I am really enjoying Podcamp Philly this year. Besides getting a chance to reconnect with Whitney Hoffman of LD Podcast, Mark and Jennifer from the culinary media network, Chris Penn from the Financial Aid Podcast, Mark Blevis, Matthew Ebel, (and a host of others that are now mad at me for not calling them out directly.)
In my session on “Twitter: Are we all just drinking the Kool Aid?” we explored the strawman notion that Twitter, even with about 2MM users, is only an early adopter tool that isn’t really worth the time people and brands are investing in it. Through discussion (with a very Twitter-heavy crowd) we helped several non-twitter users discover the potential value they’d find using Twitter. We heard stories of people finding answers, getting brand feedback, and we even had 2 people who had courted, and gotten engaged over Twitter.
In my discussion on “What Old Media can teach New Media” (which I usually run with Dean Landsman like we did at Social Media Camp NY), I had a great question and insight – As we discussed how one media tends not to replace the next one, but to cause it to change (as TV did to radio), someone asked about Enterprise 2.0. He noted that he’s trying to get people to adopt some of the new Enterprise 2.0 tech, but that they’re not replacing, say, Email, as the way people share information. We discussed how companies like Lotus added SameTime and MS has enterprise IM because of this. We discussed a few ways about how to get people to understand this “one doesn’t replace the other” situation and how to introduce things slowly and get adoption.
Finally, from Twitter: @KaraLaFleur: @howardgr talking about how web teams are the unrecognized rockstsrs if ad firms – & how that needs to change based on how pol use media.
Yes, we discussed how, if you’re going to talk Social Media with Advertisers, you have to know how they buy traditional media, because you may be teaching them a new paradigm (“ROI=Return on Influence vs. Reach and Frequency buy, for example). Speak to them in their language, and help them understand.
The event was well run, and the crowd was good as well. Thanks, Philly.