Are You a “Digital Something”? Recap from #Dsnyc

On Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to attend Digital Somethings #3  at the Roger Smith Hotel (@RSHotel).  This event was a pannel discussion on “2010 and Beyond” with Jenna Wortham (@JennyDeluxe) of NY Times, Adam Ostrow (@AdamOstrow) of Mashable, and  Dan Patterson (@DanPatterson) of ABC Radio.  It was a great event full of useful information.

Here are some key take aways:

• Social media is being used to reach a global audience and build strong communities
• Twitter is used more frequently than Facebook, but with a a less intimate audience
• It is okay to pitch via facebook or twitter as long as you follow up
• Questioning whether geo-locating is a useful tool or “creepy”
• Foursquare is a useful tool, but be careful when choosing your friends
• Social Media platforms that will survive are companies that are able to port your social graph to other services and platforms
• Twitter provides unique, real time information from a variety of resources
• CES recap: 3D T.V.- not necessary, hard to multi-task; ereaders- we value holding a book, would rather use a netbook, but still pretty cool
• Smartphones are building brands through loyalty.
• There will always be a cooler phone, it is the companies with customer service that will keep their clients

Looking for more information?  Here is a short recap:

The event began with a short discussion on the past few years of social media.  Dan focused most of this discussion on best practices and how the past few years have been defined in a “140 characters of less.”  Adam and Jenny focused on the converging platforms that will allow for people to connect in multiple places.  One great point was the fact that social media boils down the social human nature to make information comprehensive for a global audience.

The conversation then moved to a twitter vs. facebook show down.  All three panelists agree that twitter is meant for quick information and conversation with a large audience.  Facebook is for intimate relationships- friends, family, etc.  Another interesting point was that they all check their twitter more frequently than facebook.  Twitter is considered the quickest way to get unique information and resources from a broad audience.

We then moved to the growing sensation Foursquare and geo-location platforms.  The panelists expressed appreciation for the fact that Foursquare takes action to login and post where you are unlike twitters passive placement.  One of the main points discussed was that facebook has the best platform to integrate a geo-location tool, but at the end of the day it is “creepy” to have people know where you are all the time. The main question then became where is the line for maintaining intimacy?

So where is the future of social media heading? During this discussion the panelists redirected their points to the cost of switching social media platforms. The platforms that will survive and be successful are the ones that will be able to port your social graphs to other services and platforms.  Twitter/Facebook/Foursquare and others need to provide useful access to useful information and get it out to our global audience.

One of the last topics was a CES 2010 recap.  Obviously 3D televisions were the talk of the night, but how realistic is actually owning and using them?  Other topics of CES were smart phones, and e-readers.  With smartphones the discussion went to how to build your brand and gain loyalty.  This loyalty will keep your customers with you.  We also discussed how to make “your mom” want to use a smart phone.  The last product discussed was the e-readers.  This product will redefine print and advertising.  This won’t be popular until we can make them affordable, durable and accessible.

Check out more “Digital Somethings” events here.

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