Tweeting at Conferences – Pitfalls & Positives
Sue Unerman’s recent Media Week Comment “Conference tweets left the chair and speakers lagging behind” had me tittering a little. There has been a fabulous trend recently for using Twitter Fall and HashTags at conferences to show live tweets on stage and solicit questions from the audience but, as Sue points out from a recent Guardian conference, it is fraught with danger as it’s open to abuse.
That said, if people are Tweeting from an event it does add a fascinating dynamic to the proceedings. Twitter has provided a way for folks to express themselves in an open and concise way, so why not let that sentiment be part of the debate.
We are getting more used to coping with more than one channel of information so concentrating on what’s being said on stage and the Tweets, if in context, isn’t too difficult and can create a holistic view of the thoughts of the audience in real time.
Obviously it can be gamed but perpetrators will just get outed and made to feel silly as it’s not in the spirit of social media. I do agree with Sue that it’s fair to have a monitor on stage so the panel can see what Tweets are flooding in!
The above picture is of Biz Stone on stage at the Cannes Lions last month, but as a co-founder of Twitter no one would dare to poke fun at him!
