The Lava Row FlipCam came out from the depths of our office to make an appearance at last week’s Des Moines Tweetup at el Bait Shop. Apple held an iPhone 4 press conference earlier that day, offering up an apology for the functional issues many users had encountered in getting (and keeping) reception. Naturally, we wondered if our Des Moines tweeps would consider buying an iPhone again. Here’s what they said.

Would you consider buying an iPhone? Did Apple do enough to solve the problems with the iPhone 4? How should they win back the loyalty of their customers? Share your thoughts below.

On Wednesday night I gave my State of social media in 2010 presentation to Omaha’s Social Media Club and posted three of my predictions about the SM space that morning.

Below are the remaining seven, plus the full presentation. (I used the Prezi platform and loved it. Are you using it yet?)

Prediction #4: Newspapers are changing shape, fast. Publications, over the next couple of years, will shift more and more resources into digital and social platforms. Printing on paper just isn’t a sustainable business model. Journalists themselves are changing shape, too – becoming content curators in addition to creators. Institutional news brands will start licensing content from other (more upstart) sources, similar to what is already happening with Silicon Prairie News and the Omaha World Herald. The “paywall” problem will likely be solved by those who impact search – Google and Facebook.

Prediction #5: TV will spread across many platforms and devices. Television content is breaking away fast from cable companies and the box that sits on top of a dresser. iTunes, Netflix, YouTube and Hulu are already emerging as the new “channels” for delivering content – and you’ll receive it a number of ways: tablet devices, mobile phones, laptops, gaming consoles and that large screen television in the basement.

Prediction #6: Cars and planes will become mobile devices with amazing social apps. As soon as we have Wi-fi in of our modes of transportation, all sorts of new opportunities open up. Imagine if cars and planes were synced to our social networking IDs – we’d have Foursquare overlays (where your friends like to eat) on GPS navigation systems. And seat-back touchscreens in planes that synced with LinkedIn and told you who else is on board in your industry.

Prediction #7: All websites will be social. Technology like Google SideWiki is forcing all websites, everywhere, to be social – whether their creators like it or not. Facebook will probably create a similar (and more mainstream) social overlay / annotation system. The days of websites as static “destinations” are over.

Prediction #8: Twitter will evolve away from a social network into a mainstream publishing platform for media and business. I believe this will mirror what happened with blogging platforms – originally adopted by individuals wanting to express their thoughts and connect with others, but over time became more useful as business tools.

Prediction #9: Social CRM is about to become a big industry. CRM databases with email addresses, phone numbers and snail mail addresses aren’t enough anymore – social networking IDs will be added to this mix. Look for LinkedIn and Salesforce.com to become major players in this game.

Prediction #10: Location-based networks will ad layers of metadata to IRL situations. Sitting down at a restaurant, checking in on Foursquare and seeing that there are five other people there and getting curious about who they are is just the beginning. The word “serendipity” gets thrown around a lot to describe this – I’d like to call it very efficient serendipity. We’ll leave behind lots of context (digital graffiti) at real-world locations using these tools.

Okay, that’s it! What do you agree with? Disagree with? Share your thoughts below.

UPDATE, 7/7: Silicon Prairie News posted a great recap here, plus some video.

As many of you know, I decided to rock SXSW this year… literally, by attending both the SXSW Interactive and Music conferences. I remember Andy Brudtkuhl jokingly saying before I left for Austin, “You’re going to Interactive AND Music? Is that even humanly possible?” Obviously, Andy knows from experience that SXSW is more than just a gathering of badge-sporting geeks debating the next big social platform. I am here to tell you that, yes – it is possible, and I highly recommend it.

I think Foursquare co-founder Crowley put it best when he referred to South by Southwest Interactive as “spring break for nerds.”  That said, it truly is a showcase for the brightest minds in technology and a great and rare opportunity to network with industry leaders and learn about the latest Internet innovations. Please forgive me if after 9 days and 10 nights of conferencing, networking, partying and rocking, my memories of the Interactive portion of the festival have grown a little foggy, but luckily I took copious notes, so let’s get straight to the Interactive highlights.

So V.I.P.
I was thrilled to find out during SXSW registration check-in that my Interactive and Music badges had somehow magically been combined to form a Platinum badge, which granted me access to the Music, Film and Interactive conferences. I tried to take the honest route, but the volunteers at registration recommended that I just “go with it”… and so I became a SXSW rockstar. Having a platinum badge was like having an all-access backstage pass at your favorite concert, except I had full access to the entire SXSW festival. Admittedly, I didn’t take full advantage of the film portion of the festival, but I did attend Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop with Nathan, which was well worth having film access in itself. I’m still kicking myself for not going to see the debut of KICK-ASS after hearing so much buzz about it, but it hits theaters April 16th, so we’ll all have to go check it out.

Panels / Sessions

Devo, The Internet, and You panel, Flickr: andysternberg

As a sophomore at SXSW Interactive, I made it my goal to not attend any social media 101 panels, with the exception of SXSW Sars – a core conversation session about how to survive SXSW. I felt it was important to attend this panel after Andy questioned my chances of survival. The session featured a Whole Foods nutritionist and Jay Goldman of Rypple and some of his closest friends (all SXSW veterans) sharing their tips for how to stay healthy and avoid hangovers.  I found the panel to be very helpful and even got to contribute my own advice about Emergen-C and saline nasal spray being part of my personal SXSW survival kit.

The rest of the panels I attended were very unique and niche. One of my favorite panels was Moon2.0: The Outer Limits of Lunar Exploration moderated by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Veronica McGregor (@MarsPhoenix), which addressed the topic of space exploration as a social experience and highlighted ways people can get involved, as well as introduced a few astronauts who are live tweeting from space: @Astro_Mike, @Astro_Soichi, and @Astro_Jeff. Another panel I thoroughly enjoyed was Black Blogging Rockstars, which featured pioneers and thought-leaders of the  Black blogosphere, @jbrotherlove, Gina (@BWBConference), Deanna (@clutchmagazine) and Maurice (@mauricecherry), providing helpful advice on how to take your blog from a hobby to a monetized platform to deliver your message and become a Black Blogging Rockstar.

There was a lot of chatter in 2009 about Augmented Reality (AR), and many of us were trying to figure out how we could use this technological innovation to develop campaigns and applications that actually engage consumers, which is why I had to attend a panel called Augmented Reality – Gimmicky Trend or Market-Ready Technology. This panel explored the promise of AR and showed examples of how AR has been used to add real-world value beyond entertainment and marketing, such as the Lego virtual box, USPS box simulator and Google Sky Map for Androids. My absolute favorite panel during the Interactive conference was Devo,The Internet and You, featuring Devo, representatives of Warner Brothers Records and Devo’s advertising agency, Mother LA, showcasing how Devo Inc. are using the internet and technology to reach out to a new audience to test Devo’s music and brand and spread the word about De-evolution.

Reuniting with SXSW friends
Another highlight of my trip was reuniting with old friends like Megan Smith (@mightymegasaur), Community Manager for Ovation TV in LA, Greg Swan (@gregswan), Social Marketing Strategist @webershandwick, Jeremy Tanner (@penguin), and Hans Veldhuizen (@hansveld). I met Megan, Jeremy and Hans for the first time last year at SXSW and was tickled to see them all again this year. In addition to running into old friends, it was great to see so many familiar faces from the Midwest, including our friends at Silicon Prairie for throwing a kick-ass party at Lanai Lounge. Midwest definitely represented this year at SXSW, and I can only imagine that our presence will continue to grow with so many amazing tech startups on the rise.

P.S. I also saw this giant rodent a.k.a. Capybara being walked on a leash near the convention center. His name is Caplin Rous, and he has his own Twitter profile.

SXSW Music and Media Conference

As Interactive came to a close and Music invaded Austin, I noticed a sudden shift in the crowd – Macbook-sporting, sweet t-shirt-wearing geeks with cool sneakers were being replaced by skinny jeans and an odor that can only be described as rockstar sweat. This was my first year attending the SXSW Music and Media Conference, a promise I kept to myself after leaving Austin last year pouting, as the venues started to fill with the sweet sound of music and the streets transformed from a Mardi Gras-like hipster parade to complete chaos. And now for the highlights.

Panels / Sessions
I was curious to see how the music business panels would differ from the Interactive panels. I found that a lot of the hot topics were very similar to the technology conversations, addressing the past, present and future of music business, with emphasis on the evolution of the tools that bands are using to communicate with their fans and how the rise of the Internet is affecting the music industry. Some of my favorite panels were Trends in Taking Your Music to Market, 1,000 Digital Tools & Strategies: Which 3 Work? , TV Resurrects the Radio Star, and Music Journalism in a Post-print Era.

SXXpress passes
This was the first year that SXSW decided to try SXXpress passes, a new feature for the SXSW Film and Music festivals that allows badge-holders to bypass the lines at theater and music venues to go to the front of the line. The catch: the SXXpress post opened daily at 10am, and there were a limited number of passes for each venue. Jill Haverkamp and I decided that it was absolutely necessary to take advantage of this feature as to not miss the bands on our must-see list. We first tried the passes on March 18 at Mowawk to see Holy F*ck and The XX, where we bypassed a line of 100 non-badge-holders and another lined of 100 badge-holders and walked right into the venue. After this experience we knew that SXXpresses were the greatest thing ever and worth the sacrifice of sleep.

Music, music and more music
I am still in disbelief of the sheer volume of great bands that I got to see in a 4-day period. My absolute favorite shows were Holy F*ck, The xx, Broken Social Scene and Sleigh Bells. Other shows I was lucky enough to attend included Year Long Disaster, Modern Skirts, Salem, JJ, Amaral, Mozella, Scorpion Child, Andrew W.K., F*cked Up, Gwar, Neon Indian, Japandroids, Pictureplane, The Very Best and Freddie Gibbs. My biggest takeaway at SXSW music: less panels – more live music, always get a SXXpress pass for a show you don’t want to miss, and try to attend as many parties as possible that have multiple bands playing that you like vs. standing in line for individual shows.

That’s it, friends. If you need me, I’ll be recovering for the next two weeks to make up for the damage I have inflicted on my body during my 10-day stint at SXSW 2010.

Want to learn more about any of the above Interactive topics? Let me know which panel you think sounds most interesting in the comments, and I’ll write an entire blog post about it.

Back to reality.

After six nights and seven days of soaking up the South by Southwest Interactive and Film festivals in Austin, Texas, I’ve returned to Des Moines missing a pair of sunglasses, a large amount of cash, and my voice.

Those of you who know me well know that I’m very enthusiastic about the event, so there’s no need to write further about how much I love it. Let’s get straight to the highlights. (Hillary will be posting her notes soon, once she’s back from the music portion.)

It’s great to be home, but a part of me always wishes I could stay one more week. Seven days just isn’t enough. Okay, highlights!

Meeting Peeps
The sheer volume of new people you meet is incredible. Over the last week I honed my answer to “What do you do?” from “social media strategy and consulting” to just “Internet.” What really excites me is meeting the people I’ve followed on Twitter or blogs for some time and finally get the chance to say hello to. For instance: Scott Raymond, co-founder and CTO at Gowalla. (They threw an amazing party at The Belmont.) Baratunde Thurston, Web Editor at The Onion and founder of the #whiskeyfriday movement on Twitter. Natalie Villalobos from a small start-up called Google – we talked about many things and tech wasn’t one of them (love that). And getting a warm hug from Gary Vaynerchuk never, ever gets old.

Getting to Speak
This is my fifth year attending SXSW but my first year speaking. From year one (back in 2006) this has been a personal goal for me. I was humbled to moderate the panel “The State of Music Blogs in 2010″ with smarties Tessa Horehled, Greg Swan, Nicole Poulos and Jesse Ervin. I was excited and nervous, but everything went smooth. The panel’s Twitter back-channel conversation can be found here: #stateofmusicblogs. Can’t wait to do it again!

The Silicon Prairie Party
This party (which Lava Row was honored to sponsor) went from packed to insane in a matter of seconds when Gary Vaynerchuk showed up for his unannounced #secretwineparty. I thought the Lanai Lounge venue was going to collapse at one point, taking the entire Internet and a lot of wine down with it. Gives a new meaning to #CrushIt, right? But the building’s structural integrity held up, and everyone had a blast. Big thanks to the Silicon Prairie crew for putting this together!

Flickr: mager

The Weather
We’ve had a brutal winter in Iowa. You can’t beat sunny skies and 74 degrees, eating chips and salsa on a patio with a cold Shiner.

Panels / Sessions
Admittedly, I attended fewer sessions this year partly due to the prep for our panel and run-ins with people who are important to me, but I also stumbled across many “fringe” events (ones not officially associated with SXSW). As the festival gets bigger and bigger, some of the more interesting talks spill out into the edges. Jay Baer has a great post about what he likes about the periphery.

I really enjoyed the presentations “Dude, This Is My Car!”, a discussion of future automobiles as software platforms, and danah boyd‘s keynote about social networks and evolving privacy norms.

Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop
Loved, loved, loved this. The acting workshop is an annual tradition at SXSW and I was stoked to finally get to see it – hooray for having a film badge! Jeffrey brought in two actors he hadn’t met before, had them read a scene, shattered it, made them repeat, and so on. He had both actors in tears within minutes, but this was done in a nurturing, almost parental, method. Probably the most heart-warming SXSW moment since Frank Warren’s PostSecret keynote in 2008.

Location-Based Social Networks
2010 was definitely the year of location-based social networks at SXSW. In years previous, people kept track of where their friends were at using the #SXSW hashtag on Twitter, but that became unmanageable with approximately 15,000 registered attendees. Foursquare seemed to have the critical mass, but Gowalla was winning on speed and usability. I unlocked a few SXSW-specific Foursquare badges, such as:

I can’t wait for next year.

What were your South by Southwest 2010 highlights? Chime in below!

On December 3rd I tweeted this:

Amazed by those who shoot themselves (and their biz) in the foot, over and over again. Relationships and reputation come first, people.

Today I wanted to expand upon this thought, as it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot in 2009. I’ve seen this happen countless times, regardless of the individual’s age, experience level and profession.

Reputation and relationships are the building blocks of any business, and if you can’t remember these fundamentals, you are absolutely doomed.

Here’s a not-so-hypothetical situation we came across earlier in the month. Hillary and I were in a meeting with a prospective client, and they specifically mentioned a few disparaging Twitter posts that a local businessperson had made about them months earlier. The company remembered every detail, down to the specifics of this person’s Twitter avatar, and one of their team members stated “doesn’t this person realize they might be in a position to do business with us some day?”

Translation: Every person you meet and every relationship you forge is a potential business opportunity, or at the very least, a connection that can benefit you down the road. Today, with self-publishing tools like Twitter and blogs, our voices have amplifiers with unlimited reach. So, if you’re in business for yourself or publicly representing someone else’s business, use these tools wisely. Everyone you haven’t met yet is now potentially your audience. And, oh yeah, Google remembers everything.

Just to be clear, I think it’s awesome that social technology platforms have given consumers a louder voice and direct contact with companies, bypassing the old gatekeepers. You have every right to expect good service, and you have every right to gripe online if you got ripped off or treated poorly. But this post isn’t about the tools, nor is it aimed at the Pizza Hut customer who just got a cold pizza. This is about being a grown-up, professional businessperson and acting like one.

Your reputation is with you for the long haul. Consider that the next time you feel the urge to call someone out or ignite a flame war online. Today’s social tools give us immediacy, but also they tend to disrupt our self control. Think about the tone of your post — would you say it the same way if you were face-to-face with that person or company in real life? What’s the end result you’re expecting by making the post? Can it be achieved by picking up the phone or firing off an email and respectfully asking “Hey, what’s going on with this? I have some concerns.”

Again, you have the tools and freedoms to create whatever digital assets you want. These assets form the foundation (positive or negative) of your online presence, which will inevitably be seen by potential employers and clients. How will you be perceived? The answer is firmly within your control.

I’ve spent most of this post talking about digital relationships, but of course your IRL ones matter, too. If you’re rude, obnoxious, disrespectful and generally unlikeable in person, other human beings won’t want to do business or even interact with you. Plain and simple. Your competitors will pick up on this immediately and eat your lunch.

Look, I’m not saying you need to censor yourself or neuter your personality. I’m talking about using common sense when dealing with other people, online and off. We’ve all made these mistakes. I’ve made them. Be helpful, decent, and keep those doors open instead of closed.

Image credit: Despair.com

Last Friday I discovered that Twitter’s new retweet feature had been activated in my account. Much like Lists, they are slowly rolling this out to all users, so be patient and you’ll discover it soon. For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a quick video description and howto on the new feature.

What are your thoughts on the new retweet functionality? What interesting things could you build with this being integrated into the Twitter API?

On August 18th, I tweeted this:

Today, in a move that established me as a modern-day Nostradamus, Facebook activated this exact feature. But in all seriousness, this is something Facebook has been contemplating / working on for months, and many users have been clamoring for it. Basically, the popular social network has turned on the ability for you to “tag” your friends in your status updates, simply by typing the “@” symbol and then choosing from an auto-fill drop-down menu. (Pages, events and groups can also be tagged.)

Seems like a simple add-on, right? So what are the long-term implications of this?

First of all, this feature is very Twitter-like. When Twitter came on the scene a few years back, mentioning friends via @replies and effortlessly creating links to them was one of the more appealing features. Over time, some lazy people (myself included) have set up our Twitter feed to update our Facebook status, negating the need to update in both places. This small change may now encourage many of us to update our status natively in the Facebook platform. It might also be appealing to those who “dabbled” in Twitter but never found any real value there.

Translation: Facebook wants you to think Facebook first, other networks second.

Status tagging is just one of many recent tweaks the social network has made to incrementally erode away Twitter’s core user base, including Facebook Lite (a stripped-down, bare-bones, Twitter-like version of the interface) and the ability to publish Page updates to a Twitter feed. (With links back to your content on Facebook, of course.) See the trend here? Facebook first.

Now, a logical person could make the case that no matter how many features Facebook adds, it can’t duplicate the Twitter experience because there are clear differences in the groups of friends you keep on each network. In other words, the quality of connections make the network.

I 100% agree with this, but I’m writing this post from the perspective of Facebook, which is a business, and that business is dedicated to going Scorched Earth on Twitter until there’s nothing left. Make no mistake about it, these social networks are fierce competitors. Remember that Facebook attempted to acquire Twitter back in 2008, believing that status updates were vital to the future of information sharing. Twitter spurned that offer, and since then Facebook bought Friendfeed, another (lesser-known) micro-sharing service, which was definitely a shot across Twitter’s bow.

Facebook and Twitter are at war over your social graph. Where do you stand? Will these recent changes change your social networking activity in the near future, one way or the other? What stand do you think Twitter can make to combat this? Please leave your thoughts below, I’m excited to hear all of your perspectives.