Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: microblogging

A Million Hooked on Twitter, But Will SXSW Mojo Return?

Howard Reingold put up an interesting list of reasons why he’s hooked on Twitter. My friend David Weinberger, another a-lister, then added a few more. I’ll add one they forgot: because it makes people feel important, that they’re part of something cool, the latest fad.Twitterlogogt_2

Microblogging-phenom Twitter took off like a rocket last year at the SXSW conference because the a-listers grabbed onto it, and then everybody who wanted to be like the a-listers, or see what they were talking about, jumped on.

The Twitter hype resulting from last year’s SXSW was almost deafening. I know many people tried it and later dropped it — but, as that same post says, people have discovered, after all the hype, that it’s actually a pretty cool way of staying in touch with your own circle of friends. (Include me in that camp — follow me on Twitter here.) And here’s the key: you can do it without having to answer. You got it — it’s a lurker’s dream come true!

But what will happen with Twitter at this year’s SXSW?  Here’s a post that makes a case for Twitter hitting a million users by March, or possibly even sooner, before SXSW even gets underway. That’s a whole lot more than a-listers, folks. Twitter’s come a heck of a long way.

But will it still be "the thing to do" at this year’s event?  Will all the cool kids still be using it so heavily?  Or will some new, even-more-cool tool overshadow it?  The beat goes on. I’ve already gotten one email pitch from some company saying they think they can be the Twitter of this year’s SXSW.  I say good luck. 

Twitter, whether it has SXSW mojo this year or not, seems to be crossing into mainstream use.  Now if they can only figure out a way to make money, huh?

DEMO ’08 – Second Day Coverage

It’s all on Twitter — 38 more companies who pitched yesterday.  It was another amazing, rapid-fire blast of innovation, both morning and afternoon.  I tried to capture the essence of each pitch in the length of a single tweet, including the domain of each (without the .com).  That was challenging — as I told Walt Mossberg yesterday when he leaned over and asked, "What are you Twittering?"  Abbreviations became the order of the day, too.

Microblogging seems made for such an event, now that I’ve tried it, at least if you want to cover all 77 companies (which I was determined to do).  That and in some general photos, which I have up on Flickr. (Thankfully, I didn’t try to push myself to photograph every single presenter!)  Let me know what you think.  Lots more available at DEMO.com, of course.  What companies jump out at you?