Tag: february

Keeping You Moving: Citi Bike & SMW NYC

Posted on by Nicky Yates

It didn’t take long for Citi Bike and the launch of the bike share program to capture our hearts. In just the 5 months it’s been active, there are over 80,000 members who have taken more than five million trips with the program. Citi Bike regularly sees six plus trips per bike per day, outpacing London’s system. During the launch, we looked at the pros and cons of the system. And since then, Citi Bike has done a lot to help meet user needs and expectations.

It has has grown more rapidly in terms of ridership than any other bike share system in the nation, and their blog provides fun and engaging ways for users to get the most out of their memberships. Just check out their haunted bike tours for Halloween to see what we mean.

All this has us excited. We’re big proponents of collaborative consumption, and Citi Bike helps solve transportation issues while minimizing resources. So, we’re thrilled to offer a free week rental to our Insider and CMO Pass Holders as an added benefit for joining us at SMW NYC. It’s just one of the many perks, so make sure you check out all the options now.

Grab your pass and a sweet bike ride to accompany it here. Enjoy!

For more stats, check out how Citi Bike did their first month:
Citi Bike, Bike Share, NYC, Collaborative Consumption

Building an East Coast Tech Center: What’s in Store for NYC’s Future?

Posted on by Victoria Harman


Last week’s panel, “New York City’s Tech Future“, got everyone thinking about how far New York City has come and how much farther we need to go. There was a lot of discussion about how New York City differs from Silicon Valley. In New York the innovation is at smaller venues and companies, we haven’t quite gotten our big Google or Facebook yet. However, Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, noted, “we’re seeing that a lot of corporations are reaching out to these smaller companies for acquisition and services”. Alan Patricof, Managing Director of Greycroft Partners, also noted that the model of fundraising is different in NYC. He noted that few firms do B-Round ($5-$15MM) here and there is a lot of seed capital around, a lot of VCs have cashed out and become angels. Additionally, Patricof noted, “A-Round requires going to an organized firm like Greycroft and there aren’t a lot of firms like these in NYC.” Nevertheless, Bowles noted that 486 start-ups got VC or angel funding last year and of those, 15 had raised $50MM+.

There are also several issues related to the recruitment of talent in NYC. Bowles pointed out – liveability and quality of life are key issues. He suggested that, in order to attract more talent in engineering and entrepreneurship, the next mayor will have to focus on creating more middle-income affordable housing, as most tech/start-up employees aren’t making six figures.

Students are another big issue. A few of the panelists suggested that there is a tendency for recent grads to start their companies near where they went to school, especially because of the focus on intellectual property on campuses, how students can and will take risks, and the advantageous recruiting opportunities that proximity presents.  This focused the conversation on the new Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. Anne Li, the Managing Director, EVP at NYCEDC, argued the case for NYC to focus on tech. Li said, “NYC is underweight in the number of engineers we produce…there are not that many industries we can diversify ourselves into but tech is one”. She also noted that similar projects in other countries have been funded by the government. However, our city’s government doesn’t have those kinds of funds to give. So, the focus has really been on the universities. That’s where the partnership with Israel’s Technion came to play on this campus proposal. Israel has demonstrated itself as a country that has a strong grasp on how to commercialize research. Additionally, several other city universities have started to further develop their tech programs. NYU has started a Center for Urban Science & Progress in Brooklyn and Columbia University is expanding its engineering school. Li estimates that the three projects combined will double the number of engineers (PhDs) in 20 years. She also suggested that work is being done at the high school level as well. Li says, “great coders learn how to code in high school not college”, so there’s a computer science high school in the works.

The discussion of what students want to do after they graduate also came into play. Patricof suggested that most students in NYC want to start their own company when perhaps instead they should be “looking to join a big company to bring entrepreneurial spirit or join an existing start-up”. He noted that there are a lot of companies that are imitating one another these days:  “You should start a company if you have a passion and you’ve learned a lot about it and you have a plan, not hunt for ideas or copy what someone else has done and say ‘I’m gonna do it better'”. Scott Anderson, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at Control Group, backed him up by saying that his company looks for more skilled workers and sees great value in new recruits who have failed before. Patricof furthered the argument of the value of having worked at a failed start-up: “They don’t assign people different roles so you learn everything…you watch and learn from an unsophisticated leader and then you’re ready to do a start-up because you’ve seen the pitfalls and not spent your own money.”

So, the overall feeling was that New York City can become a more attractive destination for engineers and entrepreneurs by building more academic resources for students and by making the city a better and more affordable place to live for experienced talent. Recent graduates will need to start shifting the attention toward joining existing start-ups rather than creating imitative start-ups of their own. There will also need to be the economic support and incentive to allow them to do this – through improved fundraising avenues for  start-ups, affordable housing options, etc.

Victoria Harman (@vc1harman) is a social media content & strategy specialist and entrepreneur based in New York City.

Architecting the Future of Social Media

Posted on by Lindsey Taylor Wood

(Part 1 of 3 in the Architects, Inventors, and Collaborators blog series.)

The theme of Social Media Week this year, Open & Connected: Principles for a Collaborative World, has been the catalyst for a number of hot debates in the Social Media Week offices. Identifying what, exactly, openness, connectedness and collaboration mean in an increasingly social world can be, well… tricky.

As conversations around the idea continued to percolate, so did a noticeable shift in their direction. The focus was no longer how to define the social media landscape, but a question of who was defining it. Who are the influencers, producers, and shapers driving social media?

While sifting through the heaps of notable tastemakers, we discovered most belonged to one of three distinct archetypes: Architects, Inventors, or Collaborators. So, we decided to dedicate three days of the conference (and this three part blog series), to exploring what that means.

Architects: devisers, makers, creators. At a time when “openness” is zeitgeist and transparency and collaboration are the very nature of social and digital media, architects must rethink traditional structures and develop new frameworks that reflect those ideals. It’s quite the paradox: design boundary-less boundaries.

This seemingly daunting task has done little to deter trailblazers like Susan Crawford. A visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy to President Barack Obama (for more on her laundry list of accomplishments, click here) her Fall class, Solving Problems Using Technology, embodies this type of progressive design process.

Her students, from both Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, partnered with three community groups and The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in an effort to address Boston’s urban and civic challenges through technology. This month, The Mayor’s Office will select and fund the best of the student’s designs.

It’s this type of innovative approach to 21st century architecture that will inform the future of social media, and it’s imperative that we embrace and learn from these new models. To learn more about Susan’s work, and the work of other “architects”, join us at our new Global Headquarters on February 18th.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Announcing Social Media Week NYC’s Content Hubs & Partners

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Building on the success of SMW NYC 2011, we are excited to announce the initial lineup of Content Hubs which will serve as the primary locations for official SMW programming throughout the week of February 13-17.

Building off the Global Theme of Empowering Change through Collaboration, each Content Hub, will host programming at iconic institutions throughout the city and reflect key areas of focus for conversations on the societal, economic and cultural impact of social media.

These areas include Advertising & Marketing; Social & Environmental Change; Health & Wellness; Art & Culture; Music, Media & Entertainment; Business Innovation; and Global Society.

Advertising & Marketing


JWT will serve as our host for guiding conversations on the impact of the world of marketing through social media. The Marketing & Advertising Hub will focus on broad themes including Monitoring & Analytics, PR & Communications, Location-based Marketing, Community Management, Creative & Brand Strategy, Media Buying & Planning, and Crowdsourcing & Co-creation.

“JWT is delighted to serve as the advertising and marketing hub at Social Media Week for a second year,” said Social Media Week Board Member David Eastman, who is North American CEO and Worldwide Digital Director at JWT. “All brands need to consider the role of social media in nearly every aspect of their businesses, and through hosting and participating in this series of events, we can help to lead the conversation about this increasingly important part of our industry.” — David Eastman, CEO, JWT

Art & Culture

Stimulating dialogue centered around the arts, fashion and cultural shifts, Hearst Corporation will serve as our Art & Culture Hub. Content will focus on Art, Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty, Travel, Food, Theater, Luxury, and Comedy.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting the opening press conference and the Art & Culture hub for Social Media Week NY again this year. As a company, Hearst has embraced digital and social in a major way and we applaud SMW for creating a dynamic, global conversation about how it has become an integral part of all of our lives.” — David Carey, President, Hearst Magazines

Health & Wellness

Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness will lead the conversation around emerging changes and the future of wellness and healthcare as the host of our Health & Wellness Hub, with Luminary Labs lending their expertise to help curate events. Events will be centered around Innovations in Health & Wellness, Global & Future Wellness, Preventative Health & Medicine, Sports & Fitness, Emerging Tools, Healthcare & Health Plans, Nutrition, Sustainable Living, Mental Health/Enrichment, and Human Resource Management.

“Through social media, the world is becoming a smaller place and nowhere is this more apparent, or will it have a potentially bigger impact on people’s lives, than in wellness and healthcare. Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness is honored to host a forum where thought leadership will shape and empower a revolution in communications and marketing—welcome Social Media Week.” — Ned Russell, Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

“Luminary Labs is honored to curate the Health and Wellness Hub during Social Media Week in New York. We look forward to fostering collaboration between science, technology, the arts, and design to deliver change for one of society’s greatest needs- our own health,” — Sara Holoubek, CEO, Luminary Labs

Social & Environmental Change

 

Our Social & Environmental Change Hub will examine the role of social, digital and mobile media in affecting change for the greater good. Hosted by Thomson Reuters, the Social & Environmental Change Hub will explore Education, Energy & Climate Change, Non-profits, Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Social Justice & Human Rights.

“I am excited to have our Reuters headquarters at 3 Times Square be a hub for this coming Social Media Week. I was lucky enough to moderate a Social Media Week panel on the role social media played in the Arab Spring earlier this year, on a historic day for Egypt. I’ve also been a captive audience member for many other great Social Media Week events over the years. Toby Daniel, Michelle Welsch and the rest of the Social Media Week organizers are a fantastic team we’re thrilled to be working with. We look forward to hosting some great events at our hub which we will be announcing soon.” — Anthony De Rosa, Social Media Editor, Reuters

Business Innovation
The way in which consumers and businesses interact and how business is handled has been deeply impacted by social media and technology. The venue for the Business Innovation Hub will be announced soon but will guide these conversations and examine E-commerce & Mobile Payments, Enterprise & Startups, Trading & Investment, Regulation & Legal, Business Systems, Business Information Design, Customer Relationship Management and Human Resource Management.
 
 
Music, Media & Entertainment
The Music, Media & Entertainment Hub will guide dialogue on the way in which we entertain ourselves as a culture and how the social, mobile and digital field has revolutionized this area. The host for the Music, Media & Entertainment Hub will be announced soon, and events will explore broad areas including Music, Artists, Television, Journalism, Publishing, Film, Radio, and Telecommunications.
 
 
Global Society

At Big Fuel, the Global Society Hub will be our central headquarters, providing attendees opportunities to interact with interactive installations, co-create with other participants, engage with other SMW international locations and presentations, and take in a fuller SMW experience.

“We are tremendously excited to host the Global Hub for Social Media Week New York in February 2012. The dialogues about social media that are taking place in this conference, all over the world, really excite us. We look forward to facilitating those conversations, across all the partner cities, and showcasing social media’s global impact.” — Jon Bond, CEO, Big Fuel

 
With these iconic institutions leading the way as platforms for content and conversation during Social Media Week, now is the time to submit your event ideas and help to shape and influence the experience for our attendees.  Submitting your ideas is easy and we encourage you to do so as soon as possible as submissions close on January 20th and the earlier you submit the greater the chances of having your idea chosen.

New York’s Initial Schedule

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Today marks an important date for Social Media Week New York, as we unveil our initial schedule for the week!

But before we get to what we are lining up for you, we have some pointers to share first. We’ll officially open registration January 17th but as the weeks go by, you can get ideas from events that others have posted and add current events to your favorites to save time once registration opens.

Signing up is simple:
1) Create an account- or if you already have one, just log in
2) Filter events by city or category
3) Select the events to add my clicking on “favorite”
3) Review your favorites in “My Events” section

You can continue to update and amend your favorites until registration opens on January 17th.

And now for the good stuff. You can find the full schedule here, but to help get you started, we’ve listed out some of our top picks. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working to curate some of the top leaders in various industries, offering a great selection of keynotes to our New York attendees.

So, we’re very excited that notables like
Social Media Week Global Curator and author Don Tapscott
Jeff Dachis, Co-Founder of Dachis Group and former Chairman of Razorfish
Writer and Thinker on cultural sharing- and Neil Postman Award winner- Doug Rushkoff
Jeremy Gilley, Founder of Peace One Day
and Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork Media and music & media leader will be joining us.

In addition, we’re seeing some exciting events from the community. Pratt Brainwaves offers fans of Information and Library Science an opportunity to network and share their experiences with each other. And Managing Social Media on a Global Scale brings in senior corporate marketing leaders to share best practices for stepping outside the US online.

We can’t wait to see what other events get added to the list as we move forward. In the meantime, add your favorites to your queue and help spread the word!

Social Media Week Returns to New York

Posted on by Nicky Yates

We’re back! We are excited to announce that Social Media Week returns to New York February 13-17. New York joins Paris, Rome, London, Washington DC, Miami, Toronto, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo in examining how social media Empowers Change through Collaborative Engagement.

This global theme is our call to action. We want to explore how social media empowers citizens, increases mobility, enables mass collaboration, develops hyperlocalism, maximizes interconnectedness, fosters knowledge creation & sharing, bolsters leadership, and encourages global empathy. During Social Media Week New York, we’ll be tackling this theme in the topics of: Education & Learning, Health & Wellbeing, Energy & Environment, Politics & Government, Media & Entertainment, Science & Technology, Banking & Finance, Transportation & Mobility, Art & Culture and Marketing & Advertising.

Social Media Week relies on the collaborative efforts of each city. That’s where you come in. As we prepare over the coming weeks, we want to hear from you! How do you see social media empowering us in these areas? Share with the city by submitting an event and hosting your own session.

Thanks for helping make Social Media Week New York a success in the past- and we look forward to seeing what we produce together this February.