Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > July > 31
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Social Media Camp and the Mashable.com party
World collided.
Yesterday, a Social Media Camp (more on what that means in a bit) was held downtown at the Thistle Cafe. I only began hearing this was happening last week, but I knew one of the organizers was Erica O’ Grady, whom I’d met briefly in Houston at Caroline Collective.
When I started hearing how many people would be there with whom I connect on Twitter (as well as several Statesman folks who were going), I managed to find a way to spend the day there. Usually a mid-week conference that takes place in the middle of the week and lasts all day isn’t something I’m able to attend.
I’m glad I did. Social Media Camp was set up like Bar Camp: attendees show up and decide what the contents of the mini-conference will be. Since everyone involved is probably an expert in some area or other, the topics of discussion are decided early in the day.
What this means is that some people arrive ready to present, with a PowerPoint, even, as the folks who use Twitter at Dell did. Others (like our small Statesman crew) were winging it.
But because the topic of the entire day was social media tools, everyone there was inclined to meet others, participate and connect.
I won’t go into the individual tracks, but I’ll say that the turnout was pretty amazing: more than 200 people showed up at 10 a.m. and braved some major Wi-Fi problems to meet and greet. Other people trickled in throughout the day.
There were plenty of “take-aways,” as they’re called, but what most impressed me was that there is a real movement to change the world for the better among some of the top speakers at the event, not just to use Twitter, Facebook and other social nets as marketing tools.
The second half of Austin’s Massive Day of Social Media was a Buffalo Billiards party sponsored by Mashable.com. More than 400 people were crammed into the upper floor of the pool hall (it was called, appropriately, the SummerMash). it was crowded and hot, but drinks were free and when I left at 9, the crowd had only grown larger.
It began to get a little surreal for me: so many people I’ve written about or communicated with on Twitter or over e-mail were suddenly there in person. World collided, like a dream where all your past friends and family show up in one place. Putting faces to names and online IDs was a bit thrilling, but so was catching up with people I usually only type to.
It took me a half hour to leave, obligated as I felt to say goodnight to everyone I knew who was there. This morning, I’ve been overloaded with new Twitter friend requests and messages.
Maybe it was just me, but it felt like one of those magical, transformative nights that people will still be talking about, at least in this sometimes insular online world, for a while. Many drinks were consumed, many business cards and “@” identities exchanged, and from what I hear, things got a little wild after I left.
I told O’ Grady that we could stand to have more events like this in Austin and I think a lot of people are thinking the same thing.
Here are a few photos I shot last night:
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