Day Two #ProjectRevolution – Quick Wrap
Another quick wrap of event highlights – more insights are on the way so keep an eye out for more!
Day Two of the Revolution took a more academic approach with two of the early sessions run by Professor Jim McNamara, University of Technology (UTS), Sydney and Martin Hirst, Associate Professor of Journalism, Deakin University .Both provided forms of historical and political context to the evolution of communication, along with some debate into how organisations and governments interact with audiences – to varying degrees of success and with varying degrees of control, surveillance and policing.Professor Graham Murdock, Professor of Culture and Economy, Loughborough University also provided a deep-dive into the historical and sociological context of digital communications. We look forward to exploring further thoughts when the presentation slides become available.Jim MacNamara provided the first series of examples that laid down a common focus and theme for the day around the power of listening in social media. He discussed the way Australian politicians use Twitter and analysed examples of how many made token efforts to appear to 'do social media’ compared to how many actually made the effort to listen and respond to the public.Discussion about the nature of listening in social media picked up a solid few tweets and comments from the audience in the room. The overwhelming feeling from attendees was that it’s all very well to maintain a presence across a social channel but success ultimately comes down to how brands and individuals listen and engage.We also had Hal Josephson, CEO & President, MediaSense take the audience through what could be the upcoming 'Asia Pacific Century' and why New Zealand should be investing in brokering closer relationships with the region. His discussion presented us with a challenging concept: Why don’t we seek to more actively engage audiences and markets in the Asia Pacific via social and digital media? How can we better leverage organisations like Kea – New Zealand’s Global Network – to innovate?Risk management and the legalities around outsourcing social media to agencies was the topic of discussion from Corin Maberly, Webb Henderson. While picking at the potential negatives of social media management, Corin’s session posed a robust challenge to agencies and in-house teams to consider the legalities for how and where responsibilities must sit when managing a social media program.Another common theme among many speakers and audience members focussed around the needs for organisations – especially larger organisations – to build a culture that promotes a better understanding for social media, its risks, rewards, processes and necessary policies. Christopher Barger, Senior Vice President, Voce Communications and Julian Smith, BRR Ltd both focussed on this topic specifically.Christopher Barger also led a solid discussion on how organisations should consider the way people are trained within corporate environments. Social Media NZ listened to Barger speak earlier in the week – that article can be accessed here.Emily Banks, Associate Managing Editor for Mashable, led the final presentation of the event with a discussion on the revolution and future of the newsroom. More from this awesome presentation will be shared in an upcoming article! More Insights from The [R]evolution to come!Social Media NZ is currently working on collecting presentation slides to share with you. Keep an eye out for more news from us on this! If you have any additions, updates or comments on your takings from #ProjectRevolution, share them here!We’ve also got two interview articles coming up with Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Emily Banks, Associate Managing Editor for Mashable. The [R]evolution will be Tweeted!Finally, all those awesome Tweets from the audience at the event and those who shared their views but couldn’t make it are being collated – stay tuned for more. Thank You!Massive appreciation must also go out to the event organisers and supporters. Without their help, the event would not be possible. That means you: