I’ve often said that if I could live in “SXSW Land,” I would.
I’m only joking when I say that, but where else in the world can you find such a cool gathering of people creating and changing the future of music, film, and all things interactive?

That’s why I’ve put together two SXSW Interactive panel proposals for 2011 that I believe people will find interesting and valuable:

1. Samsung’s Social Media Journey Towards Customer-Centricity  with Cosmin Ghiurau @cosguru

2. How To Get A Job Using Social Media with Sarah Austin @pop17, Brandon Prebynski @Prebynski, Chris Kahle @chriskahle, Joel Cheeseman @cheezehead, myself @socialnerdia @samsungesteban, and moderator Ryan Paugh @paughginney 

It would be great if you created a SXSW PanelPicker account to vote for and comment on both of them. Your votes make up 30% of the decision. SXSW has already told me that they like both topics so your votes are extremely valuable.

To help us spread the word, click here to retweet on Twitter and click here to share on Facebook.

While I created this blog as a creative exploration of the convergence of tech, marketing, and social media, I also had two secondary goals in mind: To speak at SXSW Interactive in 2010 and to work full-time in social media within one year. Speaking at SXSW Interactive earlier this year was a great experience and Social Nerdia was definitely the platform that enabled me to join Samsung USA as Social Media Manager. I’ m very grateful for the many opportunities that have come from this tiny spec of Internet data called Social Nerdia. Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope to see you at South By next year.

Social Media is really all about this: integrating life and technology.

Facebook is the most widely used, widely known, and perhaps widely trusted social network in the world. As someone who got on Facebook when it first launched for universities (I was part of the SMU network before most people knew what Facebook was), I’ve seen Zuckerberg & Co. grow and change through the years, and one thing is for sure: Facebook has a bold and ambitious vision to become the web’s social platform.

I vividly remember having conversations in which people made fun of Facebook back when MySpace was “the social network.” I also remember making fun of Facebook myself… only to jump in a few days later and realize that social media was what I wanted to do with my life. I figured that the social web is full of visionaries and I’d rather spend my time learning from them and becoming a bit more like them (creative risk-takers with ideas that could change the world), than simply doing the whole get-a-job-to-buy-the-groceries thing. The social web was is fascinating and it’s evolving at a pace that is astounding. I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook eventually actually try to connect us to everything (like I jokingly predicted a year ago).

Anyways, if I’m right in saying that social media is about the integration of life and technology, then Facebook is really unto something.

As the Social Media Manager for Samsung Electronics, I worried a bit when the rumors about the terminology changes from “Become a Fan” to “Like” started to emerge. (more…)

I had the very cool opportunity to speak at this year’s SXSW Interactive as part of the Future15: Diversity series, which was organized by Glenda Bautista. The presentation, titled “The Online Latino: A New Digital Native,” was all about Latin Americans and the web. 

While it is a myth that Latin Americans are not online, only 30% of them are. The presentation went into the challenges (poverty, inequality, censorship, and the social/economic/digital divide), as well as what is changing (tech hubs, encouraging governments, businesses rolling out infrastructure, and a rapidly growing online community).

If you’re interested in learning more about what is happening online and offline in Latin America, including Streisand effects, citizen journalism, social networking, innovative start-ups, and stories about the people that are converting ideas into movements, check out the slides and videos below. Feedback (through email or comments) is appreciated

Thanks to Diego Contreras (aka Diegoliath) for helping me with the design, Jon Gipson for recording the video, and Kara Andrade for writing the original proposal with me and helping out with ideas, insights, and stats.

Google Buzz has created some buzz in the past couple of days. A Twitter killer it is not, but it is definitely the most exciting social web service I’ve seen since FriendFeed. Tim O’Reilly has said that Google has “taken the social media lessons of Twitter,” and Jason Calacanis thinks “Google Buzz 1.0 is better than Facebook after six or seven years.”

Not only does Buzz combine some of the best aspects of Google Wave, FriendFeed, and Twitter, but it’s also built into GMail. By adding the mobile component (so we can take it anywhere), and integrating feeds from Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and Blogger (so we can pull outside content), Google Buzz starts to sound like a very promising service of its own, and not just another GMail feature.

But the question that everyone is wondering about is:  Can Google really create a new social network that people will want to use?

It is true that Google has failed at many, if not all things social in the past, but this time it seems different. From day one, Buzz already makes great use of multimedia, is open to anyone, makes use of @ replies (ie. @socialnerdia@gmail.com), and allows us to have conversations in real-time.

So, with early adopters rushing to test, criticize, and/or embrace Google Buzz, should companies be creating accounts just as they have done on Twitter and Facebook?

Traditionally, companies have been slow to join social networks. The idea of unproven and confusing new social services creates unwillingness to jump in until other companies have. But with a rapidly changing and increasingly social online landscape, it is essential to understand the things that people are doing. In order to really “get it” companies could spend months researching, brainstorming, and strategizing. Or they could just do what regular people do: Jump in and experiment.

(more…)

Samsung is one of the most admired companies in the world. With a roster of high-quality HDTVs, smartphones, and cameras, it is not surprising that the company’s products speak for themselves, but there is also very talented people making sure the world knows about the latest and greatest from Samsung. Last night, on The Social Nerdia Show! live podcast’s 28th episode, I had a conversation with Matt Moller and Keith Swiderski, Samsung’s Social Media Strategists. They told me all about their customer-centric approach to engaging with people on the social web and provided some advice for making an impact in social media.

You can listen to the entire conversation with Matt and Keith on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe to all our shows on iTunes, stream it from a mobile phone on Stitcher, and listen to it LIVE on Thursday nights on blogtalkradio.

Samsung has been doing several things all over the social web, including campaigns like Tap & Take, Twitter accounts, and even incredibly popular Extreme Sheep LED Art. However, Samsung is not new to social media. From message boards and forums like the ones found on CNET to early social networks, Samsung has always paid close attention to what people say online.

“In addition to listening and gathering, we want to go out and actually engage customers and help them get the most out of their products,” Keith explained. “When Windows 7 beta came out a lot of people were using our netbooks. We found out that people really liked it and it enabled us to know how people were using our products.” He continued by saying that “moving on to Twitter and Facebook was a natural extension to let consumers know that we’re about more than just our products.”

Social Media at a Large Multinational

Because Samsung is such a large company, “a lot of these (social media efforts) evolved from the bottom-up. Samsung empowers its people with getting involved in new things and being on the cutting edge,” Matt explained. Samsung doesn’t have a social media policy with specific details about what employees can and cannot do online. “Samsung feels strongly in its employees right to freedom of speech and being able to express themselves.”

Matt also said that the different territories and regions worldwide are able to take control of how they reach customers with social media. While there is a consistent and unified message for the Samsung brand, Matt also said that he doesn’t think there will ever be a “central entity that will control all social media” because that would not really align with what social media is about. (more…)

People-powered. Those two words joined by a dash immediately remind me of Wikipedia. And Wikipedia might be the biggest inspiration for GiffGaff, a new MVNO in the UK running on the O2 network, that promises to change things in the mobile world. MVNOs have come and gone for many years, usually with little more than clever branding and low prices.

However, we already established that GiffGaff was inspired by Wikipedia, remember? And Wikipedia is a very social site… that’s, well, powered by people. So maybe this MVNO has something new that’s worth looking into.

GiffGaff, whose name comes from a Scottish expression  that means “You give something, I give you something back,” claims to also be powered by people. They haven’t launched  (the plan is to become available before Christmas of this year) and no customer phone calls have been made, but the company is already leveraging the wisdom of the crowds. GiffGaff’s in-the-making community has already provided ideas such as “copy to Twitter” functionality for text messages. So GiffGaff is not crowdsourcing ideas, but that’s only the beginning. They are also going to crowdsource their marketing (again, not a huge deal). But more importantly, they are going to crowdsource customer service.

There are a lot of intelligent and passionate people helping each other out on forums and blogs all over the web, from cell phone geeks to home improvement DIYers, so it makes sense to think that people could help each other out in such a way that a company no longer needs a call center. I can imagine that PowerPoint presentation going something like this: 1) Customer service is difficult. 2) Customer Service is expensive. 3) Let’s make customers serve each other. (more…)