amplified 09
Had a great afternoon yesterday at Amplified 09, a wonderfully chaotic unconference held at Tiger Tiger on Haymarket. Topics up for discussion covered everything from the future of the book, through unwritten conventions of social media platforms, through the all-pervasive discussion of Twitter to encouraging local initiatives and building social media communities for wine drinkers. Some of my favourite moments were:
- Debating the pros and cons of open-source baked beans versus tightly-managed and globalised supply chains;
- Hearing a lot of chat about the unwritten rules of Twitter, and then finding everyone strangely reluctant to articulate what they thought these were;
- Discovering a fantastic swell of interest in a proposed series of social entertainment networking events (more on this to follow as it evolves);
- Debating the evolution of linguistic registers within online media with a marketing consultant and part-time philologist;
- Catching up with all my favourite London social media peeps;
And, above all, feeling incredibly excited about the level of buzz and activity around social media in London at the moment. Despite doom, gloom, insecurity and social upheaval, anxieties about climate change and recession, there was a feeling of urgency and possibility, and a real sense that social media communities have something to contribute to the evolution of culture as we move on from the Great Crash of 2008. Very much looking forward to the next event!
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