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Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > March > 13 > Entry

Panel: Try Making Yourself More Interesting

By Addie Broyles | Friday, March 13, 2009, 06:05 PM

Panelists: DL Byron (Publisher, Bike Hugger), Amit Gupta (Founder, Photojojo), Brian Oberkirch (Small Good Thing), Kristina Halvorson (Pres, Brain Traffic)

The gist: Web companies and social media promote a culture of superficiality, where people are numbers and not human beings and the goal of a project becomes how can you make money rather than how can you impact others in your community. DL Bryon is building a community with bikes as a center of creativity. Amit Gupta got tired of working by himself in his Manhattan apartment, so he created a Jelly coworking group, which is now happening in dozens of cities around the world.

Some of the panelists are frustrated by what’s happening with social media because people are too focused on the number of followers and friends and not the relationships and good you are doing. Rather than hyping new interfaces (Facebook) and touting numbers (Twitter followers), focus on real life change, events and people.

Brian Oberkirch has these tips: 1) Give side projects some front and center time. 2) Share. Leave money on the table. Generate more value than you capture. Make things good for the people who use your service.

Kristina Halvorson says that traditional advertising, not marketing, is fading. It’s now a two-way street, and advertising isn’t engaging that way. Marketing, however, will be around as long as there are good products worth knowing about.

Quotes: “Ask yourself, ‘Would you care if this things went away?’ If the answer if no, something is wrong. … Do things that matter. (Gimmicky marketing tactics like the Skittles homepage) are beneath us. They don’t draw on the things that make us useful. Lift your game. Do epic (stuff).” — Brian Oberkirch

Takeaways: Talk to people like they are humans beings, and people are not numbers. Be brave about doing what you love and what you are passionate about. Don’t be distracted by the numbers; it gets in the way of experimentation and keeps you focused on the short term, not the long term.