SXSW Interactive takeaways – and what it means for the media

20 Mar

I was looking for a session called “The breakout technologies of the next four years – and how media companies should use them” at last week’s South By Southwest interactive conference in Austin. But apparently it was nowhere to be found.

Fair enough. I was going to have to work harder to find the next big thing in technology. After attending sessions, watching hashtags from other sessions on Twitter and simply listening to people outside of sessions, I think I walked away from Austin with a good understanding of some new and still growing technologies.

Here are my main takeaways from my very first SXSW. And what media companies should do with those technologies right now.

Group texting

This felt like the biggest emerging technology of the week, with several companies launching or competing in the group texting space.

The concept is rather simple. Create a group. Add people to the group. Communicate with the whole group at once. Users can access the info via push messages or text messages (and even group phone calls). It works with a smartphone app or via text message. So any phone will do.

The players:

Early leaders: Grouped{in} seemed to have biggest presence at SXSW, but so far I’m finding GroupMe the best. Beluga was recently bought by Facebook, so that might be the one to jump on.

How media companies can use this: Create groups so you can easily send messages to your reporting teams. Also a great way for an overworked online department to quickly find the person nearest a computer when news breaks.

Location chat apps

These apps let you open a dialogue with people nearby at any given moment.

The players:

Early leader: Ask Around is currently available everywhere. Yobongo is only is three cities (San Fran, NY and Austin).

How media companies can use this: A good place for social listening. Find out what people are really talking about during big events and breaking news situations.

Social media analytics

Any session on social media analytics or ROI was packed at SXSW. But there are clearly more questions than answers at this point.

The best advice I heard was to figure out what you are trying to accomplish with social media and then find a way to track that. The number of followers and likes you have only begins to tell the story. As with web analytics, you need to look at multiple metrics to truly tell the story of how well you are growing.

Some good tools are emerging to help you track social media. Some have been around for awhile and some are new, but there are some options.

The players (at least a few of them that came up at SXSW):

Early leader: I have no idea. But I promise to do some more research in this space.

How media companies can use this: Start playing with these tools. See which ones give you some value. Some are free and some are paid, but even the paid ones generally give you a free trial.

Location-based services

This was the emerging technology a couple years ago, but it’s still one to watch. We’re starting to see how these apps can create value for advertisers and users. These are no longer novelty sites. There is actual opportunity to create and grow brand loyalty with your customers.

Foursquare appears to be leading the pack, but others had a large presence at SXSW.

The players:

How media companies can use this: Leave tips for users. Help your advertisers claim their locations on these networks. Create tours of your city using these services.

QR codes

They were everywhere, from business cards to every single ad in the program book. I can’t say I saw anyone scan one or heard anyone talk about one.

How media companies can use this: If you’re not in this space yet, jump in. Use one to promote your mobile sites and apps. And get your advertisers using them.

Other things to watch

Gamification of news: How can news sites offer rewards for users? Social games are purposely made to fill in the gaps of your day. Do news sites (especially mobile sites) need to be built to accomplish the same thing?

Brands are now publishers: Companies used to need media sites to get the word out. But now every brand has its own blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, Tumblr and YouTube page.

This means they don’t need that newspaper article anymore. It also means these companies need people with new skills: writers, videographers and social media editors. AKA journalists.

Comments are closed.