Dave Hamilton at The Mac Observer offers an interesting example of self-organizing audiences, as facilitated by social networking technology. While attending the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, he noticed that the Twitter on-line service was guiding the real-time attendance and decision-making of conference attendees:
More than once I found myself in a boring session, only to check Twitter, find others who felt the same way and had moved to other, better, sessions. Instead of wasting an hour in a go-nowhere session, I was able to get up, move, and catch 90% of another session that was much more in tune with my interests. Additionally, Twitter chatter allowed mobile users to report — in real time — which parties were good, which parties were too crowded, and where people were going instead.
For those who don’t know the system, Twitter is a seemingly annoying and self-indulgent on-line tool that lets you publicly post your moment-to-moment activities and thoughts. Through your computer or phone or mobile device, you essentially answer the same question throughout your day, in less than 140 characters: ”What are you doing?”. The answers are generally as dull and detached as you might expect (”going to get a sandwich,” ”riding in a cab,” ”visiting a doctor about my Blackberry thumb syndrome”). But the tool has become an instant feedback system for social networks to organize their behavior (”great party a Bob’s Bar…get down here,” ”buying tickets to tonight’s show…join me!”).
The challenges and opportunities for cultural organizations are reasonably obvious. If your audience is continually aware of better ways to spend their time, just having them in the room will no longer be enough. And if you’re suddenly the place everyone wants to be, your fortunes can turn in an instant.
You thought the trend towards ”day-of-show” decision-making was a challenge to communications and cash flow? What about instantaneous decision-making with a minute-by-minute option to renew or renege?
