Living Vicariously Through Hash Tags

Today’s post comes from Victor Gaxiola, Social Media Subject Matter Expert at Actiance.

This week representatives from Team Actiance have descended on Orlando, Florida to participate in Lotusphere- IBM Connect 2013, including Kailash Ambwani, Sarah Carter, and Cinthia Shields. Although I am not at the conference myself, I have had the privilege of experiencing it vicariously through them and their activities through their tweets and the IBM connect hash tag #IBMConnect. By monitoring the collective tweets of participants, I’ve been able to experience the sessions, parties, speakers and conversations that have been taking place.  (Although, enjoying a drink via Twitter is not the same experience).

This certainly isn’t the first time that I’ve used hash tags to experience events from afar. For the past three years I’ve lived vicariously through the participants tweeting from the South by Southwest conference in Austin. This year I finally get to participate in person and will be using hash tag #SXSW to share my observations and experience of the events surrounding the conference.  Since I have not been able to attend SXSW in person before, I feel a certain responsibility in sharing with those outside of the event who will be living the event vicariously through me and others-  much like I have in years past.

Amplification

For speakers and attendees the use of a conference hash tag serves additional purposes. For one they allow them to communicate their own thoughts and feelings of the conference in real time, and monitor how people are reacting and experiencing the event. Speakers and organizers also have the added benefit of having scribes in the audience that are eager to amplify the conversations and messages that are being shared by conference attendees to a much larger and wider audience that is monitoring the event online. As a result, speakers that are presenting on specific subject matter to room of attendees can easily multiply the number of listeners and participants by the viral sharing of information to every connection or follower that a person has in the audience through twitter. As a speaker I am never dissuaded or insulted when I see folks Tweeting away the information I am sharing. If the idea is to share information and ideas, then getting the message beyond the walls of the event only increases the number of people who receive the message. It may also serve the purpose of increasing my own fan base and opportunities for new connections. 100 people in the room tweeting to 100 followers adds up quickly, do the math.

Twitter Walls

To encourage participation, conference organizers are aware of the importance of displaying and promoting the hash tag of the event to attendees as it is happening. At the Janney Montgomery Scott Elite FA Conference in Philadelphia earlier this month, the conference experimented with a Twitter wall in their Genius Lounge that was displaying tweets using the #Elite13 hash tag.  Having the hash tag and accompanying tweets scroll in plain view of conference participants provided an additional incentive to participate- and likely drove social behavior. I think everyone likes to see their name in lights- even on a Twitter wall at a conference.   People would actually stand in front of the wall and tweet, waiting for it to display on the screen in front of them.

#Elite13 Wall

Trending Topics

To find out what the most current and trending topics are in the country or specific geographic region you can go directly to twitter and look at trending topics to see what conversations are currently taking place. In addition there are a number of different tools online that will provide you a glimpse of the most popular hash tags that are available. Trendsmap allows you to see local trending hashtags on a map of the country that allows you to zoom in on specific regions and cities. It’s fun to look at too.  Another site which is fun is Twubs that serves as a directory of popular hashtags. Participants can plug in multiple hash tags and participate in the conversations. Finally, my favorite hash tag tool is TweetChat. By logging into TweetChat using my Twitter credentials, I can participate in any conversation by adding the hash tag and then following along. The bonus, is that any tweet, or re-tweet from the site will automatically add the hash tag to the post.

Two Screens

Additional validation for the power of hash tags has been validated by their use by networks to promote televisions shows and sporting events.   These days a hash tag can easily be found as a program begins or is mentioned as part of the broadcast.  Network programmers and marketers know that with the proliferation of smart phones and tablets, the idea of entertainment being digested via two screens is becoming more prevalent.   I myself have begun to experience this more and more and the act of watching television has become less passive and more active as I participate in the conversations surrounding the unfolding events on TV.   This was especially true with sporting events, and we in the Bay Area have been lucky with the performance of our San Francisco Giants, and now the Superbowl bound 49ers.  I anticipate that this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans will set a new record of online participation via tweets around the events of the game.

So although I’m not participating at the IBM Connect 2013 in person this year, Team Actiance is on the scene using hashtag #IBMConnect and sharing with us the people they are meeting, the events they are attending, and more importantly the things they are learning that help us all.