SXSW: Austin's Tech Fest

This week, I decided to blog about Austin's Tech Fest. Jenna Wortham of The New York Times, wrote, "What I'm Looking For at Austin's Tech Fest." But when I hear, South by Southwest, (SXSW) it used to be that only music and art came to mind. But with the hands on experience that I have witnessed in going into the blogoshpere, I have come to realize that technology can be a form of art, (blogging, in my experience) so it is only appropriate for SXSW to be house a "spring break for bloggers."

So, what should these spring breakers look forward to in this year's SXSW? While it might be difficult to top the introduction of Twitter, this year organizers have established a tool called MySXSW. Wortham writes:

This year, SXSW rolled out its own version of a custom networking and
schedule-building tool called MySXSW. It lets attendees keep track of the weeks
presentations and happy hours...

This is one, of many new innovations that will be introduced at this years SXSW.

Ever since this class started, it seems as if though anything that is affiliated with the web, and blogging, is inescapable. But at the same time, I feel that I have reached the inevitable. It won't be long now until everyone begins a blog of their own, similar to holding an account at social networking sites.

So, to all Spring Break Bloggers, have a safe and enjoyable week!

The Perks of PR 2.0

This weeks reading is from Breakenridge's 12th chapter titled, The Pro's Use of PR 2.o. The chapter emphasizes the purpose of blogging, its perks and a corporations success via blogs. In the chapter Ynema Mangum, TalkBMC's executive producer, reflects her opinion on the purpose of blogs. Mangum feels that:

...blogs have a place in a social media community that is made up of a number of
things: wikis, knowledge bases, forums, user groups, blogs, podcasts, videos,
discussion threads, and so on (210).

It is quite evident that the social media community has adopted blogs as a successful medium for communication.

I think that blogs have a promising future. After all, (according to Breakenridge) if it weren't for blogs, then Mark Skrobola would have most definitely had a tough time exposing Art eXposed in the market via MySpace blogs. In addition, it is quite obvious to notice how blogging and social media are changing the way business communicate (210). Blogs improve a corporations communication via costumer feedback, podcasts have the potential to reach a broader audience, and wikis are community based which allow a community to be in charge of the information that is to be presented.

When Will Facebook Stop Growing?

I found an article on Facebook in NYTimes.com, and even though I told myself I wouldn't blog about facebook any longer, I just couldn't resist.

It seems as if though facebook is the outbreak of our time. College students were the primary target of this social networking site, gradually opening its doors to high school students and now open to anyone. But when will it reach it's peak? It is hard to say when each week, millions globally make an account.

The article is titled, When Everyone's a Friend, Is Anything Private? by Randall Stross. In it, Stross provides statistics, one of which is:

Many over-30 graybeards have yet to sign up, so Facebook has a chance for
astonishing growth. Each week, a million new members are added in the United
States and five million globally; the 30-and-older group is its fastest-growing
demographic.

There are three groups, according to Stross, that advertisers like to target, one of which is the "30-and-older" group which is the fastest growing.

I don't know what pulls users to facebook, but what ever it is, it is working quite well. And advertisers are greatly benefiting from the popularity of this social networking site. So, will facebook ever reach a peak? And, what is it about the site that pulls in millions of users?

A Journalists Nightmare?

For this weeks reaction to the reading, I decided to spark a conversation on Brian Solis' Ebook, The Art and Science of Blogger Relation. Although it is a rather long reading, I found that The New Rules for Breaking News is quite interesting because the section gave me a different perspective of the blogospher. Even though I have been blogging for about 8 weeks already, I still am learning on how this part of the cyber world functions. And now I, a new perspective is derived from a journalists point of view.

In this section of his Ebook, Solis provides his opinion regarding the transition of journalism to blogging. Solis writes:

For example, one of the primary reasons that we launch most tech companies and
products in “Beta” these days is because we want feedback directly from the
people who would jump in early and give honest feedback as well as sharing the
information with their friends and associates. And, if a product is in Beta,
most traditional media wouldn’t yet pay attention. However, those journalists
who do feel a greater sense of competition with bloggers in order to be one of
the first to share new, new information, will make it known through their
coverage.

Here, Solis provides an insight regarding a new rule for PR, how blogging functions and says why bloggers might be a competition for journalists.

I think journalists should be aware of bloggers, but I don't think they should live in fear, not yet anyway. We are transition into a the cyber world quite fast and journalists should take the transition into consideration. Journalists should also be able to process feedback, and should want to hear it from their readers, this is what might be hurting them. I don't think bloggers are deliberately in competition with journalists, but I do think that journalists should adopt the culture of bloggers if they respect their reputation.