Archive for the 'Social Media' Category

Recap: Social Media Week 2012

Published at February 22, 2012 in Digital Media, Social Media and Toronto. 0 Comments

Last week was Social Media Week in cities around the world, most notably New York, Toronto, Tokyo, London, Paris and San Francisco. It is a celebration of all things Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, and much more. This year the festivities in Toronto included over 50 events with 1000 plus attendees.

The launch event for SMW Toronto, included a Valentine’s edition of Tweetgasm complete with Dirty Bingo and secret valentines. Talks, panels, and networking events were held all over Toronto at locations diverse as the AGO, CSI Annex, and The Office Pub.

I had the pleasure of being on co-presenting and being apart of panel at The Remix Project. The discussion centered around ways in which non-profits can use social media to grow exposure, reach and increase capital fundraising. We had a lively discussion around this topic with panelists bringing experience from both the non-profit and commercial worlds. The twitter hashtag #SMWTORemix was a trending topic in Toronto during the course of the discussion.

One of the best events was held at the CSI Annex and hosted by My City Lives. Twitter Teatime as it was called had demos of some new apps using the Twitter API and even skyped in developers from Twitter. Another great talk was at the Spoke Club and was presented by Strategic Storytellers. This talk focused on how by telling your clients stories you can create meaningful content for your brand.

All in all it was a great week. Definitely, a chance for people to learn about Social Media and for Digital and Social Media Professionals to get out and learn from each other.

See pictures from Tweetgasm on the Gladstone Hotel’s Facebook Page

geneva.b ‘Bus Fare’ Single Release and Birthday Bash at Trane Studio

Published at January 3, 2012 in Music, Social Media and Toronto. 0 Comments

The lovely Ms. geneva.b and myself are hosting a Single Release and Birthday Bash at Trane Studio this Thurs. Jan. 5th. If you are in Toronto don’t miss this night of music, friends, special guests and maybe even a few social media surprises.

To get a little taste of geneva.b check out the Behind the Scenes Video from the ‘Bus Fare’ Photoshoot.

 

Behind the Scenes of Photoshoot for Bus Fare from Geneva B on Vimeo.

Bus Fare is now available on iTunes.

Google + is Here.

Published at July 2, 2011 in Digital Media and Social Media. 0 Comments

Google+ Welcome page.

I got my google+ invite yesterday. I spent maybe five minutes on it when I first signed up and another five on it today. I’m curious to see how the service will develop.
The problem is that Facebook already has so many users. These users are heavily invested  in the service. This tweet from @Kat says it all:

Tweet from @Kat on Google+

I have to say I agree with her. Google probably hopes that Google+ will do what Facebook did to Myspace, which was sold again this past week. However, that hope underestimates Facebook. FB has shown the ability to adapt and expand in ways Myspace never did. The one place Google+ might beat FB is in the mobile space as the service is already customized for mobile and to be honest FB is crap on both my phone and my ipad.

I just don’t know when I will find the time to experiment with Google+. In addition, I have invested so much time into Facebook and Twitter, not to mention Linkedin, Tumblr, and Soundcloud. That being said I already spend less time on FB mostly because as much as I like stalking my friend’s profiles, I enjoy conversing and sharing on Twitter.

For now, I’ll put my money on FB. Let’s talk in six month? I could easily be proven wrong.

NXNE

Published at June 20, 2011 in Digital Media, Music, Social Media and Toronto. 0 Comments

This past week was the annual North by Northeast Music Festival in Toronto. Music showcases were held all over the city from the 13th until 19th. There was also a film festival and an interactive conference. This is Canada’s condensed version of the famous South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festivals in Austin, TX.

The Pharcyde performing at North by Northeast, June 19th

On Sunday June 19th, the hip-hop group, The Pharcyde performed in Yonge-Dundas Sq. Other big performances on previous nights throughout the city were K.D. Lange and Devo. These headliners performed free shows that were open to the public. One of the great things about Toronto is all of the festivals. These festivals almost always include several public events.

NXNE is unique in that it combines Music, Interactive and Film in one week. Being a shorter festival then SXSW which lasts three weeks, allows attendees to experience all three at the same time.

The NXNE site had several interactive components from a Blackberry app to live blogging during the interactive conference. The twitter feed was also fairly informative and interesting. It would be nice to see interactivity brought into the actual performances or at the venues. The large screen in Dundas Sq. could have had a text-to-screen or twitter balloons projected between performances.

In addition, live streaming could be integrated more into the festivals events. Ustream and other services now have apps that allow streaming from iPhones. Adding video from pre-designated attendees to screens at the venues could add a playful user-generated feel. Other innovative additions to the festival could be introducing game mechanics or even simply including a Foursquare badge.

NXNE  is great opportunity for music and interactivity to come together and create new experiences.  It will be exciting to see how the festival grows and adapts in the coming years.

Up and coming: Tumblr and SoundCloud

Published at May 24, 2011 in Digital Media and Social Media. 3 Comments

I’ll be honest I just joined both these communities. And to be even more honest, I am just starting to get into the groove of using them . This tends to happen when I join a new network. I join, let it sit for a few weeks or months, do a little research, and then decide whether or not to go for it. (Note to self–>I should probably apply this methodology to my dating life.)

So now, I’m going for both of these, hard! It seems like I can’t stop talking about either of them. (I feel a bit like an infatuated teeny bopper who’s a little too awkward to talk to her senior crush.)  In the case of Soundcloud, I am seeing increased use with musicians. With tumblr, I see a young vibrant group of users. Odd Future or OFWGKTA, the LA based punk rap collective,  almost solely uses the network to post pics from their tour, connect with eachother and with fans.

Just looking at Tumblr’s staff tumblelog shows how much growth the company has seen. However, the biggest signs that these are taking off is the youth demographic and the prevalence among musicians i.e. Myspace in the beginning. The several of the  musicians I work with love Soundcloud. Also, several people over 35 who work in digital media seem slightly unimpressed (esp. by Soundcloud) which is another sign that these are about blast off.

Lessons have been learned in the past few years by observing the failures of Myspace and successes of Facebook and Twitter.  These new networks both have clean easy to use interfaces. They focus primarily on what people want to do on Social Networks, SHARE MEDIA as opposed to sharing every detail of your personal life. And most importantly they have been designed with mobile in mind! Tumblr looks great on your phone and makes sharing from your mobile device simple. Soundcloud encourages its users to go out and record the sounds around them. The music site is also embracing tumblr with great tumble-logs from the company and from its Community Evangelist, David Noel.

It’s going to be an exciting few months for these two as the grow and develop.

(Full disclosure: Soundcloud is hiring a Community Manager, I would love to work for them in any capacity!  I had been planning this post before I saw the job posting yesterday. The timing was serendipitous and you know what they say ‘great minds think alike.’)