Social Media Day in Adelaide 2011

June 30, 2011

smdayToday was Social Media Day, a virtual event organised by Mashable, the online magazine of all things Web 2.0 and Tech.

In Adelaide, the key ‘gathering’ was an online converstation using Twitter and the hashtag #socadl. (NOTE: Using hashtags immediately before words or terms in Twitter, transforms an ordinary word or term into an index term that enables users to thread together all tweets using the particular hashtag into a timeline. #socadl is the term we created in Adelaide to thread together the thoughts and discussions of Adelaideans wishing to contribute on all things social media or social networking).

The official online conversation lasted one hour (although it continued on well into the night) and revolved around five questions. Given that Twitter is notoriously bad for archiving content and the fact that #socadl is used quite a lot outside of this particular conversation, I thought I should do my bit of internet curation and pull together some of the contributions I found most helpful or interesting.

Here are the questions and the comments.

Q1. Is there a place for promoted tweets in the middle of your Twitter stream? Are they “the beginning of the end”?

Background: ‘Promoted tweets’ is a reference to Twitter selling tweets to advertisers. These tweets then appear amid the tweets of people you have chosen to follow. It is one form of advertising revenue that Twitter has been expermenting with. Here is what the Adelaide social media community said:

  • Not in my twitter stream iambiancaking
  • yes, Twitter has gotta monetise but will we pay attention? doubtfulmroelink
  • promoted tweets must be hyper relevant & contextual to cut through socadl PPRAdelaide
  • If I have followed expecting promoted tweets & they are relevent, fine. Depends who they are from oliyoung
  • just like on the teev I guess -yo Can always turn over. But wheres the abc? PPRAdelaide
  • I think marketers need to get past disruption methods both on and offline. heatherbray6
  • I’d put up with a low number but between ads and the spam bots it could get pretty annoying pretty quickly. TaschaD
  • Not keen on contextual, ppl always want to remind me about my ageing skin Prakky

Q2. When you think of Google: do you think ‘success’ or ‘lots of failures’? Why?

Background: Google has taken the internet by storm with it search, gmail, analytics, pay-per-click advertising and a host of other services. I am sure there are many who just think Google invented the internet, it is that ubiquitous with the online experience. However, they have also failed in the spotlight too. Their social network, Orkut, is right up there with the fading star of MySpace, althought it never reached MySpace’s height, and most recently Google Wave crashed into oblivion. Over to Adelaide …

  • success….. sure they’ve failed lots but that’s how you figure out what works! cherryrocketeer
  • Tough question on all fronts – more success than fail most of us still google it malchia
  • besides, how can you argue with $30b+ ad revenue. mor e in a qtr than FB in a year PPRAdelaide
  • one massive success and a few false starts. SandraEarle
  • Success. It’s part of the vocabulary too…’i’ll google that’ leehopkins
  • changed search paradigm, and therefore seo forever. Too late with google plus I fear diemperdidi
  • think success and about how much time I can save by not having to try to find info in a library JuliaAngove

Q3. Will enough Adelaide businesses ever ‘get’ Foursquare (and provide users with real life rewards)?

Background: Foursquare is an online service/game that asks you to “check in” to your location, typically business, establishments but also people, tv shows, etc. In the USA and parts of Europe, even the Eastern seaboard of Australia, businesses are rewarding people who check in to their establishments with vouchers, discounts, gifts, free meals, etc. In Adelaide, after a burst of usage by early adopters about 12 months ago, interest among the socadl chattering classes has waned. So what is the mood of the group now?

  • Adelaide is not big enough to embrace and support foursquare…. yet… until it catches up, it will remain a small group of people adelaidebumblee
  • I was in Melbourne today and it was everywhere! At least more so than here MikaelLiddy
  • prob doing ok per capita, but we are too small in my opinion diemperdidi
  • Maybe not so many SMEs but universities, clubs and ‘social’ type businesses, yes. bludgingwriter
  • not if the early adopters don’t persevere, if those who get on first stop, what is the incentive for others to get on board danaesinclair
  • I have foursquare at @the_lunch_bar & have a sticker on the door for 6 mths & only have a mayor cause I made my friend check in socadl
  • Unfortunately I’m not sure the majority of business owners in #adelaide give #sminoz enough respect for 4sq to work. mjgal
  • There needs to be some more attractive people for me to actively stalk on 4square b4 it takes off in Adel MyCentralMarket

Q4. LinkedIn users: what do you most use LinkedIn for?

Background: LinkedIn is a virtual, perpetual, business networking event; a social network clearly focussed on work life. I often call it “Facebook for grown ups”. The most striking difference between it and the more social networks out there is that your profile is your CV. It has been a sleeping giant in Australia and as it arises, many are wondering how best to use it. Let’s hear what Adelaide thinks. PS, the first comment is one of the most common I hear from clients and workshop participants.

  • have a profile but rarely use it ecocreative
  • Mostly networking, biz dev, recruiting…and database gathering. dnwallace
  • Building new networks for collaboration and some business development malchia
  • I actually forgot I had one while in a dead end universe. Was reminded by a fmr colleague <blush />. socadl
  • I only login to LinkedIn to accept contact requests nwynn
  • “apply with linkedin” feature may force peeps to start paying more attention to their #in profiles heatherbray6
  • to talk to people who aren’t on Twitter through the Groups TraceyBakerTBC kristinalford
  • Career exp. repository; Discovery of biz contacts overlaps; research biz contacts. kristinalford
  • I should really get involved with it, it’ll be a good source of further interaction with prospective clients DanPopping
  • Yeah, I am starting to care… maybe I’m getting too old (or serious) matt_tati
  • I used to ‘guard’ LinkedIn like FB and accept few connections; but now I think it’s the space for more connections. And more. bushticals

Q5. Picture yourself in two years’ time: are you still a Twitter user?

Background: Not much to say about this question, it is fairly straightforward. I suppose the context here is that the whole world of social media has really only been with us about six years (and for many people, they have only been aware of it for two to three years) so looking two years out is quite a challenge. I recall creating a Web 2.0 Marketing workshop run for city businesses through Adelaide City Council’s Enterprise Adelaide back in 2006 and am constantly surprised that much of its content would still be considered “new” and “pioneering” for business people who have been busy in their businesses while the social world has buzzed around them. So, what do my kindred souls think?

  • Only as long as interesting people are still here. Still has a unique space in the market. MochaJoey
  • Yes. Yes. Yes. Have been on Twitter for over 2 years & it’s only getting momentum now. More opportunities coming. jdtoo
  • I’d like to think I will be, but honestly have no idea kellynoble
  • I guess… I havent thought that far ahead… nwynn
  • Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s hard to know how long it will be before the “new” Twitter arrives CitySpk
  • if I am I can forsee my use of it being very different, similar to how my use of FB has changed dnwallace
  • definitely, such a quick, concise way to keep up to date and if ur good – to filter the bullsh*t 🙂 MikaelLiddy
  • in 2 years time I will be Twitter user, and it will be more widely accepted, like giving out your phone number mjgal
  • Depends if it’s still as popular as it is today or if something else comes along that changes the way we communicate ecocreative
  • Yes. Amazing tool for work (journalist), meeting people with shared interests <– Very true also! kristinalford
  • Yes. It took me a long time to get on board (Oct10) but I really enjoy the people, the world news, the info & the fun. Prakky
  • It’s hard to know what the internet will look like in 2 years time things move so quickly 😉 but i would think so. DanPopping
  • And as I said b4, twitter ecosystem will change too.It will be exciting to see & there will be frustrating moments for us all 2 Syrilion

A conclusion?

It is always hard and a little futile to summarise a discussion like this, especially on this topic, when the topic itself is so open-ended, is changing at the speed of light (well, optical fibre, which reminds me, I was meant to be planning my National Broadband Network workshops tonight, whoops) but let me try.

On balance, Adelaide’s social media types, me included, believe change is inevitable in this sphere, businesses would do well to explore it, much of the technology has enriched our lives, and that getting together to be “social” even in a virtual way, can be a rich and enjoyable experience.

Here’s to Social Media Day 2012 – if we still call it that by then!

Update, July 1: Some helpful tweeps have pointed out a few attributions that went haywire and I am correcting them as I am alerted. As @prakky notes, that is the danger of staying up late to blog! In the meantime, if you know of another summary of that event, let me know and I will build a list of links here so that people can get the story from other angles – email me, leave a comment or tweet the links to @stevedavis. Thanks