Commentary

Does Twitter make conferences less social?

Some of the panelists at the SIS noted that audience members weren't exactly overflowing with questions after their discussion. Since it seems unlikely that a bunch of search marketers are painfully shy, it's an interesting issue. My hypothesis: in the minds of potential question-askers the live Twitter stream on the screen at the front of the room serves basically the same purpose by allowing them to pose their questions for everyone on the Web (and everyone in the room) to see, obviating the usual "spoken word" Q&A session at the end of each panel. Of course, there are a couple pitfalls: just posting the question on the Twitter feed doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be answered -- there's no guarantee the panelists or moderators will notice these questions. Also, I feel like just posting a question to the screen, without a verbal follow-up is frankly a little passive-aggressive: it allows you to be more critical or biting than you otherwise would in a direct question. Is this a good thing or bad thing? I leave to the audience to decide. But it would seem to provide evidence for one of my hobbyhorse contentions, to wit, that social media actually serves to make people less "truly" social by absorbing some of the emotional energy that motivates "true" personal interaction.
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