Social Media

How cutting edge geolocation can change everything

AUSTIN, Texas--These days, smartphones seem like they're everywhere. And with their wide array of built-in sensors, those devices--iPhone, Androids, Windows Phones, and others--can provide us with more and more data about where we are and what's around us than ever before.

And yet, the devices sometimes still seem like they're caught in a very 1.0 era--they can tell us where we are, but that information may not be useful in any way beyond helping us get to where we're going.

But what if your iPhone could automatically give you your shopping list when you arrive … Read more

Japan earthquake anniversary: Digital media lessons we've learned

I missed a chance to visit Spain last week, but this isn't a lament about that blown opportunity. Instead, it's about what I've learned since the devastating Japan earthquake on March 11, 2012. Let me explain.

I had been asked to make a presentation at Japan: One Year Later, a conference in Barcelona organized by Casa Asia and the Japan Foundation. I couldn't attend in person, so the organizer, Marta Ballada (@mballada) asked if I would consider participating in some digital fashion. Skype was the obvious answer, but the time difference would have meant my speaking … Read more

Jane McGonigal shows how games make us resilient

AUSTIN, Texas--If you want to lose weight or overcome the effects of asthma, Jane McGonigal thinks she has a solution you might not have considered: a game.

At the South by Southwest festival here this week, the world-famous game designer formally launched her latest project, SuperBetter, a project that is designed to help players attack any of a wide variety of personal challenges.

It's not a quick fix. McGonigal and her team built the game with a sense of reality: nothing important happens overnight. But commit to taking on challenges, and a game like SuperBetter can help just about … Read more

Highlight vs. Glancee at SXSW: Rolling with the serendipity

AUSTIN, Texas--When Chris Connolly sat down in his seat on the "Nerd Bird," the nonstop flight here from Oakland, Calif., to get to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, he had no idea that a new social discovery app was about to play a role in boosting his business prospects.

Connolly, the head of design at Foodspotting, had recently signed up for Highlight, a tool that helps identify potential new social matches by virtue of proximity and shared Facebook friends and interests. And now, as he settled in for the four-hour flight, his seatmate leaned over and said, &… Read more

Glancee takes up arms in the SXSW people discovery app wars

AUSTIN, Texas--Walking around the halls at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival here this week, it seems that almost everyone is looking at their phones. But while plenty are reading the latest tweets, checking in on Foursquare, or updating their friends through GroupMe, there's a whole new category of services that has captured people's attention.

Known as people discovery apps, these tools are helping SXSW attendees make new connections. Tied to users' locations, the apps identify where they are and look for matches with others nearby, mainly by identifying common friends or interests on Facebook.

Leading the pack … Read more

A really short guide to Twitter

For a couple of years now, I've been a judge on the Shorty Awards, which I like to say honor excellence--such as it is--in social media. My fellow judges and I ( see the list; the teenage version of me would have been delighted to be on a list with MC Hammer and Alyssa Milano) are sifting through the nominations right now, ahead of the March 26 ceremony in New York City (see info on tickets and free live Webcast).

The awards are the brainchild of Greg Galant (@gregory) and Lee Semel (@semel), who also created MuckRack, the best guide … Read more

The battle for SXSW is Highlight's to lose

Highlight, a passive location-sharing app, is poised to emerge as the big winner of South by Southwest, thanks to a wave of positive media attention. But will it be able to live up to expectations?

The SXSW music, film, and interactive-media festival is one of the most important and prominent launching pads for tech startups. The confab hosts one of the largest concentrations of techies and early adopters in the world (more than 20,000 will attend this year's festival), making it fertile ground for an app to quickly gain traction and go viral.

Don't underestimate the "… Read more

How to endure SXSW--and live to tell about it

First things first. Take a deep breath. And now repeat the process.

OK, you're off to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest Interactive, a five-day bacchanalia of panels, keynotes, parties, barbeque feasts, beer-soaked networking, and maybe even a little sleep. Just remember, if you want to be taken seriously there, don't call it South by Southwest. It's "South-by," or, in written form, "SXSW."

If you've never been before, it's OK to be stressed about what you've gotten yourself into. I've been six times, and I'm totally overwhelmed. And … Read more

Twitter and Facebook bloom on iPad with Biologic

There's a lot of ways to visualize your Twitter and Facebook feeds, but no one's ever gone down to the cellular level to do so.

Until now, that is. This morning, San Francisco startup Bloom released its latest iPad app, Biologic, which aims to bring an all-new metaphor to looking at the flow of information coming in from leading social networks.

Last year, Bloom--which was funded by Betaworks, SV Angel, and Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield, and which was founded by veterans of Stamen Design and frogdesign--released its first app, Planetary. That app brought a galactic approach to users' … Read more