Inmates take over the SXSW asylum
Boy, talk about timing! I just finished publishing this post and its musings about technology adoption etc., etc., when I ran across this post on A Wider Net about attendees basically hijacking a keynote interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the SXSW media and music conference. Holy cannoli–check out the video.
Here’s the short form: Basically, the audience wasn’t happy with the way the interview was going, and instead of walking out, they took over. Here’s Rob’s description:
- Fueled by Twittr, the mobile phone networked community of people constantly twittering (text messaging meets a chat room) about what they’re doing at any given time, the crowd started to build up a hearty amount of disdain over the content on stage. Soon all of Twittr was dominated with conversations about this train wreck of an interview. Then, the worst of social media took over - the crowd simply started shouting out questions and took over the interview.
Frankly, I don’t think this was a bad thing, though I’m sure the journalist doing the interview would disagree. She was asking dumb, self-aggrandizing questions, and that the crowd took her to task for it, well, just think of it as a real-time evaluation, combined with a chance to salvage the keynote and give people what they wanted. (Some people point out that Zucherberg is a notoriously difficult interview and she did the best she could. In that case, perhaps he wasn’t the best choice for an interview-format keynote, eh?).
Was it rude? Oh yeah. Did it hurt the interviewer’s feelings? Probably. But this is just a high-tech version of the tomato-throwing that’s been going on as long as acts have been on a stage, IMHO. It’s just that the reach is longer now that it extends beyond the auditorium and into cyberspace.
All I can say is: The buyers are no longer willing to put up with goods they deem unworthy of their time and attention when it comes to conferences, and they may not be shy about letting the speaker know it. Caveat orator.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Sue,
Take a look at Sarah Lacy’s response:
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/03/11/the-last-lacyzuckerberg-post/
There’s no remorse for her not knowing her audience. She may have conducted a good interview for an executive audience, but she failed to make it relevant for developers.
Can you imagine being one of the event organizers standing in the room and watching chaos emerge?
March 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Sue-
Have you listened to the last TWIT podcast. Was interesting to hear them talking about this interview. I tried to listen to the whole interview from the podcast but either Lacy doesnt get it or she gets it and now we have heard her name. I had no idea who she was before this. Maybe a tad of Paris Hilton/Brittney marketing. Mark Z sure is a boring speaker in general.
Twitter is a crazy communication tool and it made its mark at the last SWSW. It was an easy MOB mentality takeover. I think its refreshing that audiences can fight back.. as long as its not at one of my shows .
Great post Sue.
Mike
March 12th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
For bad and for good I think attendees’ real time use of social media tools (twitter, blogging, photo and video streaming, group voting, etc.) is going to continue to expand. Look for it to happen in more and more non geeky meetings as i suggest here today
http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/2008/03/12/when-a-conference-audience-gets-ugly-in-live-time/#more-528
Leave a Comment
Advertisement
Subscribe to Face2Face
To receive a daily e-mail digest of face2face posts:
Contact Sue
Recent Posts
Calendar
Categories
Archives
Your Account