kurse.“ so McDonald.

Aber genauso wichtig wie der Einsatz dieser Fähigkeiten ist es, darüber in Firmen zu reden. „Dein Chef hat vielleicht Vorbehalte, kennt sich nicht aus mit Social Media, aber du tust es. Es ist wichtig dem eigenen Chef mitzuteilen, warum die persönliche Social Media Kompetenz für das Unternehmen von Vorteil ist.“ so McDonald.

Als neues Berufsbild wird der Community-Manager vorgestellt. Viele Konzerne stellen Menschen ein, die die Social Media Präsenz der eigenen Firma überwachen. Aber was tut ein Community Manager, wieviel verdienen sie und wie sieht der Berufseinstieg aus wird auf einer Podiumsdiskussion unter der Leitung von David Nöel von Soundcloud besprochen.

EVENTS:

Dienstag, 19. September, 18.00:

Job Description – “Community Manager”

Die Teilnehmer und Zuschauer lernen Community Manager kennen und erfahren was es mit diesem neuen Beruf auf sich hat.

David Noël (Soundcloud), Surya Santhi (Nokia), Kathryn Fink (meetup.com), Nadine Freischlad (Jovoto), Teil der Konferenz “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy”, Moderation: Thomas Praus (PANORAMA3000).
Ort: Festsaal Kreuzberg

Donnerstag, 22. September, 14:00:

Jobs & Social Media: Why your online profile is more important than your CV // hosted by Noki

Der richtige Einsatz von Social Media bei der Jobsuche und der Besetzung offener Stellen in Unternehmen.

Raya Nikolova, i-potentials
Ort: Aufbau Haus, Moritzplatz

Donnerstag, 22. September, 15.00:

Working in Social Media: How to get a job in social media // hosted by Nokia

Welche Fähigkeiten brauchen Absolventen wenn sie eine Position im Bereich Social Media anstreben?

Suzanne McDonald, Journalistin
Ort: Aufbauhaus, Moritzplatz

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