Wellness has an enemy, and despite what you may have been told, it’s not Voldemort – it’s you. And me. It’s all of us. When it comes to wellness, we are often our own greatest adversaries. But don’t get down on yourself, because it isn’t really your fault. The fault lies in your unconscious – or rather in the way your brain has evolved to divvy up responsibilities between your conscious awareness and your unconscious. First, let’s recap some of the more staggering evidence that you are the enemy of your wellness. Then we’ll talk about how your brain gets you into this mess, and we’ll introduce some of the new research and technologies that are making it easier for you to get out.
We already know that poor choices in what you eat and how often you get some exercise has led to a staggering rise in obesity – and all of the health risks and costs that come along with being overweight. But beyond that oversaturated story, we are learning that even something as widely consumed as sugar may have dramatic negative effects on our wellness – regardless of our weight. According to this lengthy and terrifying piece in the NY Times, some research indicates that sugar (which is in pretty much all processed foods these days) may be the poison that has been behind the rapid rise of heart disease, hypertension, and even cancer. In the article, they claim that sugar and high fructose corn syrup, could account for up to 80% of all cancers. There’s way too much science for me to explain that claim here, so go read it for yourself – it’s worth it (and yes, I still eat a ton of sugar).
Now that you’re sufficiently freaked out, let’s talk about your brain. The human brain is the most complex structure in the known universe. There are more connections in your brain than there are atoms in the universe. And all of that magnificent processing power runs on approximately 20 watts of electricity. Compare that to the 85,000 watts required to run IBM’s Watson (the super computer they built that recently dominated past Jeopardy champions), and you get a sense of just how remarkable your brain is. One of the most important ways your brain conserves power is to automate as much of your behavior as possible by shifting it into your unconscious. It takes a lot of energy to make a conscious decision – to sort through all of the options and make a choice. It takes very little energy to follow a pre-programmed script.
Here’s a good example: have you ever gotten in your car with the intention of going someplace, then you zoned out and realized that you had driven yourself somewhere else? Driving is a decision-intensive activity. You have to take in a lot of sensory data and make a lot of choices. How much gas, when to break, where to turn – but almost all of us can make these decisions while thinking about something completely unrelated, because these behaviors have become automated and are handled by our unconscious.
Wellness behaviors are handled the same way. What you eat. When you exercise. How you handle stress. All of these behaviors are largely automated, and once they are programmed into your unconscious, it’s ridiculously hard to re-program them. It requires persistence, effort and repeated failure. It requires willpower.
Luckily for us we live in an era where we are not just becoming aware of how our own automated behaviors are sabotaging our personal wellness, we have new technologies (like the passive monitoring FitBit or UP) and insights to help us be more successful at reprogramming ourselves. I’m going to talk about three of the big ones at Social Media Week and run a live experiment to help you understand this, on Friday 2/17 at 11am. If you can’t make it, I’ll follow up this post with more info on what I spoke about. The three I will tackle are:
Willpower. We now know from a number of experiments, that willpower is a real thing, and that it functions under similar rules as your muscles. It is fueled by glucose, it gets stronger with training and it has a finite amount of strength – meaning every conscious decision you make will make the next choice harder.
Social influence. Lots of research has begun to unearth how the people around you influence your programmed behaviors – often without you even knowing it is happening. This has big consequences for the role of social media in health and wellness.
Feedback loops. The proliferation of devices that measure our behavior, and the use of data visualization to reflect that behavior back at us in totally new ways, has rapidly accelerated our ability to deliberately reprogram our behaviors.
I’m going to wrap all this info inside an experiment to test one of the key hypotheses: that socially-enabled feedback loops can strengthen your willpower. Remember to register to attend and look out for an announcement for the beginning of the experiment. We won’t have any idea before the talk whether it will work or not, so it should be fun to see the results live.
In the mean time, please visit our Quora board on willpower and feedback loops to learn more and contribute to the conversation.
Last month, we announced our partnership with COMMON. And while their COMMON Pitch is coming up Wednesday, February 15th, you can be a part of the movement and partnership now. How, you ask? Well, COMMON’s Carmel well tell you:
We have a saying at COMMON, and a really good one. It’s good because it’s simple, it’s straight and it has a cuss word, which we like.
This saying isn’t just important because it captures the reason COMMON exists (to creatively accelerate social change, if you’re curious) – it also keeps us focused, motivated and calm in the midst of our most massive creative suck holes.
It’s ‘Do Shit That Matters.”
But doing shit that matters is hardly just something that we care about. As we’ve so thoroughly discovered in our community’s first year, doing shit that matters is important to almost everyone. Those four words are the reason we like getting up in the morning. They’re the reason we make the decisions we make. They’re the reason working doesn’t really feel like work. Most of the time.
Our challenge to you is to design your own interpretation of this phrase using typography – think hand written, hand set, digital, spelled out in your new collection of Twinkie nostalgia – anything goes.
On January 31st, we’ll select one designer’s work for production as a Threadless tee. Our winner will also land the other great contents of our goody bag:
$500
A $250 Threadless gift card
Two all-access passes to COMMON Pitch NYC parties, mentor sessions at the School of Visual Arts and event for the designer and a friend (airfare not included)
Attributed design produced as limited edition, sustainably produced poster to be featured at COMMON Pitch NYC during Social Media Week
Attributed design used as featured artwork of COMMON Pitch NYC
Attributed design produced as desktop and iPhone wallpaper
All submissions are due by midnight on January 30, 2012, delivered as a digital file to carmel @common.is. No design will be shared publicly or used for profit without the explicit consent of the designer.
We can’t wait to see what SMW NYC comes up with, and good luck!
Many of your fine social media-savvy folks are aware that the official floodgates for Social Media Week 2012 registration have opened. As a resident New Yorker, I’ll be hitting the pavement hard throughout the NYC boroughs, blitzing innumerable SMWNYC 2012 events for the second consecutive year. As a returning attendee, I figured it apropos to offer some helpful suggestions to newbie attendees mapping out Social Media Week schedules. My attendee tips for planning your Social Media Week visit:
Don’t fret if your schedule looks kind of sparse right now. As of this writing, even I – as an overzealous, overenthusiastic attendee – have some gaps in my week-long schedule. But have no fear…there are TONS of events that are going to be added in the next days.
Be sure to actually register for the events you want to go to. So often last year naive attendees thought that just because SMWNYC events were free, they could just walk in…NOT TRUE. Planners are understandably strict about having your registration with you, so just make the reservation. It’s quick, painless and FREE!
Vary your schedule with “different” kinds of events. While obviously every event is centered around social, digital media and tech, it’s important to keep your schedule of events diverse with events that you are passionate about. Be bold! Sign up for events that are related to your true personal interests: music, fashion, the arts — whatever it may be. The great thing about the week is that it brings ALL kinds of worlds together to speak about social, so there is a tremendous depth and breadth to the schedule for attendees to enjoy. It’s totally worth it, for both mental stamina and sheer happiness. Happy Planning!
Greg is a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. He’s passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In his free time, Greg obsesses over growing his musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running skills. Check out his lifestyle blog covering these topics at http://www.thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com.
The Farm Bill is officially titled the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. It is a long, complex document outlining the funding sources and programs relevant to agribusiness. The seemingly nominal legislations of the government gain little notice, but affect our livelihoods on a wide scale. The Farm Bill is such an example. It affects the agribusiness scale on market value and product development amongst other instruments. When you peruse the supermarket and see a change in price points, it hits you.
Social media has been a key instrument in connecting others for geopolitical affairs and causes over the last six years. Domestically, it has reformed political discourse, galvanizing movements in light speed. I believe that it has had a mixed impact on informing the public of basic government legislation. Our executive and legislative branches of government are seen in such a disillusioned scope from the perspective of society. I wonder if this is a large factor in why specific bills with deep impact do not gain much mainstream discussion. For better or worse, social media is ingrained to the content pipeline. If you Tweet it, they will talk.
The Farm Bill Hackathon is an all-day forum where participants will produce content to inform the public of the Farm Bill's significance to our health regimen.
Organizations like Food + Tech have done an exemplary job of outlining the documents’ issues. On Saturday, December 3rd, the Food + Tech publishers will host the Farm Bill Hackathon. The event could set a benchmark for online discourse of government legislation. The Hackathon represents a timely forum where social media applications will be at the forefront for driving media leads. According to this report, several journalists, organizational leaders, and scholars will post materials and relevant data to an official Wiki site. Members of the digital community, including developers, designers, and marketers will take the content and shape it into accessible formats for public discourse. You can expect to see social media campaigns, video webinar discussions, and other engagement tools.
Food + Tech’s event has a chance to start a seismic transition. I hope that with the continued rise in unemployment of talented individuals, we see an intellectual shift where interactive marketing focuses a spotlight on pure government legislation. The solutions could be a point and a click, ended with a return.
Abdul Fattah Ismail is an interactive marketing specialist with expertise across a range of online strategies. He lives in New York and is an MBA graduate in Marketing Management from St. John’s University. He has contributed articles for Blueliner Marketing and Talent Zoo.
Chiddy Bang is a Philly based hip-hop duo featuring 19-year old Drexel Students Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege (emcee) and Xaphoon Jones (DJ/producer). They’ll be rockin’ the beats tonight at District36!
Their hip-hop sound combines electronica and indie sensibilities and has been described as “a hipsters wet dream” using samples from groups like MGMT and passion pit.
Check out their video below for the song “Opposite of Adults” where they sample MGMT’s “Kids”.
Fun (internet-related) facts about the band:
- #1 fastest growing artist on the internet according to Next Big Sound.com
- top 10 most blogged about artist on the entire internet (from Blackbook to Kanye West)
- video for “Opposite Of Adults” has over 7 million plays on YouTube
- Kanye West posted their video for “Opposite of Adults” on his blog
- Video feature on Lockerz.com w/ over 250k views in 48 hours
- mixtape “swelly express” had over 100k downloads in 6 weeks
- Blackbook proclaimed “swelly express” one of the “3 mixtapes you need to own” (alongside Drake & Donnis)
We are stoked to hear them tonight! Party on!
Joanna Firneno is a contributing writer to the Social Media Week blog and is an Associate Communications Manager at Deep Focus.
There’s only day left to meet people at Social Media Week. Spend the time tonight to use our community page or mobile AttendeeApp to track down several “must meet” contacts.Tweet them, find them, and make a meaningful connection on Friday.
When you depart the conference tomorrow night, don’t feel overwhelmed by the hundreds of business cards that you will have to sift through on Monday. Rather than spending the tedious time looking up the right “John Smith” on LinkedIn, use the SMW Community Page to quickly find all of the online profiles for a specific contact. Check out their blog and company… and then friend, follow, and connect on LinkedIn in one fell swoop.
Reinforce your connection and lets continue this exciting conversation!
Meebo COO Martin Green speaks at the “The Social Web – Have We Arrived?, Breakfast Hosted by Meebo” at the JWT Hub
More scenes from day two of Social Media Week….
Brian Morriseey from Adweek, Gerard Grech, global head of content distribution at Nokia, Martin Green, COO at Meebo and Chris Phenner, vp of business development TBG speak at the “The Social Web – Have We Arrived?, Breakfast Hosted by Meebo” at the JWT Hub
Groups work on health related social media projects at the “Health, Tech, Food, sponsored by Luminary Labs” event at the Paley Hub
Groups work on health related social media projects at the “Health, Tech, Food, sponsored by Luminary Labs” event at the Paley Hub
Benjamin Palmer holds his talk titled “Humanizing Brands: It’s Only Taken 192 years” at the JWT Hub
Adam Ostrow, editor in chief of mashable takes part in the “Publishers as Technologists” discussion at the JWT Hub February 8, 2011 in New York.
Kristina O’Neill, Executive Editor, Harper’s Bazaar, Stephen Gan, Creative Director, Harper’s Bazaar, Co-Founder & Editor of Visionaire, Laura Brown, Features Editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Ruben Toledo, artist, at “How Art & Fashion Connect In The Social Media World: Are Fashion Photographers The Next Warhols?”, Hosted by Hearst
Kristina O’Neill, Executive Editor, Harper’s Bazaar, Stephen Gan, Creative Director, Harper’s Bazaar, Co-Founder & Editor of Visionaire, Laura Brown, Features Editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Ruben Toledo, artist, “How Art & Fashion Connect In The Social Media World: Are Fashion Photographers The Next Warhols?”, Hosted by Hearst.
Rajat Paharia, Bunchball, Gabe Zicherman, author of “Game-Based Marketing”, Samantha Skey, chief rewards officer from Recycle Bank, and Demetri Detsaridis, general manager of Zynga New York take part in the discussion “Gamify Me: How Game Mechanics Have Infiltrated Marketing-What’s the Next Play” at the JWT Hub
Keynote Speech by Piers Fawkes, Founder and President of PSFK,.and Scott LaChut senior consultant PSFK at “Open UN: Engagement in the Age of Real-Time Hosted by United Nations Global Pulse” Hosted at the Science and Technology Hub at Google
Surprise appearance by wrestler King Kong Bundy at the “Social Strategy Cage Match: Offense VS. Defense, Hosted by KickApps” takes place at the JWT Hub February 8, 2011 in New York.
Ned Russell, Managing Director at “Convergence: How Social Commerce and Mobile Change the Way We Make Decisions and Shop”, Hosted by Saatchi Wellness
Benjamin Palmer holds his talk titled “Humanizing Brands: It’s Only Taken 192 years” at the JWT Hub February 8, 2011 in New York
Meebo COO Martin Green interviewed by Ellie Rountree for #NokiaConnects
Throughout this week we’ll be posting on the ground accounts from individuals that attended New York Social Media Week events. To participate, email a blog submission to info@socialmediaweek.org
To follow the conversation online, refer to the following hashtags: #smw11, #smwbarbarian, #smwnyc, #smwjwt
Benjamin Palmer, Co-Founder of the Barbarian Group’s, presentation on Humanizing Brands included a heady vision of a future online society of laws and moral boundaries emerging from the Wild West lawless early days of the internet. He presented a set of possible Commandments, which included “Bearing False Witness.” Of course, the main example was WikiLeaks and the role of Julian Assange in our still emerging online society. Palmer posed some philosophical questions around WikiLeaks:
When is it wrong to tell the truth?
Does everyone in the world have the right to know everything?
At what point does the truth become a danger?
Palmer stated, “This is real life right now. Some people may view the internet as an exploratory plaything, but it’s real. Julian Assange has forced his morals among us. It’s interesting to have an anarchist living among us. I think I believe a little bit that we’re doing it wrong right now [with the internet]. And so what is happening with WikiLeaks actually has to happen because the level of deception has crossed the moral boundaries. Maybe this [WikiLeaks situation] is a necessary culling.”
In response to a question from the audience, Palmer suggested that perhaps the fact that Assange is a real person, an individual and not a company or a government somehow makes WikiLeaks more personal and not as deceitful. “Assange may be the first martyr for the Internet Age. But he has established the upper limit of what we will tolerate as a culture.”
So is WikiLeaks setting the “us” on a more moral path online? Only time will tell.
David Eastman, JWT Worldwide Digital Director & CEO North America
Day one of Social Media Week New York was an astonishing success–check out these scenes from events across the day and make sure to check out what’s to come over the rest of the week. Many events are still open for play–see the full schedule of events here. And be sure to check out our five Content Hub pages to find events in specific fields of content!
Toby Daniels, Founder and Executive Director of Social Media Week, at JWT
Bill Clifford, VP, Global Ad Sales, Wild Tangent, Keith Katz, VP of Marketing, Open Feint, David Eastman, JWT Worldwide Digital Director & CEO North America, Manny Anekal, Director of Brand Advertising, Zynga Games, Josh Shabtai, Emerging Media Strategist, JWT (L to R) on Feb 7th, 2011 during Social Media Week.
Danielle Greenberg, director of nutrition and scientific affairs at PepsiCo, Eric Mittenthal, media relations director IFIC, Elizabeth Shepard, executive director of Delish.com, and Daniel Pellegrom, Pepsico sustainability communications speak at the Social Media and Nutrition Advocacy: Guidelines Spur Online Conversations at the Hearst Tower February 7,
The Red Bull Space on Feb 7th, 2011 during Social Media Week.
Mike Lazerow, CEO, Founder, Buddy Media, James Smith, CRO, Flixter.com, Monique Ware, VP Digital, BET Networks, Steven Horn, VP Programming, Metacafe.com, Ed Douglas, Assoc. Editor, Film Critic, ComingSoon.net, Marcelo Guerra, VP Digital Media Marketing, Showtime Networks, Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Editor, UGO.com at the Red Bull Space on Feb 7th, 2011 during Social Media Week.
Gran Turismo demo at The Red Bull Space
The Content and Conversations talk takes place at the Time Life building February 7, 2011 in New York.
Jessica Robinson, associate director of consumer engagement at Kraft Foods, Dave Hanley, principal of Bayan Branch, Kimberly Miller, vice president of consumer marketing at Time Inc., Dan Fletcher, associate editor of special Projects at Time.com, and John Cantarella, president of digital news group and Time Inc. take part in the Content and Conversations talk at the Time Life building
Randall Rothenberg, executive vice president and chief digital officer of Time Inc.
Macallan Cocktail Hour at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb 7th, 2011 during Social Media Week.
Jaime Punishill, Global Head Wealth Online at Thomson Reuters, Paul La Monica, Assistant Managing Editor, CNNMoney, Robert Harles, Global Head of Social Media at Bloomberg LP, Howard Lindzon, Founder and CEO of StockTwits and Managing Partner of Social Leverage.at the New York Stock Exchange
Traditional loyalty programs overlap with the notion of gamification. You make people feel more important through a tiered structure, and they will choose your product, service, or brand because they feel more loyal to it. That idea is present in most gamification strategies. However, one thing that traditional loyalty programs haven’t recognized yet is that the amount of money people spend with your company is not the only way to express loyalty. They may say good things about your brand, they may recommend it to others, they may share your information. All of these actions are extremely valuable and represent an even deeper level engagement. This is where it got interesting.
Gabe Zicherman, author of Game Based Marketing, contends that the people who are most loyal to your brand are the ones who need the lowest level of rewarding and who will pay the most for your services. I understand where he is coming from on a certain level. But speaking personally, if I didn’t get points for using my American Express card to fuel my addiction to Paris, I’d probably be less religious about using my Amex card. This is a discussion that requires a bit more thought on my part, and I suspect it’s a virtuous cycle. I’ll get back to you on that.
Another interesting aspect of loyalty that Mr. Zimmerman brought up is around valuating a reward. For example, a 10-punch coffee card from your local coffee shop is worth an exact amount of money. Everyone loves getting things for free. But if there were a card where you could skip to the front of the line, for example, then people who value their time more than their $2.59, this option may be a better reward for their loyalty.
The bottom line is that discussions like this one with people from many different backgrounds and perspectives will always yield new ideas to consider for making advancements and improvements to our own brands, products and services.
Karen Seiger, is the founding principal of Sirene MediaWorks, a marketing and consulting firm specializing in social media, loyalty, and green marketing. For more comments about this posting, check out the cross posting here. @sirenemediawork
It’s the second day of Social Media Week and we hope you are all enjoying the awesome panels and parties! Have you been meticulously and strategically planning out your agenda for this week?
What’s this all about? Join industry executives, social media insiders and bloggers to share insights and ideas in a relaxed setting fueled by good music, food and cocktails.
The power of social media to expand our view of global cultural issues emphasizes the interconnectivity of our communities and our lives. It offers the opportunity to inform and be informed and creates a more intimate global community through shared experiences.
The use of social media in tandem with online exhibits, e-zines. and video to disseminate creative work addressing social justice issues.
Issues concerning ideology / iconography and ownership in the age of digital reproduction and dessimination.
An examination of the Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit in Washington, D.C. where the video “A Fire in My Belly” by David Wojnarowicz (created in 1987 in response to the AIDS epidemic) was pulled by Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough. With social media, how has push back changed from the 1980s when the NEA was under attack?
Panelists:
Macky Alston, Documentary filmmaker and former Director of Auburn Media
Social Media Week New York begins next week and posts this week will include overviews of each of the five Content Hubs, which is where much of the programming is taking place.
We are thrilled to be teaming up with The Paley Center for Media, host of the People & Society Social Media Week Content Hub! This Hub will feature events that will place you at the nexus of technology, activism, and social change.
Social Media has given activists and change makers the ability to access new audiences and, particularly in the case of Newark residents on a snow day, the ability to access influencers with the intention of influencing them (to shovel their snow or otherwise). Social Media has altered the way that governments and people interact and it’s made the process of policy and advocacy simultaneously more complex and more accessible.
Events throughout The Paley Center for Media will investigate this dynamic—these events are not to be missed.
The day begins on Monday with an event being hosted by Purpose on Consumer Activism & Social Change. Contributors will discuss the potential for change using consumer power and key brand partnerships to solve global problems. Following that, Reboot will tackle the future of citizen activism and participatory government in a session entitled “Citizen 2.0” which will cover how social media is resulting in more inclusive forms of political engagement. Tuesday is jam packed so be sure to grab a cup of coffee (sponsored by Whole Foods) before heading into your first panel. The morning will begin with a session from Luminary Labs that will illuminate how social technology can play a role in our health featuring presentations from thought leaders. This will be followed by an panel hosted by Convio that will delve into the role of social media in perpetuating, and cultivating, social good by looking at tools like Causes, CrowdRise and Jumo.
The afternoon continues with a purpose, with Purpose leading a panel called “Let Them Eat Tweets” that will delve into how modern day tools are resulting in 21st century movements. During this panel, PepsiCo is also leading a discussion on how to build the women’s audience for films focusing on how social media has helped studios, producers, distributors and marketing experts reach a more diverse demographic. ALSO, during these events Fenton will be hosting an interactive discussion on 12 driving forces in communications and concludes with concrete steps on what you need to do in the “new normal”. You’ll have to choose from these three amazing events since they overlap–but don’t worry we’ll try not throw any hard decisions your way tomorrow!
On Thursday, the early bird gets the worm (also coffee and breakfast snacks from Wholefoods) while Purpose hosts another great panel–The Rise of the Movement Entrepreneur– that will discuss topics such as when a movement is the necessary intervention, the struggles with this new form of entrepreneurship, and the social impact of such ventures. Then, the hostess with the mostess, United Nations Global Pulse will take care of you for the rest of the day with Engagement in the Age of Real-Time which includes a slew of keynotes, presentations and panels from PSFK and Robert Kirkpatrick to name a few…
Be a part of “twistory” and join Edelman Digital and Ish Entertainment in celebrating the kick off of the 140 Characters Project, a year-long search documenting 140 people whose lives have been forever transformed by social media. The search and documentary’s filming will begin at this cocktail party.
Get the 411 on the exclusive, invitation only event below (did we mention there is an open bar?):
What time is it and where can I drink for fr–, I mean be a part of this awesome event? Tuesday, February 8th from 6-9 PM at 250 Hudson Street (16th Floor-Penthouse).
Aside from me, who else is excited about this?Libby Pigg, Senior Vice President at Edelman Digital. She wants you to know:
“Social media is something that we at Edelman have a tremendous amount of passion for, so it seemed like a perfect fit to align with a global initiative like Social Media Week. We hope our event on Tuesday evening will be a good combination of entertainment, content and networking with an amazing group of ‘characters’ that one might not typically see at a social media conference.”
Social Media Week New York begins next week and posts this week will include overviews of each of the five Content Hubs, which is where much of the programming is taking place.
This year, we’re proud to count esteemed advertising agency and SMW global sponsor JWT as the host of the Business, Media and Communications Hub. Over the course of Social Media Week, the stage at JWT will feature keynote remarks and interviews with diverse speakers such as JWT’s David Eastman, Foursquare CEO: Dennis Crowley, authors Frank Rose andSteve Rosenbaum, MB Christie of the Financial Times and DJ Funkmaster Flex in addition to dozens of incredible panelists.
The panels and discussions being held at JWT will emphasize the role of technology and social media in packaging brands and engaging consumers, with each session providing attendees insight into how the giants of industry are strategically leveraging social media to achieve their aims.
Here’s a quick walk through of everything you can anticipate next week at JWT:
On Monday morning David Eastman, JWT World Wide Digital Director & North American CEO will offer initial remarks to set the stage for an incredible week. Following Mr. Eastman’s keynote, panelists that span across the gaming industry will join together to discuss the prominence of social games as well as how social dynamics are reshaping games.
From there, we’ll dive right into a session hosted by Microsoft Advertising that will investigate the ecosystem between paid, owned, and earned media as well as it’s changing effect on marketers.
The day will culminate with a Deep Focus panel on participation, aggregation and criticism in the digital age.
But we’re just getting started!
Tuesday at JWT will kick off with a breakfast and panel hosted by Meebo, followed by a keynote from Benjamin Palmer who is the CEO of the Barbarian group on humanizing brands. Immediately following Mr. Palmer’s remarks, stay put for a panel that will look at the necessity for publishers to simultaneously act as technologists. The day will conclude with a panel hosted by KickApps on whether to play offense or defense when it comes to social strategy.
Wednesday begins with a keynote from John Winsor, CEO of Victors & Spoils, the world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles. Mr. Winsor will then moderate a panel discussion on the power of collaboration and sharing focusing specifically on the impact of mass collaboration leading to co-creation and co-consumption.
Join YouTube around lunchtime for a session on creative Storytelling in the Digital Age, a workshop that will analyze YouTube as the modern day campfire.
Wednesday afternoon sessions will include a keynote from Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, a 360i panel on how to reach consumers and an Adweek & JWTcollaborative panel on twitter that includes catering provided by Whole Foods.
Listen up on Thursday morning for a panel on social listening and the importance of being able to comb through the noise to make decisions on behalf of brands, hosted by JWT. The panel will be followed by keynote presentations from Frank Rose, the author of The Art of Immersion and Steve Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation. Following their discussion, join DotBox for a discussion on Social Commerce.
Friday morning will begin with a keynote from MB Christie, head of product at FT.com, following a panel on mobile strategies hosted by DotSUB on how leading brands are leveraging mobile technology to activate their brand’s regional and global social engagement strategies. Phew. What a week- and that’s only our first hub!
Check back here for more Hub Spot Lights and in the meantime be sure to check out our Hub pages to register for events. Tickets are going fast and you must register to guarantee access to an event.
Today, we’re proud to spotlight another of our Global partners, KickApps. <www.kickapps.com> KickApps’ next-generation content management system makes it possible to build incredible social experiences for the world’s largest brands. From customer communities and UGC contests to a complete website relaunch, when companies want their brands to get more social, KickApps is the ultimate solution
As our Global Technology Partner, KickApps has developed an amazing series of Facebook pages for the global Social Media Week festival, which have just launched. (Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Media-Week/!)
[KICKAPPS SLIDESHOW WIDGET W/ PHOTO GALLERY]
As you can see above, each individual market has its own custom fan page that showcases a wide variety of content from across the web including:
LIVE streaming video players which will broadcast select events from all 9 hub cities during Social Media Week
Real-time Twitter conversations about the festival (using our official hashtags)
An interactive map identifying Social Media Week venues in each city
Perhaps most exciting, any separate piece of our Facebook page can be shared directly into a user’s Facebook wall and Twitter stream or embedded onto a blog or MySpace page, giving attendees the ability to help promote the events that they’re participating in.
The whole thing was built on the KickApps Platform, a powerful social CMS that can power a wide range of integrated social experiences, from a Facebook page, widget or branded video player to an entire socially-enabled website.
QUOTE FROM SMW To find out more about building a Facebook app or page like this for your brand using KickApps, click here: <http://www.kickapps.com/applications/facebook-publishing>
KickApps is also participating in the festival, and they’ve planned a great event in New York at JWT’s office, which is serving as our Business, Media & Communications Hub:
Social Strategy Cage Match: Offense VS. Defense, Hosted by KickApps
Tuesday, February 8, 6:00 – 8:00PM
Location:
JWT New York: the Business, Media & Communications Hub
466 Lexington Ave (45th St & 46th St)
Two teams of industry experts battle it out to find out which social media strategy reigns supreme – offense or defense. Participate in our interactive debate featuring some of the heaviest hitters in the social media industry, and learn valuable tips for building out your own brand’s social strategy.
MODERATOR: Brian Morrissey – Digital Editor, AdWeek
David Berkowitz – Senior Director of Emerging Media & Innovation, 360i
Ian Schafer – CEO, Deep Focus
Ana Andjelic – Senior Planner, HUGE, Inc.
Tom Ajello – Partner/Creative Director, POKE
Chapin Clark – SVP, Managing Director, R/GA
Mike Scheiner – Executive Vice President, Creative Director Integrated Branding and Digital, Porter Novelli
Please make sure to register today and reserve your ringside seat for what’s sure to be a fun and interesting debate!
Kicking Social Media Week 2011 Up A Notch With KickApps Today, we’re proud to spotlight another of our Global partners, KickApps. <www.kickapps.com> KickApps’ next-generation content management system makes it possible to build incredible social experiences for the world’s largest brands. From customer communities and UGC contests to a complete website relaunch, when companies want their brands to get more social, KickApps is the ultimate solution As our Global Technology Partner, KickApps has developed an amazing series of Facebook pages for the global Social Media Week festival, which have just launched. (Check them out athttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Media-Week/!) [KICKAPPS SLIDESHOW WIDGET W/ PHOTO GALLERY] As you can see above, each individual market has its own custom fan page that showcases a wide variety of content from across the web including: · LIVE streaming video players. which will broadcast select events from all 9 hub cities during Social Media Week · Real-time Twitter conversations about the festival (using our official hashtags) · Posts from the official Social Media Week blog <http://www.socialmediaweek.org/blog> · A 3D carousel of event photos from Flickr · An interactive map identifying Social Media Week venues in each city Perhaps most exciting, any separate piece of our Facebook page can be shared directly into a user’s Facebook wall and Twitter stream or embedded onto a blog or MySpace page, giving attendees the ability to help promote the events that they’re participating in. The whole thing was built on the KickApps Platform, a powerful social CMS that can power a wide range of integrated social experiences, from a Facebook page, widget or branded video player to an entire socially-enabled website. QUOTE FROM SMW To find out more about building a Facebook app or page like this for your brand using KickApps, click here: <http://www.kickapps.com/applications/facebook-publishing> KickApps is also participating in the festival, and they’ve planned a great event in New York at JWT’s office, which is serving as our Business, Media & Communications Hub: Social Strategy Cage Match: Offense VS. Defense, Hosted by KickAppsTuesday, February 8, 6:00 – 8:00PMLocation: JWT New York: the Business, Media & Communications Hub466 Lexington Ave (45th St & 46th St)
Two teams of industry experts battle it out to find out which social media strategy reigns supreme – offense or defense. Participate in our interactive debate featuring some of the heaviest hitters in the social media industry, and learn valuable tips for building out your own brand’s social strategy. MODERATOR: Brian Morrissey – Digital Editor, AdWeekDavid Berkowitz – Senior Director of Emerging Media & Innovation, 360iIan Schafer – CEO, Deep FocusAna Andjelic – Senior Planner, HUGE, Inc.Tom Ajello – Partner/Creative Director, POKEChapin Clark – SVP, Managing Director, R/GAMike Scheiner – Executive Vice President, Creative Director Integrated Branding and Digital, Porter Novelli Please make sure to register today and reserve your ringside seat for what’s sure to be a fun and interesting debate!
This post is part of a weekly series called “5 Questions With…” featuring Q&As with Social Media Week Global Advisory Board members.
Ian Schafer is CEO and Founder of Deep Focus, a full-service interactive marketing agency, delivering pioneering and meaningful engagement in the digital space. Advertising Age named Ian a ‘Media Maven’ and he is on the list of the Adweek “Young Ones”. Read his full bio here.
Deep Focus will be hosting “Participation, Aggregation and Criticism in the Digital Age” – a panel discussing how social media is challenging (and changing) social and business rules of engagement – on Monday, February 7 from 3PM – 5PM.
Q: When and why did Deep Focus first get involved with Social Media Week? Ian Schafer: I’ve been involved with Social Media Week since the beginning. I’ve known and respected Toby Daniels for quite some time, and as soon as I caught wind that Social Media Week was in development, I wanted to get involved and am now on the Global Advisory Board.
The more educated the industry is about social media, the more successful Deep Focus will be. I’ve brought Deep Focus in as a partner to coordinate & run events and help with communications around Social Media Week NY. We’ll be very visible during Social Media Week, so be on the lookout for the team!
Q: What is a major trend you see rising in the social media space of the ad industry or otherwise? IS: Social media represents an evolution in the ways humans connect to each other, to information, to brands, to objects, to causes, and to places. The biggest trend I see this year is that some companies will actually begin to integrate social media into their organizations, not just their marketing programs or public relations efforts. It will only be a handful of larger brands at first, but smaller brands have been doing this for a while, and will inspire the big guys. The usage numbers are too large to ignore or write off. Social gaming will become a viable ad medium, and mobile connections will be more important than ever, as payment processing starts picking up steam, and smartphone penetration hits an even bigger critical mass.
Q: How do you use social media for both personal and professional use? IS: Personally, I use social media just like everyone else does – to stay close to family and friends, discover new content, and share what I find interesting. Professionally, I’ve been using social media to put a human face on Deep Focus, while also empowering other Deep Focusers to do the same. I use it to share opinions and things I find interesting with people within (and outside of) the advertising and technology industries. I like staying close to news and information, but I like staying close to people even more.
Professionally, my social media channels of choice are Twitter and my blog. I find it wonderful that I’m not only surrounded by brilliant people at work, but on Twitter as well. Some may say that social media dilutes the idea of being friends with, or even “knowing” people. That’s only true if you let it. It can make those relationships stronger if you make it. I opt for the latter.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most during Social Media Week 2011? IS: I’m looking forward to Deep Focus’ panel as it comes together, as well as many other events at the JWT hub. I also plan on making it to the other hubs so I can engage in conversation about things other than advertising and marketing. Of particular interest are events that discuss the impact social media has had, and will have, on culture, society, journalism, and governments. Debates on privacy concerns are also something I’m looking forward to participating in.
Q: What are a few major goals for Deep Focus in 2011? IS: In 2011, Deep Focus is going to make significant advancements in integrating social media and engagement into our clients’ overall marketing and business strategies. We’ve done a great job of making measurement and ROI an important part of what we do, but there’s much more work to be done. As everything becomes more social, we’ll be developing initiatives that use digital media to move people physically, and get them to create content when they are there. We will be cementing the role of the “engagement agency” in a brand’s agency roster, and making that role a significant consideration for brands everywhere.
We’re also looking forward to our first full year as a part of the Engine USA family, and will be working with our sister agency, Noise, and other new partners to bring integrated marketing solutions to some of the biggest brands in the world – all while keeping the consumer at the center of marketing strategies, where they belong.
This blog post is a contribution from Daniel Teweles, the VP of Business Development and Marketing for Personal Democracy Forum (@pdfteam). You can follow him via @dteweles and www.danielteweles.com.
Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) has been experimenting with and documenting how politicians and governments are using social media long enough to appreciate having the term “social media” to describe these technologies!
In our role as conveners abroad and domestically (PdF’s annual conference in NYC is the world’s leading conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics and government), PdF regularly gets to interact with, learn from, and promote social media innovators and applications. In our editorial role on techPresident.com (the web’s leading blog covering the intersection of technology and politics), we regularly analyze, dissect, and explore the implications of the growing role social media plays in affecting change.
And so, with the idea of taking our ever growing and (often) random assortment of community all stars and zeitgeist tapping topics, we’re thrilled to announce our event at Social Media Week NYC 2011: WikiLeaks and Online Civil Disobedience, Hosted by Personal Democracy Forum, hosted at the Art & Culture Hub at Hearst.
On December 3rd, noted cyber-libertarian John Perry Barlow tweeted:
Internet freedom activists using distributed denial of service attacks to shut down websites say they’ve invented a new kind of online civil disobedience. Critics worry that the tactic can backfire, and moreover, that the internet is more an ally of authoritarian regimes than we think.
If you’re in NYC during Social Media Week, don’t miss out on this great panel hosted by MTV and Text 100. Be prepared: the rule books are being thrown out, rewritten, and then thrown out again.
What’s this event called? Tips to Build Brand Relationships Amidst the Social Media Clutter
Where will this event be held? Art & Culture Hub at Hearst
When will this event be held? Thursday, February 10th from 9 AM to 11 AM
Who is hosting this event? MTV and TEXT 100
Look who’s talking: Moderator: Brenna Ehrlich (Mashable), Speakers: Chris Ficarra, SVP Integrated Marketing (Digital Music Ad Sales, MTV), Tara O’Donnell (Text 100) and Tom Fishman, Social Media Manager (MTV)
What’s this event all about? We all know a killer social media strategy and flawless execution can augment a business or personal brand. With social media channels constantly changing the marketing scene, we need to weed through influential tools, online communities and digital footprints to meet the needs of unreliable and unpredictable customers. But what’s driving your customers and influencers? How can you plan for and measure something that is viral by nature? And how do you stand out among the thousands of people who consider themselves “social media experts”?
Grab a coffee and find out what this panel has to say—and catch a glimpse of case studies from around the world that show true ROI! (Oh yea-and don’t forget to register!)
Joanna Firneno is a contributing writer to the Social Media Week blog and is an Associate Communications Manager at Deep Focus.
In the past seven days, we’ve had an amazing 2100 sign-ups for people to attend events in New York, including many event sell-outs of pre-released tickets (don’t worry if you missed out, more tickets will be released in many cases). That will surely be only the tip of the iceberg, as we came out of the gate with just a little more than one-third of our expected total content for the February 7-11 week.
And grow it shall. The initial offering of events included just over fifty open for sign-up. Today we are opening another thirty, bringing our total to around 80 open for registration now, with another thirty to forty in various stages of confirmation. With any luck, there should be 140-150 spread out across New York, in the five Content Hubs and other venues around the city.
If you’re wondering how you’ll know that an event has been added to schedule going forward, just search hashtag #smwnycnew on Twitter, where updates for all new events will be posted.
CONTENT HUBS
Of these expected 140 events, over sixty of them will be taking place our Content Hubs. Please check out our new Hub landing page at http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/hub/, which gives a breakdown of each Hub and everything we’ve got in store there. The Hubs are listed below:
The schedules are filling up at JWT, Paley Center, and Hearst, and Red Bull Space and Google expect to make the majority of their schedule available in the next few days. Please check out our new Hub landing page here at http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/hub/, which will give a breakdown of each Hub and everything we’ve got in store there.
EVENTS
So what’s on the docket for the week? Included among the many events taking place this February in New York are exciting offerings by our following global and local sponsors:
Global Sponsors
Five events by JWT at the JWT-hosted Business, Media and Communications Hub — see the Hub page to read about all five
A presentation by Meebo at the JWT Hub on “The Social Web – Have We Arrived?”
Three panels by PepsiCo at The Paley Center for Media’s People and Society Hub and other locations to be announced
Local Sponsors
Two events by Business, Media and Communications Hub co-sponsor YouTube, including a workshop luncheon and roundtable of ad agency creative directors at JWT
Three events by Sapient Nitro, including a panel on social philanthropy at The Paley Center for Media Hub; a Freddie Laker keynote followed by “Social Media Across the Pond” panel at the Hearst Magazines Art & Culture Hub; and “If Your Real Life Was a Social Network, at the Google Hub.
As it is now just one month away from the launch of Social Media Week February 7-11 2011, we are pleased to announce that pre-registration will open today for select events taking place in Social Media Week New York.
Registration worldwide will also open across the other cities participating in Social Media Week–powered by global headline sponsor Nokia–this February: London, Paris, Rome, Hong Kong, Istanbul, and São Paulo. Please note that Toronto and San Francisco will be going live with registration later in the week and in each city, more events will be added over the coming weeks.
Social Media Week Content Hubs in New York will be hosting 10-20 events each and include: Science and Technology Hub, hosted by Google; Business, Media, and Communications Hub, hosted by global advertising agencyJWT; People & Society Hub, hosted by The Paley Center for Media; Music, Gaming & Sports, hosted by Red Bull Space; and Art & Culture, hosted byHearst Magazines.
Content curators in New York include: MTV, Financial Times, New York Times, Frog Design, the New York Public Library, Edelman, the Barbarian Group, Saatchi Wellness, 360i, GOOD, The Personal Democracy Forum, Morris & King, Deep Focus, Publicity Club of New York, Fenton Communications, Wholefoods, Foodspotting, DotBox, Comedy Central and many more to be added. Confirmed speakers include JWT’s David Eastman; Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley;Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg; John Winsor, founder and CEO of agency Victors & Spoils; with many more to be announced.
A sampling of some of the exciting events taking place in New York include:
Check out the rest of New York’s schedule to learn more!
Learn More About Registering For Events
It has been a month since Social Media Week New York’s initial agenda was released in December, and anticipation has grown as more of their program has developed. Now, with four weeks to go before Social Media Week begins, we are proud to begin our pre-release of a limited batch of tickets for the events that have been confirmed so far. For all of you early adopters out there chomping at the bit to secure your opportunity to participate in the largest, most inclusive and unique event of its kind in 2011, now is the time to choose which events you will be attending.
As stated above, to register for events in SMW NYC, go to socialmediaweek.org/newyork/schedule. From here, you will see a display of all the events currently confirmed on that city’s Social Media Week calendar. Then just find the event you want to register for, click through, and Voila!, you will be signed up and registered for the event thanks to the power of Amiando, official SMW Scheduling and Event Management Partner. You’ll note that some of these events are still not open for registration, but the rest of the schedule will follow within the next two weeks.
Why do I have to register for each event individually?
We get asked this question a lot. As you will notice when looking over the schedules each event is unique in its own right and focuses on a specific topic or theme. We believe that by encouraging people to register for specific events, we will attract a more committed, engaged and targeted audience. Also, it’s worth noting that more than 95% of Social Media Week events are completely free to attend and while we do not charge, we do expect our attendees to think carefully about which events they wish to attend and register accordingly.
How Do I Add MY Event To Social Media Week?
It’s important to keep in mind that while a huge amount of programming in New York is now confirmed and scheduled, there are still opportunities to add events and get involved in other ways everywhere.
As an open and collaborative platform, Social Media Week provides many ways to “Get Involved“ including curating and hosting events, speaking and presenting, designing workshops, facilitating interviews, sponsoring events, providing editorial coverage, and volunteering to participate on the local host committees.
There are opportunities for every organization and individual to get involved this February, on both a global and local level:
Host an event: You could join the ranks of Sony, New York Times, MTV, Drop.io, JWT, Razorfish, MoMA, Porter Novelli, and others who have all hosted events at their space during previous conferences
Volunteer: Join the host committee in your city, work at the events, support the communications team, help with outreach. There are many ways to get involved individually
Provide in-kind products/services to attendees: Much like Foursquare, Livestream, Pegshot, Mobile Roadie, your company could provide services to SMW attendees that enhance and improve their experience
Sponsor an event: There will be over 120 events taking place in New York and at least 500 events taking place across the all the nine participating cities. Through these events, your brand can connect and engage an audience of hyper-social influencers
Speaking Opportunities: Do you have domain specialism? Do you want to share your ideas with a broader audience?
Support from corporate partnerships, both globally and locally, allows Social Media Week to provide hundreds of free events worldwide for its audience of hyper-social influencers. In addition to global headline sponsor NOKIA, other global supporting sponsors of Social Media Week including JWTand Meebo. Local sponsors include YouTube, Time Inc., Sapient Nitro, Convio, Microsoft Advertising and Lucky Magazine.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. For real-time updates follow @smwnyc and @socialmediaweek on Twitter, and get notified when new events are added to the schedule by signing up to our mailing list here.
Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (http://hearst.com), one of the nation’s largest diversified communications companies with interests in magazines, newspapers, digital media, business media and television. As one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, Hearst Magazines publishes nearly 200 editions around the world, including fourteen U.S. titles and twenty magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst Magazines is a leading publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. in terms of total circulation (ABC June 2010) and reaches 73 million adults (Spring 2010 MRI).
Hearst Magazines Digital Media, a unit of Hearst Magazines, is dedicated to creating and implementing the digital strategy for Hearst’s magazine brands and other sites which serve the company’s consumer audience. The unit has launched, re-launched or acquired 24 websites and 10 mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as digital-only sites such as Delish.com, a food site in partnership with MSN; TheDailyGreen.com; MisQuinceMag.com; RealBeauty.com; social shopping site Kaboodle.com; and consumer health site RealAge.com. Hearst Magazines has published more than fifty apps and digital editions for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the Droid platform, including enhanced digital issues, utilities, special content and games based on its popular brands. The Company will unveil a physical App Lab in the first quarter of 2011.
Events will be hosted in Hearst Tower, Hearst Corporation’s stunning global headquarters. Using the original 1928 Hearst International Magazine Building as the base, this 46-story glass-and-steel skyscraper is the first landmark New York City skyscraper of the 21st century. And beyond the beauty and utility of the building, Hearst Tower is also a pioneer in environmental sustainability, having been declared the first “green” office building in New York City.
GET INVOLVED IN ART & CULTURE HUB
The Art & Culture Hub will bring together some of the leading individuals and companies in the spaces of media, art, entertainment, and lifestyles.
Themes & topics covered will include:
Art
Food
Tourism
Literature
Design
TV/Film/Radio/Drama
Fashion
Luxury
This list is by no means comprehensive, but it provides a flavor of some of areas we will be covering. If you would like to suggest themes and topics that we should be covering, please let us know.
If you or your organization is interested in curating a session and helping to shape the programming at the Art & Culture Hub, we would love to hear from you. Sessions are typically two hours in length and can include a series of talks, a panel, a workshop or seminar. We encourage our guest curators to think creatively about their sessions and consider designing an experience that moves beyond traditional conference formats.
To submit a session idea, please visit the event registration page and reference which Hub you are interested in, in your application.
If you are interested in sponsorship or media partnership opportunities, we have some really exciting ways for brands to participate in the experience and contribute to the programming. For more information please contact: toby@socialmediaweek.org
The Art & Culture Hub is brought to you by Social Media Week organizers Crowdcentric & host Hearst Corporation.
About the Hubs
Social Media Week Hubs include: Science and Technology Hub, hosted by Google; Business, Media, and Communications Hub, hosted by global advertising agency JWT; People & Society Hub, hosted by The Paley Center for Media; Music, Gaming & Sports, hosted by Red Bull Space; and Art & Culture, hosted by Hearst Magazines.
Red Bull Space, located in the heart of SoHo, is owned by the Red Bull beverage company and is a home for unique and innovative events and ideas, from large scale art installations and photo shoots to private tastemaker events and music acts.
Social Media Week is proud to be working with Red Bull Space and the exciting events that will take place there .
GET INVOLVED IN MUSIC, GAMING & SPORTS HUB
The Music, Gaming, and Sports Hub will focus on entertainment and everything exciting happening in each of those three spaces.
Themes & topics covered may include:
Music Culture
Music Writing
Concerts/Performances
Sports/Extreme sports
Sports Tournaments
Mobile/Social Gaming
Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG)
This list is by no means comprehensive, but it provides a flavor of some of areas we will be covering. The agenda will be released in January, however if you would like to suggest themes and topics that we should be covering, please let us know.
If you or your organization is interested in curating a session and helping to shape the programming at the Music, Gaming, and Sports Hub, we would love to hear from you. Sessions are typically two hours in length and can include a series of talks, a panel, a workshop or seminar. We encourage our guest curators to think creatively about their sessions and consider designing an experience that moves beyond traditional conference formats.
To submit a session idea, please visit the event registration page and reference which Hub you are interested in, in your application.
If you are interested in sponsorship or media partnership opportunities, we have some really exciting ways for brands to participate in the experience and contribute to the programming. For more information please contact: toby@socialmediaweek.org
The Music, Gaming, and Sports Hub is brought to you by Social Media Week organizers Crowdcentric & host Red Bull Space.
About the Hubs
Social Media Week Hubs include: Science and Technology Hub, hosted by Google; Business, Media, and Communications Hub, hosted by global advertising agency JWT; People & Society Hub, hosted by The Paley Center for Media; and Music, Gaming & Sports, hosted by Red Bull Space. As we mentioned in our announcement, we are also launching a fifth Hub which will cover Arts & Culture, the location of which we will share in the coming week or so.
Social Media Week partnered with The New York Times on a number of panel events throughout the course of the February 2010 Social Media Week. As a leader in newsgathering & reporting, The New York Times provided a fertile ground for a conversation on the Haiti earthquake.
Moderated by:
Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum and senior technology advisor, The Sunlight Foundation
A conversation with:
Ann Curry, news anchor for NBC’s Today Show
Rob Mackey, staff writer The New York Times, The Lede blog
Erik Parker, journalist who was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and used social networks to send images, video, tweets.
Jason Cone, communications director, Doctors Without Borders
The panel was organized in the immediate wake of the quake, and the conversation proved to be remarkably prescient. The panelists, who had each recently been to Haiti, shared their experience in regards to how social & mobile media played into the relief efforts. Jason Cone spoke of the difficulty that Doctors Without Borders experienced when trying to enter foreign airspace. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, he tweeted about the issue, and in short time, Ann Curry responded to his plea and enabled the airplane to land in Haiti.
View this session courtesy of LiveStream:
The panelists expressed the various difficulties they had in finding wireless networks and access to computers, and therefore they relied heavily on their mobile devices. Even when email service was nonexistent, mobile phones were still able to transmit social media updates. The panelists found that social & mobile media empowered citizens to engage and direct the conversation, and also provide help & hope in a situation where both were heavily lacking. The panel revealed a largely positive sentiment towards social & mobile media, though the speakers weren’t hesitant to share their concerns as well. In the case of the journalists, they found it much more difficult to remain neutral and disengaged when their sole communication platform was simply a mobile device.
Social Media Week Founder & CEO Toby Daniels shares his answers:
1. Please tell us a bit about your company.
I am the Co-founder & CEO of Crowdcentric, which owns and operates Social Media Week. Crowdcentric was founded to explore new opportunities in how we connect and communicate as a society. The mission of the company is to help people, brands, companies, not-for-profits and governments around the world establish deeper and more valuable relationships through open collaboration and social communication.
In addition to continuing to build Social Media Week into a next generation conference platform, Crowdcentric is also working with companies like Mutopo to solve complex social and environmental problems through initiatives such as the betacup. In 2009/10, the betacup hosted an open innovation challenge to address the problem of paper cup waste.
2. What are the three most exciting things happening in social and mobile media in your industry?
Over the course of history, technology has radically changed the way that people and organizations connect and communicate. Recently we have seen modern communications shift from one-to-many (broadcast media) to many-to-many (social media).
Many-to-many communications changes everything. It changes the relationship between doctors and patients, students and teachers, and consumers and brands. It changes how government officials are elected and allows activists to rise up against oppressive regimes. Many-to-many communications is enabled, in part, by the self-organizing capabilities that social technology provides.
According to McKinsey there are a number of tech enabled trends that will shape business in the future. Here are three that are at the core of our business:
1. Distributed Co-Creation: Ability to organize communities of Web participants to develop, market, and support products and services.
2. Making the Network the Organization: Building and managing flexible networks that extend across internal and often even external borders, thereby enabling you to tap into a world of talent.
3. Collaboration at Scale: The adoption of collaboration technologies and principles with a focus on improving teams efficiency and effectiveness.
3. Who will be collaborating with you to help make Social Media Week happen in your city?
Social Media Week New York is in its third year and as such we have built a wonderful community of collaborators. Crowdcentric will lead the effort, but much of the programming and creative input comes from our incredible advisory board and partners such as the New York Times, Morris & King, Weber Shandwick, the Barbarian Group, Deep Focus, Personal Democracy Forum and the Paley Center for Media.
4. What were your reasons for wanting to bring Social Media Week to your city?
We launched Social Media Week in New York originally because it is such a unique environment to host this type of event. Geographically it is very compact and easy to get around and there is a great number of industry sectors that are represented and that are being directly impacted and effected by social and mobile media.
5. What three things are you hoping to gain from hosting Social Media Week?
1. Content: Social Media Week New York aims to significantly increase the number and breadth and diversity of the events that are hosted next year. We will be announcing the full program structure in the next couple of weeks.
2. Community: Growing the community is important to us, but equally helping to connect people, ideas and conversation within the community is just as key. This is where we see ourselves adding the most amount of value.
3. Communications: Social Media Week facilitates a considerable amount of real-time conversation, content sharing and location based activity. As such, we are looking to create better experience and utility to support and enhance this.
As we look towards 2011, we found ourselves reflecting on some of the most informative (and our favorite) events from last year.
Last February, Social Media Week & Wired.com hosted a conversation that explored the role of location-based services and initiatives in the present time looking toward the future of social media. Moderated by John C. Abell, New York Bureau Chief for Wired.com, “The Future of Space & Time,” featured Dennis Crowley, Founder and CEO of Foursquare; Chris Dixon, Co-founder, CEO at Hunch; Tony Jebara, Associate Professor Computer Science, Columbia University & Chief Scientist at Sense Networks.
The hour-long panel discussion examined the opt-in nature of today’s most popular geo-location based services, and the increasing percentage of population who are using social media services such as Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and Hunch to inform their daily decisions, from where to go, to what to eat. Chris Dixon divided audiences into two groups: “techies,” – early adopters of new technology, and “normals,” who are more mainstream individuals. The adoption of location-based social media services within larger, more mass-consumption audiences rely on an opt-in, user-identified utility and/or necessity – what often begins as a fun gadget or new toy can result in a complete shift, as these location-based tools & functionalities become indispensable.
Hot on the heels of the immensely successful Social Media Week September, we atSocial Media Week are pleased to announce our next global conference, scheduled to be held this February 7-11, 2011.
The next iteration of Social Media Week will take place simultaneously in New York, London, San Francisco, Toronto, São Paulo, Paris, and Rome, with more cities to be added in the next couple weeks. The first five are all returning cities from February 2010 and Paris and Rome are new additions to the community.
Social Media Week has quickly become one of the world’s most unique conferences, providing a global perspective on emerging trends in social & mobile media. In 2010, New York-based organizers Crowdcentric hosted over 450 individual events in eleven cities, reaching more than 18,000 attendees with over 200,000 users connecting through the online and mobile experience, generating millions of impressions throughout the social web.
Unlike many traditional conferences, Social Media Week strives to maintain a model where free access to content, programming and events is made possible by support from brand partners including PepsiCo, Vodafone, Nokia, Meebo and SalesForce.com.
“Over ninety percent of our content and programming is free and accessible to all attendees”, said Toby Daniels, CEO of Crowdcentric and Founder & Executive Director of Social Media Week. “We believe that access to high-quality learning experiences, business networking and buyer /seller market places should not be exclusive to a limited number of executives and organizations that can afford it.”
The driving force behind Social Media Week in each respective city is the local city partners. In Toronto, Entrinsic will be returning to produce Social Media Week for the second time. Chinwag will be leading the effort in London. São Paulo-based SixPix Content will produce the Brazilian conference. Social Media Week San Francisco will be co-produced Swirl Integrated Marketing and Social Media Club, and La Netscouade will lead in Paris.
Paris city partner Benoît Thieulin said, “The opportunities to sit together for a moment and think collectively how social media will transform and further our relationships with the world (ourselves, the media, brands, institutions) are still rare. It was natural to La Netscouade, as a leading social media agency, to step up and take care of introducing this global event to Paris and its flowering of initiatives on the social web.”
Milan-based Augmendy, producers of Social Media Week Milan, will also be bringing the experience to Rome. Augmendy leads Marco Montemagno and Marco Antonio Masieri said, “We are absolutely delighted that Social Media Week Milan was such a success. Over 5,000 people attended our ninety events during the week, with 20,000 more people visiting our headquarters, proving that 2010 is the tipping point for growth and development in the Italian web world. We’re looking forward to an even bigger event in Rome in February.”
Beyond the Crowdcentric organizers and regional city partners, Social Media Week is made possible through its framework of globally connected organizations and individuals who contribute a significant amount to the programming of the conference. If you or your organization would like to get involved as a city partner, event organizer, host, speaker or brand partner, please go here! Or, if you are a brand looking to reach a global audience of hyper-social influencers, either locally or globally, please contact Ben Scheim by email at ben@crowdcentric.net for more information.
Stay tuned for more exciting information about Social Media Week February 2011!
Included in the program are over 35 individual events, covering topics such as healthcare, sports, music & news to brand marketing, politics, and arts & culture.
Here’s a taste of what’s on offer:
Panels & Presentations:
Branding the Future with Social Media, sponsored by Pepsi Refresh
Hacking with API’s in the Cloud, hosted by Drop.io
Networked News Gatherers, hosted by Time Inc
Humanizing Social Media, hosted by IDEO
The Future of Space & Time, hosted by Wired.com
Social Graph Optimization, hosted by JWT and sponsored by Meebo
Reinvention from the Ground Up, hosted by Razorfish
PSFK presents Good Ideas Salon with Seth Godin
Designing Social Interfaces, hosted by UltraLight Startups
Putting The Social In CSR, a ThinkSocial/Media Council event, sponsored by Pepsi Refresh
Digital Culture NYC: Breaking Down the Walls, hosted by MoMA
Parties & Mixers
Social Media Week presents Opening Night Celebration, sponsored by Meebo, Pepsi Refresh and Diageo
Tweetup, hosted by Mediabistro
Digital Cocktails: Keys To Social Media Success
Digital Divas with Social Diva
NextUp NYC, hosted by Mashable
Exploring Music’s relationship with Social Media, hosted by SoundCtrl
OBLITERATI: Social Media Week
Social Media Week Official Closing Party sponsored by Meebo, Pepsi Refresh and Diageo
To register for events, simply visit the New York website, select Schedule from the top navigation and RSVP for the events you wish to attend. We will be adding more events over the next couple of weeks, so make sure you check back for updates.
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST RSVP FOR EVENTS INDIVIDUALLY. REGISTERING THROUGH *SCHED DOES NOT ADMIT ENTRY.
Thanks to our global headline sponsor Meebo and supporting sponsors Pepsi Refresh and Pepsico and our amazing roster of event partners, the majority of events listed are free to attend.
Want to participate in Social Media Week beyond simply attending?
There’s still time. You can still register your own event, register to speak, or even volunteer if you would like to help out during the actual week itself. Check out http://socialmediaweek.org/getting-involved for more information.
Thanks again to all of our wonderful supporters, including the global and NY Advisory Boards and planning committee. Without their vast efforts & energy, Social Media Week would not be possible.
I was speaking with a friend the other day and he asked me how things were going with the preparations for Social Media Week. Having answered this question numerous times in the past few weeks, I have begun to develop an analogy that best describes the process and experience of planning a very complex, distributed conference.
Planning Social Media Week is a bit like working on a giant jigsaw puzzle, only that rather than the puzzle being a standard size, with a set number pieces, it is more amorphous and constantly growing, and in some cases the pieces keep dividing into smaller pieces.
The reason for this is because the number of people, partners and collaborators involved in organizing Social Media Week runs into the hundreds and the total number of venues will be around fifty and the number of attendees will probably top 2,000. However, despite how wonderfully complex this makes planning process, the rewards as you start seeing the jigsaw’s picture emerge is incredibly gratifying.
So, why did we develop such a complicated model? There are three main reasons:
Removing the burden of an expensive venue, reduces the cost of hosting the conference, allowing us to allocate sponsorship revenue towards production, which in turn allows us to keep attendance free for almost all events.
We wanted to take advantage of the cities underutilized, iconic and interesting space, that traditionally is not used for conferences. Here in New York we are benefiting from space in the New York Times, Wired, Time Inc and IDEO, among many other wonderful venues. The other cities are all doing the same.
Distributing the conference over multiple locations allows us to host many more events, which in turn helps us reach more people with a more diverse range of topics.
In addition to reducing costs, utilizing alternative space and designing a broader program, the model behind the team for Social Media Week is also structured differently. Rather than take a top down approach, we instead build a team made up of key influencers in the space, who bring a range of experience and understanding to the conference. The program of events and the overall format is very much a reflection of the thirty or so people involved, and of course a reflection of the wider community who are also instrumental in helping to build the program of events.
The reason for sharing this was motivated in part because as we move towards the launch of the conference there are many people asking about the how everything works, when the schedule will be live and when it will be possible to register for events. Understandably, people are frustrated when only three weeks out there is not a publicly available agenda. The reason for this is simple. It’s not ready yet. It will be, very soon, but it’s not yet. It would like to be notified when it is, please send an email to info@socialmediaweekny.com or if you want information on another city, you can reach them through their site.
I hope however, that through sharing how the program comes together, people will be more patient and understand that despite this rather unorthodox approach, the quality of events, the learning experience and the opportunity to connect around emerging practices and trends in social media will more than make up for any frustration felt in the build up.
For too long we have been hiding in the shadows of the much larger and more dominant @socialmediaweek Twitter handle, but no more! It’s time for us to break out on our own and develop our own voice and our own unique personality, which was a long-winded way of saying that we have a new Twitter handle.
Follow @smwnyc for updates on the New York conference.
The first Social Media Week Conference launched earlier this year in New York. Over the week, the organizer together with the local business community hosted over thirty five events in locations like the New York Times, Razorfish, Wired and Nielsen.
One the events was entitledInnovation in Politics, Policy, and Social Change through Social Media and was hosted at the New York Times. Check out the full video from the event below.
Title: Innovation in Politics, Policy, and Social Change through Social Media
Description: A reflection on the Obama campaign and a look ahead at the future of harnessing social media for change.
Speakers: Panelists: Chris Hughes: Co-founder of Facebook and President Obama’s Director of Online Organizing during the campaign. Andrew Rasiej: Founder of Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference and website covering the intersection of politics and technology, Jamie Daves: Venture capitalist and entrepreneur with over ten years of experience in the public sector who has helped found a number of successful nonprofit and political organizations. Moderator: Brian Stelter of the NY Times.
On Feb 1st 2010, along with five other cities we will be hosting a week long conference here in New York City. The overall theme of the conference looks at the way social media is shaping business communications, culture and society at large. With such a broad scope, our goal is to produce a series of events that reflects this theme and that represents the depth and diversity of New York City.With our event partners The New York Times, Time Inc, Razorfish, Mutopo, IDEO and Wired, we’re planning events that cover an incredible range of topics including news, healthcare, politics, sports, entertainment, music and the arts.
Of course, Social Media Week wouldn’t be possible without the incredible support of its volunteers, advisory board and the wider New York community. While we are producing a number of events ourselves we are also looking for you to support our efforts by registering and/or hosting your own events.
For more information on how to participate, please visit the Getting Involved section of the main website.
Thanks for supporting Social Media Week New York. We cant wait to meet you!
Guest post by Jacob Braude, VP of Planning at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness
