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SXSW 2013!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, and as always… it was amazing.  

Among a flurry of meet-ups, parties, and never ending tweets I attended a few noteworthy panels/discussions and discovered a few new apps worth your while.  

ENJOY:

SXSW 2013 | App & Site Discoveries

Nestivity – Community engagement platform that allows you to organize and engage your Twitter following off of and outside of Twitter, directly on your site.  

WeVideo – Cloud hosted video editing software.  3 months free: http://wevideo.com/sxsw

Green Throttle - Bluetooth wireless controllers connect with your Android device to turn it into a gaming console.  

Woisio  - TV like experience for video where users program 15 minute slots of time on predefined “channels.”  Users vote for good curators, giving curators “coins” to redeem for more 15 min blocks.  Very interesting concept – a bit like Turntable.fm.   

Gigg Mobile App – iOS & Android - “Say it with Music” – Share “lyric” posts to Facebook and Twitter.  Upload a photo (optional), search for a song – lyrics auto populate for you to share within the post alongside a preview clip of the song.  

Beam – WORK ROBOTS.  

Grafic.me – iOS app - grafic is an app that allows you to easily create a magazine like blog with only a smartphone. 

Recood – iOS app - “Instagram” for video – includes filters and motion effects to layer on top of video clips

PplConnect – Andorid app - Your “virtual smartphone” – gain access to your smartphone and its features through any web-enabled device

FabCafe - Excited about 3D printing?  Think going to a café to use a 3D printer sounds like a cool idea?  This team from Japan is starting a movement to turn every person into a “maker.”

Living Rooom - LIVING ROOOM is a new type of job experience platform for kids.  Assign/task household chores through an app that applies gamification/reward layers.

Palm Top Theater - “Case” for your iPhone/iPod that allows you to play 3D videos.  Videos must be formatted for Palm Top Theater playback.  Bjork released her newest music video formatted for this technology.

Guessagram - Guessagram is a guessing game that incorporates your friends Instagram pictures. 

Mico by Neurowear - Mico frees the user from having to select songs and artists and allows users to encounter new music just by wearing the device.  The device detects brainwaves through the sensor on your forehead.  The app then automatically plays music that fits your mood.  (PS I TRIED THIS!)

Between - A social network of 2.  Between is a beautiful space where you can share all your moments only with the one that matters.

Napk-in - Yelp-like food rating service, but based around rating and sharing specific dishes/flavors/cuisines vs. restaurants and locations.

3D Printing – Cubify, Makerbot

Can’t Decide?  Crowdsource an answer – Askie or Rangl

Hater – Thumbs down!

 Oh, and I also saw Shaq at the SXSW Tradeshow: 

SXSW 2013 | Noteworthy Panel Takeaways

Can’t Buy Me Like

A guide to doing business in the “relationship era” by authors of Can’t Buy Me Like, Bob Garfield and Doug Levy

• Companies that care about something bigger than selling their products sells more of their product.  “Firms of Endearment” outperform above and beyond brands/businesses that only focus on bottom line.  Consumers admire and trust these companies for their honesty, transparency, and reliability
• Purpose is what the company believes, stands for.  Have a purpose to get out of bed in the morning… Work towards what you believe, vs. “bottom line”
• Brand purpose does not need to unique, but it does need to be overarching and TRUE
• Trust, purpose, belief, and authenticity are the fundamentals of relationship marketing; Sustainability happens when consumer brand love replaces advertising
• Brands must consider the shared space, the shared passion between brand, consumer, & community.  Identify shared passions and make that your purpose. Ex, Secret’s campaign to bring Womens’ Ski Jumping to the Olympics

Is Social Media Making Us Sick?

Study & findings: http://www.slideshare.net/AbelsonTaylor/sxsw-panel-is-social-media-making-us-sick

Is social media making us sick?  Probably not.  What social media does is amplify current life experience.  It makes both positive and negative experiences more pronounced for heavy users. The only difference between misrepresentation in social and in real life is amplification.

The Sweet Science of Virality: You Are Bad At It

Social sharing optimization from Upworthy.  Presentation: http://www.upworthy.com/you-will-not-believe-how-easy-it-is-to-make-something-go-viral?c=sxsw 

Great content + good packaging + timing = go viral.  Viral = High clicks per share and  high shares per view. You need GREAT content AND packaging.

• Frame content thru headlines - drive traffic with headline packaging.  Upworthy writes 25 headlines for every article before publishing.
• Social media headlines need a curiosity gap to get users to click through.  Stumped? Invent a word.
• Novelty gets clicks and sparks curiosity

Social is the starting point: Where is your audience? Go to them… Don’t expect them to come to your website to learn about new content

• Conversation happens in social, NOT in comments: 2k decentralized micro conversations > 1 centralized conversation on your site
• Be conversational with your content.  Engagement as utility – sharing your content says what the user wants to say/express in a more eloquent way

DON’T target your fans on Facebook. Frame your content for your fans’ friends so when your fan clicks and creates a feed mention, the 2nd order fan (their friends) will also click

The Big Power Shift in Media – Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeed

Fantastic talk – I’d highly recommend listening to it yourself! https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/the-big-power-shift-in-media

Social is becoming the new starting point for content

• “Bored at Work Network” is shifting to mobile à“Bored in Line Network.”  Buzzfeed now does 45% mobile traffic. Your content MUST work on mobile to thrive

Social is a way of thinking. There are no “tricks” to go viral. You need to shift the mindset from the point of creation

• The biggest misconception about viral: Quality is all that matters
• You need to spend 50% of your time on the idea and 50% on how to spread it. Not 95% / 5% (which is the usual way)

Content is about identity. People share things that communicate something about themselves

• Content is about touching identity. Less people may “get” something, but the ones that do are highly motivated to share

Don’t post things people are embarrassed to share : On the flip side, although people may want to read that article about a celebrity sex tape (or similar ilk), they’ll be too embarrassed to let their friends know that they did.

Shareability is not about the informational value, but about the emotional connection

• It’s not about the content it’s about how the content makes you feel and connects you to others

How can silly + serious coexist? It humanizes content, just like people aren’t either/or

• The answer is that publishing is now a Paris Cafe - you can read the paper, but sometimes you pet the cute dog.

Think social when creating content:

1. Have a heart. Think about emotions.
2. Content is about identity. Relate to your audience
3. Capture the moment. Adapt to the situation.
4. Cute animals deserve respect.
5. Humor is inherently social.  Humor is inherently social. Not the only thing. Not everything viral HAS to be funny, but it’s effective.  When you’re laughing with people, you feel closer to them.
6.  Nostalgia is social, too
7. So are human rights

Takeaways:

• Have an idea and a way to spread it
• Different content spreads on Google vs. Facebook (understand your platform)
• Stay close to what makes us human – humor, empathy, “the Paris café”
• Social is a way of thinking – no tricks – be human

Matthew Inman Keynote

Insights about life & crowdfunding from The Oatmeal: https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/matthew-inman-keynote-sxsw

Basically, a lot of this: 

SXSW 2013 | Bonus! Music Discoveries

I lucked out by being able to catch a few music performances while in Austin, my favorites being Allah-Las, Local Natives, and The Joy Formidable!