SXSW Interactive: debate, discussion, frenetic networking, Twitter saturation, internet celebs, and happy chaos as technology and culture intersected in Austin, Texas.

At SXSW, as Mike Butcher noted in TechCrunch UK, “everybody knows your Twitter name”, and Twitter was essential to find anyone or anything.

On literally thousands of laptops and iPhones, everyone seemed to have their Twitter app of choice (mostly Tweetdeck from my observations) running constantly. In fact the vast swarms of geeks with iPhones overloaded the AT&T network until complaints prompted them to add network capacity.

The #sxsw hashtag became useless, so Digital Mission attendees kept track of each other using #digitalmission. At the unofficial “unpanel” we spontaneously convened, we “crowd sauced” the hashtag #kebab, with a live Twitter backchannel projected on screen.

Six to Start (who picked up a couple of awards for We Tell Stories – congrats guys!) ran an excellent panel on ARG’s and bringing TV to the web with the BBC, which also projected a Twitter backchannel, though this was overshadowed by Clay Shirky asking one of the first questions.

Twitter monetisation became an ongoing topic/joke amongst panel members from start to finish, with Guy Kawasaki opening the closing keynote interview by asking “free” advocate and Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson what he would do if he were Twitter. Anderson was long on philosophy, short on detail: “How do you create the version of the product that people will pay for without crippling the base product?… Charge companies somehow, and build from there.”

Some of the more interesting points came in the session afterwards, moderated by Doc Searls. Anderson observed that “catalysing and curating conversation is a big part of my job. My card says Editor-in-Chief but I’m really a Community Manager.”

The irrepressible Gary Vaynerchuk was equal parts entertaining and inspiring, and although it felt more like therapy than a keynote, I agree with everything he said.

Of the more practical sessions, Kathy Sierra and Cliff Atkinson impressed in Presenting Straight to the Brain. Learning how to “seduce the brain” involves recognising that our brains are wired from caveman days, and  are usually in epic battle with our minds. In Designing for the Wisdom of Crowds, Flickr and Threadless were looked at in depth, as great examples of successful crowdsourcing businesses.

The Mobile Social Networking panel was, bizarrely, missing anyone from Fire Eagle, and seemed to get distracted by definitions and privacy issues until Martin May from Brightkite announced that “Monetisation is kind of boring,” and finally started talking about mobile social networking!

Despite my plans the most interesting conversations have been serendipitous. It’s amazing who you bump into randomly in the hallways and parties – here are a few snaps of some of the people I hung out with, bumped into or tracked down via Twitter…

After some great meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area, including a visit to Silicon Valley, it’s time to head to Austin, Texas, for SXSW Interactive.

There are too many sessions I’m hoping to attend to list here, but the I’m especially looking forward to the panels on Making Whuffie: Raising Social Capital in Online Communities, Social Patterns and Antipatterns, Curiosity Marketing and Digital Urbanites. Bruce Sterlng and Clay Shirky should also be interesting.

We Are Social is attending as a member of the UK Trade & Investment’s Digital Mission to SXSW, so you will find me at the Great British Breakfast, and Britbash. I’m looking forward to the 32bit party which our friends at Get Satisfaction are co-hosting with Scott Beale. The Bigg Digg Shindigg looks promising, as does the The TechSet Meets The Rat Pack party.

I wasn’t in London when techfluff.tv came to record us, so I’m hoping to catch up with them somewhere in Austin, possibly at the Digital Mission stand in the tradeshow area, or during the SXSW Block Party.

I may try to rendezvous with the RVIP Lounge, “a karaoke party on wheels,” and I’ll will also be keeping an eye out for the hat, though Running w/ SXSWissors could be a bit dangerous after a few drinks.

Perhaps optimistically I’m hoping to shoot some pool with Chris Brogan at Pool 2.0 so if anyone’s up for a game, please get in touch.

Here’s the Upcoming list of events that I am working, though I’m obviously not going to get to them all, and the number of SXSW scheduling tools I’ve come across is impressive, if confusing. The best advice seems to be to go with the flow a bit, so I’m hoping for tips and updates from the likes of @sxswguide, @sxswparty, @sxswtwits, and the @digitalmission crew.

I’ll be posting images to my flickr stream as often as possible (experimenting with Tarpipes to get things auto-tagged and auto-tweeted) to keep you jealous entertained.

And if you can’t make it along to #swsw, you could always join the #notatsxsw crew on Twitter.

Nathan
@deliciousmedia

We’re off to Texas! Along with 34 other innovative UK companies, we’re really proud to be selected from over 100 entries as part of the Digital Mission to the SXSWi Conference in Austin, Texas.

As Mike Butcher (also one of the judges) puts it in Techcrunch, the Digital Mission is “a kind of trade mission, but with more sex appeal” to SXSWi, “now a byword for emerging media.”

Chinwag are organising the Digital Mission for UK Trade & Investment, with the support of sponsors Sun Startup Essentials, Winston & Strawn and Core Objects. Thanks to them, and the judges: Mike Butcher, Techcrunch UK Editor; Herb Kim, Codeworks CEO; and Sarbjit Bakhshi, Head of Information & Technology Group, UKTI.

It’s great news to start the year with – we’re already looking forward to heading to SXSWi and making the most of this great opportunity. See y’all in Texas!