Sunday, February 20, 2011

Social Media Week: “Defend the Tweet”

“There is something about a perfectly crafted tweet.” --JWT’s Chief Creative Innovation Officer, James Cooper

Recently I went to New York to attend Social Media Week--for free.

What I originally expected to be just another boring speaker series filled with out-of-touch professionals turned out to be one of the best networking and learning events I have experienced.

I observed a lively series of practitioner panels on topics like YouTube, Foursquare and Twitter and how to use them effectively in both personal and professional settings. The best part: every one of them got it!

From 50-year-old marketing veterans to 18-year-old entrepreneurs, everyone was there to learn and discuss how social media influences and changes us and our society. At one point in the evening, I found myself speaking with a marketing student at NYU, a director of digital strategy and a freelance website designer from Boston.

At the end of the day I attended the panel discussion for “Defend the Tweet.” The idea was to get five of the 25 most influential tweeters to literally defend their controversial tweets against a slew of questions and criticisms from the participating audience. Here are a few points I took away from the panel:

• Twitter is all about who you follow
• Twitter is a creative not restrictive outlet
• Information should come to you- the idea of destination web visits are over

Social Media Week is held biannually, every February and September, and is predominantly free thanks to corporate sponsorships. So if you are looking for more than just a humdrum networking event and want to move into a collaborative learning environment that welcomes new ideas and differing points of view, register to attend Social Media Week’s New York City event in September 2011.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Jacob DeChant.

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