NLAB Conference

So I attended the Nlab Social Networking Conference in Leicester on Thursday, and there was some interesting points made by the various speakers. The opening speaker, Steve Clayton made an interesting observation about social objects after the viral campaign surronding the Gears of War advert, which created a discussion about the game through the mashup of the television advert for the product. This type of viral marketing was seen as a bad thing in the past which was thought to damage the brand, but businesses are beginning to realise that it helps to generate interest in the product or service which is being “mashed”, which will help to gain sales through exposure of the object. This is one area where businesses are changing to adapt to the social network philosophy.

Another interesting speaker was Ken Thompson, who discussed learning teamwork skills and techniques from nature where there is often no leader and every member of the group is treated equally and pitches in with their own thoughts and ideas. This I felt was a good analysis of the social networking phenomenon where each individual is treated equally. This is illustrated on internet messageboards and blogs where comments and advice are shared with a community.

Overall a good and some interesting points which made me think.