This past week Austin was home to the one and only SXSW festival. Comprised of three parts (interactive, film and music) it’s no wonder all the geeks and hipsters more or less shut down service to iphones and all other AT&T customers in the downtown area.
What were they doing on their phones: Connecting with their fans through countless venues of social networking sites.
A lot of the attendees of the festival are the most connected, blog savvy individuals one could ever find. They are constantly updating their Twitter accounts, posting photos to Facebook and uploading last night’s show to YouTube.
PR professionals like Ariel Hyatt say this is a brilliant way for fans to interact with bands. The accessibility, she says turns a “listener into a fanatic”.
Ultra connected bands like Choo Choo even did a tweet up with two fellow Texas State students at the convention center for a quick interview, which I caught with a picture and uploaded to TwitPic from my phone, of course. But there are bands that still prefer to stay private and disconnected, no matter how much success being social media savvy means.
It brings up an interesting point: How accessible is too accessible and when do you just become over-exposed?
I love being able to connect with my favorite artists and professionals I admire, but I don’t need to know when they’re using the restroom. It kills the mysterious appeal that made them cool and follow worthy to begin with.
There’s a fine line bands and others will have to learn to define so as not to be overly connected and accessible.
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Yeah I heard it was amazing. They mentioned it a lot on 101 X. I'd have to say that it was definitely a great opportunity to network. With all the celebrities and record executives walking around, not to mention the alcohol flooding the streets, cards were bound to switch hands.
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