If you haven't heard, the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference series commences this week in Austin, Texas. These week-long conferences and festivals bring together music, film and media minds alike in a unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. The Interactive portion of this event gives its participants a chance to not only shape the direction in which social media is headed, but puts into perspective the vast impact we as a generation have the ability to make by utilizing these channels.
Working in a field engrossed in social media, it is impossible to avoid the chatter surrounding an event that has the digital world doing what they do best - buzzing, digging, blogging and tweeting. This conference has been around for twenty three years, and the festival that many in the marketing and PR profession regard as a social media conference is much more than that, merging digital media with music and film elements. In some respects, it is a lot like a modern day Woodstock - drawing massive crowds, and bringing people together to enjoy a common passion and genuine desire to impact the world around them. It is a stimulating conference that is more than deserving of the buzz it creates.
It's amazing to realize how drastically the Interactive conference at this festival, which was started in 1994, has changed since its inception. Thousands of bloggers, consumers, and industry professionals come together from all over the world to learn, develop, teach and discuss topics that didn't even exist when the conference was first created; although these have quickly evolved in only a few short years. With keynote speakers such as Twitter CEO, Even Williams, and discussion panels on topics ranging from "The Broke Diaries: Using Blogs and Twitter to Live Cheaply" to "Crime Scene: Digital Identity Theft," this festival brings together thought-leaders, bright minds and new talent who are the driving force behind this rapid evolution of the social media world.
When you read the many Tweets and blog posts full of passion and enthusiasm surrounding this event, it becomes even easier to connect SXSW with this idea of it as a contemporary Woodstock - not just based on what it was, but on what it meant and what it stood for. Thanks to the abundant social media tools being - quite literally - at the fingertips of the current generation, we too have the opportunity to be involved in something significant and historic, and we take part in it every day.
The over arching movement and development of the digital world, furthered by events such as SXSW, is a defining moment in this generation. Social media is a powerful tool that gives everyone a voice and a platform to be heard. Gen Y-ers have the ability to make the same noise and impact as their Baby Boomer parents; we just have the capability of doing it with a few clicks and typed words. It's both exciting and rewarding to be a part of a generation that not only has the chance to experience the wonderful world of social media, but to appreciate and utilize this platform as a way to shape and directly affect marketers, brands and the world around us.
Working in a field where "Tweeting" is a common verb as well as a daily task, and updating client Facebook pages is second nature, it's easy to become wrapped up and lose sight of the bigger picture of how the world around us has changed and the vastness of what these social media tools have brought to us. I encourage all of you out there who are still skeptical of why anyone would care about what you have to say on Twitter, or what difference voicing your opinion of a product makes, to jump in and join the conversation. You will be surprised by the wealth of information you will learn, and may even find the voice you never knew you had. And at the very least, years down the road you can look back and tell the next generation - "yep, I was a part of that."
