Just back from a refreshing couple of days in Rome where I was attending the Marcus Evans Mobile User Generated Content and Social Networks Forum 2007. The Conference was a nice departure from the average Web 2.0 conference in that it focused solely on mobile aspects of the phenomenon. As a result there were indeed some insightful presentations on mobile successful applications and we were able to discuss the differences and similarities between traditional online and mobile space in more depth.
While I will later write about the key takeaways of the conference, the key takeaway for me personally was definitely concrete experience of how social media has the power to bring people together in real life as well. It started with a call from my ex-girlfriend’s mom asking about a logo I had done for their company some time ago. While we talked about my current interests (web 2.0, social media, etc.) she mentioned that their company had recently had a speaker, Teemu Arina, presenting to them about the subject. I quickly checked out Teemu on google, and as he was a kindred spirit who also had interesting ideas, I subscribed to his blog and Jaiku feed (a microblogging service similar to Twitter, only sleeker and cooler, which is why Finnish people are inclined towards it 
). He noticed my interest and also subscribed to my Jaikus and commented on my FLIRT model on my blog (this one).
After arriving to Rome, I naturally jaikued about it. Upon finding my presence update, Teemu commented on it, telling that he knows a prominent blogger / social media guru there and promised to arrange a meeting. He got us into contact and after the last seminar day on Friday, Robin Good picked me up on his scooter.
We had a nice discussion on everything social media, and surprisingly, he also wanted to do a video conversation with me. I’m a bit tired there and also a bit tense, this being my first video interview, so bear with me… You can of course just read the text transcripts which more or less cover the same areas.
Anyway, in the end it was a very fun and useful experience with me and Robin making friend across borders and having a nice discussion on our interests and passions and I got the insider’s guided tour to Rome. The whole thing happened thanks to our blogs and Jaiku, without which I would have missed very essential parts of my Italian experience (the St. Peter’s Church optical illusion was really nice, thanks again for that, Robin).
And yeah, I have yet to even meet Teemu, the guy who made this possible, in person. Thanks and we’ll meet soon!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Janne Savukoski // Sep 18, 2007 at 1:42 am
Hey, nice clips!
It’ll be exciting to see how the social services and technologies will enter the mobile realm, and how will it differ from the desktop world. The cell phone is clearly the ‘principal social device’, after all. (Btw., this was also noted by Om.) Could the world be ready for a mobile services megatrend? Would the mobile infrastructure be ready for such an episode? Actually, now come to think of it, it would be truly something.
I guess Jaiku is pretty much in the prime spot in this regard, perhaps even leading the pack—which is just awesome, of course. Another interesting development are the mobile IM (messenger) services (/ software? serviceware?), which may perhaps have even more mass-potential. We’ll see how they get adopted. But, I really wish there’s no stopping now.
And, first and foremost, congrats on your new position! Clearly it couldn’t be any better regarding the mobile social media.
ps. that very dynamic hairstyle is just bananas.
2 Teemu Arina // Sep 21, 2007 at 8:39 am
My pleasure
I was originally connected with Robin in a similar fashion thanks to Jay Cross. The funny part was that our schedules slipped and I ended up at Robin’s friends, where I was supposed to wait for Robin to arrive later. I chatted there for like 3-4 hours until they found out I had never yet met Robin in person
Communication technology, especially a mix of them can be very powerful. I didn’t have to make an effort to find this post thanks to Technorati, for example.
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