My GenY Perspective on Why Digital Swarms Need A Young Gun at the Helm

When the moderator was sitting in the lobby at the SXSW conference, she witnessed a brand-new idea for her. Simultaneously, everyone in the lobby stood up and walked to a bar across the street. For those familiar with social media terminology, we call this a “tweetup”. However, this seemed to be a new concept for the moderator.

Why, at a conference full of brilliant business minds, is there a panel so backwards-facing rather than being cutting-edge? I’ve heard a doctor talk about using a printer to literally print out new human cells, but we can’t get a quality discussion on the future of social media and digital swarms? Why is that?

I would imagine only one speaker on the panel of 4 was under 40 and for the most part, these guys didn’t have anything new to say because they don’t personally utilize the medium they were discussing. While they did seem to have interesting products and great general marketing and industry knowledge, I was looking to hear about specific ways they are utilizing social media to grow their businesses. Throughout the conference, I’ve heard everyone from Stephen Cloobeck, Chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts, to David Owens, VP of Marketing for Sprint, talk about utilizing social media to aid in post-recession marketing and customer service efforts. Yet trying to find out HOW anyone is using social media successfully is like pulling teeth.

I work in social media daily. I’ve seen the results of successful social media campaigns and can point you to exactly how results were tracked, demographics of people that responded to the campaign, and ultimately, how it effected the bottom line. Where were those examples in this panel and why was the majority of the time spent discussing the organizational benefits of social media for non-profits rather than the technology and techniques utilized?

Don’t get me wrong, panelists like Jack Leslie and Kevin Long understand the need for social media within their companies—they’re even proponents of establishing entire departments focused solely on social media. They just aren’t the ones actually USING the social media platforms on a regular basis. What I would have loved to see at this panel was Leslie and Long seated next to two social media experts like Twitter Founder Biz Stone (also a panelist at the conference) or the likes of Guy Kawasaki. People who are in-touch with the technology, using it daily, and benefiting from it.

I came to a panel to hear about how some very forward-thinking companies were using social media and left feeling like something was missing—the GenY voice that is driving the social media revolution. What are your thoughts and do you have any specific business examples of how social media worked for your company? Please share!

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