Anyone on Twitter these past few days might have been bombarded by messages tagged with #sxsw. I know I was. South by Southwest is no stranger to public relations. SXSW, or “South-by” as it’s known, is all about getting noticed. Here is a quick guide to what all the fuss was about these past five days.
The venerable and much loved cultural festival started with music as its roots. Created in 1987 when 700 musicians and record executives converged looking to tap into the city of Austin’s unique musical heritage and see (or sign) bands the organizers had corralled from all across America.
In 1994 SXSW moved away from an exclusive focus on music with the addition of film and interactive conference programming. For Maggie Fox, CEO of the Social Media Group, says SXSW Interactive is like “spring break for geeks.”
This is exactly why in 2007 Twitter decided to launch its now ubiquitous service at the festival. People like Fox would be there.
Early adopters are to technology start ups what street fashion is to fashion designers – a muse, a sounding board, a reality check.
What are the early adopters seeing and hearing about this year? Here three big trends highlighted at this years SXSW Interactive that I think might make a broader impact on the web:
Location, Location, Location: all the rage with the SXSW crew this year was checking in and being checked out using Foursquare and Gowalla. Online consensus from Canucks attending is that Foursquare is the application to watch. It’s broadly about more than just one application however. Twitter launched their geolocation features at SXSW. And Facebook choose the second last day to start a roll out of a truly geeky – and potentially location based feature - QR codes.
Money, Money, Money: PayPal is making major moves in the online payment space. Recently announcing PayPalX (essentially an application programming index) will now communicate with IBMs cloud services and at SXSW announcing a a new iPhone application allowing easy transfer of money via literal bumping of technology together. ZoomPass in Canada is another recent entry into a similar market.
Toronto start ups like Community Lend and Freshbooks are also at the forefront of at distinct trend away from relying on big banks and major software providers for financial management. Look to Wesabe.com and thus far US only (but Canadian owned) Mint.com for more clues on how banks and credit institutions are being sidelined by new ideas in money management.
Format, Format, Format: The SXSW format itself was the topic of much internet banter. The SXSW organizers estimate 17,000 in attendance officially at the festival and this included players from the worlds biggest brands. This isn’t the crowd that attended SXSW when it first started, and as one online wag put it, “you do have to wonder where the cool conference no one knows about is now?” SXSW music festival works on a scalable format, music concerts work small and large. Attendees regularly reported this years keynotes – the largest events at SXSW – were not as engaging as in previous years. In particular, the Twitter “interview” with founder @ev was subject to many in the hall simply abandoning the talk. The size and scope of the festival is precisely what attracts some people – while others in the interactive community are surely seeking out less frenetic experience. And, as SXSW gains a reputation for being “spring break for geeks”, will managers and business owners ask their staff to find a less exciting trade show to attend in these austere times?
For more on SXSW
Friend and colleague Jaime Woo has been reporting from SXSW for the Torontoist. Take a look at his dispatches here. And, review his travel Twitter account for a neat inside view on the festival.
And, if you thought the SXSW madness was over for this year, think again. The music festival has just started; slightly smaller and less connected than the interactive side the classic SXSW experience creates just as much buzz in music circles – and like everything that too is spilling into our daily social channels.
So, were you at SXSW? How is my “from afar” assessment? Thinking about going next year? Comment below.
