ad:tech 2009: Twitter

Like all social media, new technologies and innovations
have allowed people to connect online in new ways.

Over the two days at ad:tech 2009 in Sydney I said Twitter more times than I said fuck. Which is rare.  But seriously, it was the topic on everyone’s mind, and at everyone’s finger tips.  I was lucky enough to be invited to open and moderate the final session of day 1, dedicated to the topic: The Relevance of Twitter.

I was joined by Gavin Heaton, Mike Hickinbotham and Laurel Papworth. We received great feedback about our interactive panel.

Transcript below.

How many of you remember this question? (Tweet – thanks Kate)

Twitter. What is it? What the fuck is it? Really.

Twitter has given communities of people 140 characters to tell their story. Or share somebody elses.  It’s given individuals and brands alike to leverage the power of collective insight from large networks of influential people.

To date, we’ve sent over 1.3 billion tweets. And about hundred more in this slide.  Australia is continuing to see incredible growth and visits to the site are up over 500%.

Why.

Like all social media, new technologies and innovations have allowed people to connect online in new ways. Time and time again, Twitter has proven its ability to quickly spread a message between communities of people.  It’s been the growth of these satellite communities which has proven very influential.  As these communities grow it allows for greater reach of message and value.

The most important factor is of course the people behinds the medium, the network. Because twitter brings people together – through their stories.

The Twitter session was very packed and generally very solid – audience enjoyed it and of all the panels today I think it will be the one people remember… Jye was a really good engaging moderator and  Laurel Papworth was very polished speaker..

- Ben Sheperd, National Director – Digital, Maxus