I went to SXSW and all I got was…

…some really awesome t-shirts actually.

So, a lot of people have asked me how the trip was. Short answer: great! We had a blast at the SXSW conference and frankly can't wait to go next year. I'm pretty sure Dave and I will make the trip over annually. Will we go in an RV? Ask me next February, because only the reward of seeing my family again is getting me back into this thing after each gas/food stop. I think it is a great way to travel, and a really cost effective alternative to how much a hotel would cost for 6 days. But this thing is loud, bumpy and I think my spleen is in a different location than it was a week ago. We have equated it with putting your head between a running washer and dryer for 12 hours a day.

We didn't mix much with folks at RV parks, they all seem to do their own thing. We wanted to talk to a few but only saw them when we passed near the showers or the laundry. But all were quick with a greeting and you knew there was a culture there that you are just visiting being a renter. I think if I were a seasoned RV veteran and saw our billboard of a rental – I'd steer clear knowing they wont be around long and probably just kids on spring break.

So what of social media? How did it fare? Well here is a rundown of the tools we used and what I thought of them having admittedly thrown myself headfirst into this:

- – - –

Twitter: A

Works as advertised, really. What is there not to like. Like any platform where people can have a voice you have people who have something very notable to add to the conversation, and toolbags that exist to hear themselves talk. But as a tool for our needs, perfect.

Flickr: A

Worked flawlessly and with Sara's photography being a real high point to our coverage of this trip, showcased things nicely. My only issue was trying to add tags in bulk. Never found that.

Brightkite: B+

Can't say enough good things about Brightkite and the iphone app. Made is super simple to update where we are all the time for the homepage of the site. I would have liked to have had the option to let it auto-update my location. I get the security concern, but it would be nice to elect to have it track me. Latitude from google isn't out yet for the iphone which would have been used otherwise.

Facebook: C

I hate Facebook. I think we had some updates carrying over to our Facebook page, but I didn't care. Did it work though? Got me.

Vimeo: C

This one was tough because I fell in love with the Vimeo interface and the quality of video. I refused to switch to another service when it wasn't displaying anything but the first video I uploaded for a while. Only looked like I had one. Finally it just seemed to work when I added about six more. Also – for a simply 8 min video the audio/video tracks got off sync. This seems like a simple frame drop thing to fix – but still we have a video up that is off sync.

UStream: B-

Much the opposite experience of Vimeo. Hated the interface, the controls, pretty much everything about it. Then it failed on us continually when we tried to live feed, live chat. Then it went down for a good portion of a day. So, of course I badmouthed them on twitter and on video when it did work. Within a day Ustream was following us on twitter and it was working like a champ. Go figure.

Delicious: A

Worked like a champ. Very easy.

- – - – -

Next time I would probably limit the number of things we have to update. Use one video solution for example. This was a grab bag of tools we wanted to serve for a equal number of purposes. We learned a lot from this experience both at the show and through this experiment. While we may or may not follow a trip this way again – this was a great way to test out how these tools can affect a user's experience with your brand message. Because at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

Speak up.

Comments