I’m rushing out this editorial on my way to the Open Data Cities conference in Brighton, a noble event that I will learn more about on arrival.
Attending events these days is a very different experience from a few years ago because of the huge role social media plays in making them engaging. If a conference doesn’t have a Twitter wall, it’s not very good.
A hashtag for the event means those who mention the event on Twitter and are reasonably intelligent and amusing means instant followers and a bigger audience. There will be 150 people at the event later, I would hope that I would have a conversion rate of about 50%, although you never know.
Presenters also benefit, but I would give them a little bit of advice. Don’t do a brilliant presentation and then leave your contact details and Twitter handle on the final slide, ensure your Twitter moniker is either at the foot or visible on every single slide. A mate did that at a conference in Dublin recently and he beat me out of sight.
So, to data, the charging rhino in everybody’s boudoir. I realise that we are all now just data, we are gradually understanding that the meaning of life, we are all on The Truman Show and one day, probably before death, we’ll find out.
Even so, best to keep your enemies closer so I’ll know more about it later. I presume the bastards somewhere are trying to use it as another jackboot in the face, but hopefully small valuable Canutes will hold back the tide before we’re all finally commoditised.
For now, as the guy who attends conferences for free and is little more than a mascot-tweeter typing away at the back, I suppose I’ll make my way there. Are the pubs open yet?
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
