SXSWi is growing to be one of the most anticipated parts of the annual event known as South by Southwest. In addition to being a networker’s dream, the interactive portion of the gathering serves as a platform where cutting edge technology officially comes to life.
In fact, Twitter owes a lot of its early buzz to this very element. While we’re on the subject of social innovation, let’s take a look at some of the most exciting developments in social media to come out of this year’s SXSWi.
TV Going Social
Lately, much has been made about how consumers are dropping their cable and satellite TV packages in favor of viewing their favorite programming options over the internet. Seems like this is the perfect setup for the emergence of social TV. This is a concept that gained traction at last year’s event and picked up even more steam this time around.
Not only was social TV a hot topic tossed around many a panel discussion, there was said to be genuine interest from television powerhouses such as Bravo, CNN, and The Travel Channel. From the integration of more Facebook and Twitter features to analytics solutions such as Trendrr 2.0., the collision of these two media platforms could be what the paid TV industry needs to maintain relevance.
Social Discovery on the Rise
One of the most talked about developments to come out of SXSWi was the rise of social discovery. The interactive part of the annual event saw startups such as Banjo, Glancee, and Sonar introduce applications designed to help users connect with new people in the social space. Highlight, an app developed by startup Math Camp Inc., arguably made the biggest splash in this field.
Social discovery is all about connecting users with whom they already share some type of connection, or like interests. And while the concept is a bit unnerving from a privacy aspect, the marketing potential is tremendous.
Pinterest: The Next Big Thing
Another major development to come out of SWSXi was none other than the increased spotlight on smoking hot new social network Pinterest. Making a name from allowing users to “pin” interesting items on vision board-like web pages, this newcomer has been turning heads like nobody’s business.
Pinterest did an excellent job of using the event to further spread its rapidly growing awareness and remind the world why it is the social network to watch in 2012. It even took home a coveted SXSW Interactive Award for all the buzz.
Summary
As far as innovation in the social space goes, SWSXi can be considered a grand success. While not every startup, app, or service is guaranteed to make it big, we were introduced to some concepts that could have some pretty huge implications in what is already one of the digital age’s busiest channels.
Hopefully social marketers kept up with the coverage because it looks like we’re all in for an interesting ride.
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