Happy hug your cat day! #hugyourcatday #catsofinstagram #bluetortie #bluetortoiseshell
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
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.
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
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
Social is a way of thinking. There are no “tricks” to go viral. You need to shift the mindset from the point of creation
Content is about identity. People share things that communicate something about themselves
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
How can silly + serious coexist? It humanizes content, just like people aren’t either/or
Think social when creating content:
Takeaways:
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!

(via teendotcom)
my first professional vine…
Exclusive! The @onedirection boys did a dance in our studio today. #1D #Magic vine.co/v/b52IJOMtEFI
— Teen (@teen) January 26, 2013
Tweeting with @Nasa!
Shut Up! Cartoons picked for AdWeek’s Hot List 2012: Digital Winners #nbd
We should know better than an algorithm what those who like us actually like. It may well be that it’s a passive relationship. Maybe they just want to see the scores at the end of every quarter in a Mavs game. Maybe they want to know what show is playing right now on AXS TV. No one expects them to like, comment or share any of this. It’s just an information source. And can I just say that its really weird when Mavs end-of-quarter scores show up out of order. That’s how smart the algorithm is. — Sums up my current feelings about #facebook pretty nicely… via Facebook Needs To Accept That It’s Just A Time Waster
Alloy Digital Acquires The Escapist, Moves Deeper Into Gaming World Media company looks to extend its games reach on YouTube — Alloy Digital Acquires The Escapist, Moves Deeper Into Gaming World | Adweek