When news broke of the Penn State Scandal, the conversation took a life of its own on Twitter

Unless you have been hiding under a rock the past two weeks, the Jerry Sandusky and Penn State child abuse scandal has dominated headlines, talk/radio shows, and all forms of social media. And through the course of events, I have been particularly fascinated with how Twitter has been used (or not used) to take advantage of what it is good for: pushing out information instantly and engaging a broad audience that you may have no immediate connection to. Being the digital geek and spaghetti western fan that I am, I have selected a few examples from the past two weeks to highlight how Twitter was used or could have been used, and broken them down into the good, the bad, and the ugly.

However, before I go any further, I should note that as a Penn State graduate and husband to a wife who devoted hundreds of hours working with The Second Mile organization as a student, I was particularly transfixed by the unfolding events of this tragedy and consequently more obsessed and affected personally than the average American by the situation. And while this is not intended to be an op-ed, I do want to say that my heart goes out to the victims and their families, and also to the students, alum and all those associated to the University who are still trying to make sense of everything. My prayers are with you.

The Good: Twitter as a Breaking News Source
On November 5, the investigation into Jerry Sandusky became public knowledge as the formal grand jury presentment was released and Sandusky was formally accused of making sexual advances or assaults on eight boys. At the time, the news item was a footnote on ESPN’s website, and a small headline with local Pennsylvania news outlets. As a dedicated Penn State football fan, I needed more information, and not able to find anything of value on the web, I turned to Twitter to learn more. I did a quick search on Jerry Sandusky and found several Penn State users using the hashtag #PSUCharges to comment on the news. By following those users, I built a list of about 10–15 sources, most local to the State College area on Twitter that posted updates every 5–10 minutes over the next week. Not only did I have the latest news and information about the events as they happened, I also had an insight into what the students were going through and what the mood was like on campus, including photos and videos, as those local users retweeted tweets posted by Penn State students. Twitter continues to prove itself as the top source for breaking news and I recommend you use it as such for personal use, or as a means to disseminate your own news. Since Google ended their agreement with Twitter, real-time information is harder to come by in Google search results, and until Google Buzz catches on, you cannot rely on a search engine to surface the latest news.

The Bad: Twitter as a Form of Crisis Communication Management
The University knew about this investigation, and they also knew that the information would become public knowledge on November 5. And while most of the sports world was focused on the LSU-Alabama football game set to take place that night, which some argued was a game between the two best college football teams in the nation, Penn State’s public information department had an opportunity to set up a social media crisis response team, outline a strategy of information dissemination, and get ahead of the impending media storm. Social media has proven to be a critical component of any crisis communication management strategy, and as an example, Penn State could have established their own hashtag, could have set up a Twitter profile dedicated to distributing updates, facts, and contact information. This team (and I emphasize team as something this large would require many people) could also have used Twitter to engage the media in real time, and headed off the propagation of the multiple rumors that were flying fast and furiously. Sadly, Penn State stumbled out of the gates and chose to take a reactive approach which demonstrated their incompetency, led to the distribution of misinformation, and further fueled the media frenzy. As a digital strategist, it pained me to see my alma mater fall so short on something that should be PR 101 at this point and urge you to recognize the power of Twitter and never underestimate its value in defending your brand.

The Ugly: Twitter as a Means to Expand Your Audience
It became very clear at the outset of the media blitz that Twitter would not be exempt from sensationalism reporting, furthering personal agendas, and driving eyeballs, listeners, or in this case, followers. I have never been as disgusted as I was seeing people who styled themselves as “news” media shamelessly spouting off complete ignorance, conjecture, and speculation, taking advantage of an emotional and personal tragedy to make a name for themselves. What, ideally, should have been basic fact reporting turned into a contest to see who could denounce Penn State officials most vehemently, who was more against child abuse and Penn State, and who could criticize Penn State alums or students the hardest for being upset. 140 character pearls of wisdom have been tweeted and retweeted, effectively making the rounds within the Twitterverse similar to the email chain letters of old. And while I was personally disappointed with the content, I could not argue with the fact that these personalities were exposing themselves to new eyeballs, effectively growing their audience.

Finally, one other lesson I learned the hard way: use Twitter with caution when attempting to get work done at the same time. If you’re not careful, you will quickly get sucked in reading tweets, news articles, trading messages with users, and ultimately getting nothing done. Not that I’m speaking from experience…

Ever since every major brand has announced their entrance into the daily deals arena (Google, Facebook, AT&T, Amazon, Gilt, Groupon, etc.) I’ve been wondering who was going to be the first brand to create an application to aggregate all of this information into one easy-to-use interface. I mean, if you’re like me, you don’t want to comb through 10 emails a day from 10 different sources, or have to download 10 different applications to what is probably already a crowded smartphone home screen.

At first, my thought was that the likes of Groupon and LivingSocial would be crushed by Facebook and Google, since they already have your attention each day, and integrating a daily deal into that user experience is a no-brainer, and sure to drive usage if it involves recommendations from trusted sources like your friends.

However, today Foursquare announced that they will be integrating multiple daily deals partners into their application for their 10 million plus users. They intend to offer you, the user, the deal that makes the most sense for you, based on the types of establishments you’ve checked into, your geographical proximity, and whether or not your friends have checked into the location offering the deal. While they are launching this new feature in the US with a handful of partners (AT&T, LivingSocial, Gilt City, Zozi, and BuyWithMe), it is easily scalable and may become the de facto mode to purchase a daily deal if you are an avid Foursquare user.

Here is a screenshot of what the deals will look like (from Foursquare’s website).

Foursquare Integrates Daily Deals

It’s still early, but I like where this is heading…

Back in November, Google rolled out the instant preview capability within their search results. And at the time, a lot of fanfare was made about how this will speed up the end user’s search behavior by giving them a better idea of what they would see, before they clicked on the result.

However, after doing a little impromptu poll around the office and of my friends and family, not surprisingly, most didn’t even know what the magnifying glass on their search results meant, let alone know that the instant preview option was available.

Now let’s take it a step further. On April 25 Google rolled out this same instant preview technology to the Adwords results that you and I see. Same DC United example, but this time with the paid search Google Adwords highlighted on the right hand side.

So what does this all mean? Well, if you read some accounts of this change, it may mean that advertisers will benefit because a potential customer can preview the website before clicking on the ad (Reminder: Adwords are PPC or pay per click — so the advertiser only pays when we click on their ad), thus sending more qualified traffic to the destination website. Others think that it puts a significant onus onto the publisher or advertiser to make sure that their site (or the landing page they are linking to in the ad) is optimized for the preview.

What do I think? Well, first of all, you have to convince me that a large percentage of the ad-clicking population even knows that the preview exists. I’d love to see the stats, but I just don’t buy that a significant number of people are currently interacting with the preview feature, let alone have it influence their ad-clicking experience. So, my thought is that it’s not something a brand or advertiser needs to pay too much attention to at this point, other than ensuring that your site at least shows well in the preview. Second of all, supposing that the ad preview does influence the total number of ad clicks. Given that so much of their revenue derives from Adwords, do you really think Google will allow this experiment to continue if it truly decreases clicks and thus decreases advertiser spend? I’ll take a quick stab and say, “no.” Regardless, I’ll be interested to see how this shakes out.

What I do know is that I’m glad I’m not a search marketer. I have a lot of respect for this profession given that you are held to immediate, measurable results by your client, all while dodging every bullet Google fires at you on a daily basis. For the rest of us standing on the sidelines… thanks for giving us something to comment on.

Last week, as most of you probably heard, Google finally unveiled the much talked about, Project Emerald Sea, which has officially been called, Google Plus One (or +1, there still seems to be some debate about how to write it). And now that the dust has settled somewhat, and the various search engine optimization authorities have had a chance to parse through the publicly-available information, I thought I’d spell out the basics and provide you with some helpful links. So, let’s get started…

What IS Google +1?

Google +1 is essentially Google’s version of a Facebook “Like” button, and it will appear next to both organic search results and Google Adwords. In honor of the Washington National’s season just starting, I’ve included two examples below. One version of the search engine results pre-click, and one version post-click.

Google +1 Example (pre-click)

Google +1 Example (post-click)

Also, here is Google’s official product launch video that walks you through +1.

I don’t see this +1. How do I see it?

The +1 feature is only visible to users who have created a Google profile which could be a Gmail address, Google Reader account, etc. And if you are one of the few who has not created a Google account, you can create one here. If you still do not see the feature in your search results, Google may not be done fully rolling the feature out. If you do NOT see it, you can sign up for the +1 feature for your account here.

What does this mean for my search results?

When performing an organic search, your results may be influenced by people within your “network” who have +1′d something or others on the web who have +1′d it. In other words, it functions very similarly to how Google’s social search works now, but now on top of seeing results that your connections on Twitter or other social networks have shared, you will see items that they may have +1′d.

Who makes up your +1 Social Network?

• People in your Gmail & Google Talk chat list
• People in your “My Contacts” group in Google Contacts
• People you follow in Google Reader or Google Buzz
• Other connections from other social networks will be integrated soon

What does this all REALLY mean?

Well, in the short term, I don’t see this having much of an impact as it will take some time for people to get into the habit of +1ing a result, and depending on the size of a searcher’s network, it may have no influence at all (assuming you have no friends or do not participate in other networks). However, should this catch on, and Google begins to integrate the results +1′d by folks outside of your network, “liking” a site could dramatically change the search result landscape.

In reality, the +1 button is a natural and logical extension of their social search and probably a next step towards creating their own social network as a few people are hypothesizing. Which is OK by me. I wouldn’t mind seeing search results that have been validated by my friends versus results that may have been artificially “gamed” by an SEO expert. In fact, SEOMoz has a great article speaking to the correlation of social metrics to Google rankings, and they believe that inbound marketing is going to overtake SEO as the primary function of SEO professionals. In other words, we’ll have to work harder to engage our target customers across social channels to get links, shares, likes, comments and +1s if we want to generate relevant and substantial traffic to our sites.

At the end of the day, regardless of what new feature or variable is integrated into Google search, it boils down to having a good, quality product, and a website that contributes valuable, relevant content to your audience. And isn’t that what we should be worried about?

But don’t just listen to me, learn more about +1 and form your own opinion. Here are a few links to get you started:

Official Google page: http://www.google.com/+1/button/
Official Google post: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/1s-right-recommendations-right-when-you.html
Google News results for +1: http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=Google+%2B1
Search Engine Land Article: http://searchengineland.com/meet-1-googles-answer-to-the-facebook-like-button-70569
Techcrunch Article: http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/30/google-plus-one/

The final day of panels is upon me. And while I’m completely grateful for the experience and have learned so much, and met so many great people, I am ready to get home and see my family.

Here’s where you can find me today (I hope):

11:00AM – Shaping the Future with Small Moves, Smartly Made

Most companies are content to pursue adaptation strategies in times of high uncertainty – sense and respond quickly to events as they unfold. While adaptation is certainly valuable, it misses a much greater opportunity – the ability to shape entire markets or industries in ways that create significant advantage for the shaper. While most disruptive innovation strategies focus on a single company betting heavily on a disruptive approach to the market, shaping strategies emphasize the opportunity to mobilize a very large number (thousands and, in some case, millions) of other participants to leverage investment and accelerate learning. As a result, shaping strategies can succeed with small initial moves, smartly made, that set big things in motion. This talk will review examples of successful shapers in the past to determine the key elements that determine the success of shaping strategies

12:30PM – Real-time Marketing in a Connected World

Brands must learn to connect in real time or get left behind in today’s on demand environment. They must think like real-time publishers, where timely messages are attuned to consumers’ current needs. This session explores what it means to be a “marketer in the moment,” and how brands need to reinvent themselves to remain relevant. This session is sponsored by iCrossing.

2:00 PM – Keynote Simulcast: Blake Mycoskie, TOMS Shoes

In this visionary talk, Blake Mycoskie shows you how to succeed in a new era of relentless competition and heightened social awareness. Why is philanthropy your best competitive advantage? How do you make money and do good simultaneously? How are the two acts intertwined? At TOMS — a self-sustaining, for-profit company — the act of giving is the cornerstone of its business model, integral to its financial success. In a behind-the-scenes look at how it all works, Mycoskie shares counterintuitive ideas (“In tough times, give more!”) that you can apply to your own business. His bold, winning strategies are proven, and have been talked about by Bill Clinton, the Obama administration, and the hundreds of thousands of customers that have joined the TOMS Movement by buying a pair of shoes. Inspired, inspiring and most of all practical, Mycoskie presents a new direction for business, offering TOMS as his prime case study. After hearing him speak, you too will know why giving just makes sense.

3:30PM – Advanced Integrations of Social Media Analytics

Learn how to analyze social media data to accelerate the success of any initiative and impact business. Featuring evaluations of popular social media monitoring tools, in-depth analysis of social media metrics, exercises on valuing social media activity, demonstrations of how social media data can be crossed with data sources such as site traffic data from Google Analytics/Webtrends, proprietary customer data or structured market research data, and case studies from some of the world’s top brands. This workshop is for individuals who want to measure social media to develop deeper understanding their businesses and achieve marketing success.

All in all, another fascinating, diverse set of panels to attend. Should be another great (and exhausting day).

You can keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter @psubuzz or Foursquare, reading my SXSW blog series, and catch some of the sights and sounds of SXSW on Flickr.

Yet another busy day ahead. Managed to make it into 3 out of the 4 targeted panels, stumbled into a brilliant presentation and then, sadly, had to walk out on the keynote as it was completely and utterly useless (founder of 4chan.org) – but that’s for another post.

Below is my “planned” itinerary for the day:

11:00am – 5 Steps to Bulletproof UX Strategy

12:30pm – Designing a Seamless Web to Mobile Experience or Q&A With Google & Bing On Website Ranking

2:00pm – Keynote Simulcast: Felicia Day

3:30pm – The Future of Microformats

5:00pm – OAuth, OpenID, Facebook Connect: Authentication Design Best Practices

You can keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter @psubuzz or Foursquare, reading my SXSW blog series, and catch some of the sights and sounds of SXSW on Flickr.

After having grand plans to follow the schedule I had outlined for myself yesterday, I was quickly thrown off guard by realizing that a few of the panels I wanted to see were being held at a hotel across the lake and almost impossible to attend if I wanted to catch a few panels back at the convention center. To that end, I’m a little disappointed that the 10 different “campuses” they have set up are not within the immediate vicinity and hope that in the future, they can try to work out a better system to allow folks to get from one place to another.

Having said that, I would not have stumbled onto the first panel I attended on Saturday, Time Travel: Interfaces for Geotemporal Visualization, had I read over the description ahead of time, which was all about data visualization (a topic near and dear to our fearless leader, Judy). I think what was most interesting about this panel though was that it was being given, not by designers or product folks, but university professors, engineers and researchers. And quite frankly, a lot of the discussion was over my head as the different options for visualizing the time or data axis were debated, but hearing some best practices for data display from the people who are pioneering the field was fascinating.

Below are just a few tips that I picked up:

• 1/3 of our brain is just dedicated to visual processing – so we should be doing more to cater to this part of our brain rather than just relying on text to communicate
• We are often tempted to use color to denote changes over time – the panel cautioned in doing so since the brain struggles to identify small differences in color – so keep that in mind when determining which axis to apply color to
• Animation is often used to show an evolving timeline, which is great, except that when time is in motion, you cannot directly compare two time slots and therefore sufficiently analyze differences
• Time is often thought as the fourth dimension – is social data the fifth dimension?
• Depending on what information you are communicating, multiple methods might be used (i.e. linking a map to a timeline – Trulia Hindsight)

After being completely blown away by the amount of brain power in the room, it was time for the main event, the keynote presentation from Seth Preibatsch, the designated “Chief Ninja” for SCVNGR. The line to get into the ballroom where he’d actually be speaking was over 1,000 people long, and people began lining up two hours prior to his talk. Keep in mind that every keynote, every day, is simulcasted into every single room featuring a panel, so you can watch a keynote from the luxury of a much less crowded room, in comfort. These people must have known something that I didn’t, because I shook my head and said no thank you.

Well, Seth did not disappoint. His whole presentation was centered around how “game play” is set to become the next layer of information to be integrated into web-based products (based on the premise that the social layer is the current “layer” of data being integrated and consumed). He believes that by motivating people through game play, you can accomplish great things within society and used our current educational system as an example of a gaming ecosystem that is broken due to a lack of engagement. For example, grades represent a moral hazard of game play -  you have kids learning for the wrong reason… to earn a grade, rather than to actually learn the material. Grades therefore become a status mechanic and a poor reward. You want to earn an “A” or become a “valedictorian.” Also, as a student, you have the potential to move in a negative direction and “Fail” rather than a grade dynamic that is based on progression (think experience points in a game). Wouldn’t it be great then if kids learned at their own pace, without experiencing failure, because they wanted to learn, rather than because they would achieve a piece of paper with letters on it? In other words, put the power back into the hands of the “players” and not to the “platform.”

Two business examples Seth used to illustrate using the art of game play (though to different mechanisms) to drive their business objectives were Groupon and American Express. Groupon acquires new customers using “communal gameplay” by stating that the deal only takes place after 50 people take advantage of the Groupon. They then raise the heat a little bit but adding in the “countdown mechanism.” By creating a definitive end time, it has been shown that activity tends to spike exponentially as the countdown approaches 0. And the whole time they are creating this gaming environment, they are building their email list to market to you again tomorrow. Meanwhile, AMEX focuses on building loyalty by engendering our need for status and exclusivity, or in game play terms, “leveling up.” And to think all they did was create different color cards, each with different perks and status associated to it. And while none of us could actually name what the perks are for Black card members… wouldn’t we all die to have one?

Having said all of this, these two paragraphs will not do his presentation justice, so I encourage all of you to check out his presentation deck here.

And after hearing such an inspirational talk, it was time to unwind a bit and play some foursquare with some of my new Austin friends, as well as redeem the mythical “golden ticket” Foursquare was handing out to a select few of lucky SXSW-goers to attend their free concert on Monday night. I’m not exactly sure how I unlocked this sought after badge, but I was not asking any questions…

After hitting only 1 out of my planned 4 events from yesterday, due to various geographical challenges, I’ve tried to be a bit more selective in where I’ll be today. The “planned” itinerary includes:

11:00am: Building Fences in the Sky: Geo-Fencing Has Arrived

12:30pm: How Social Networking Is Changing Advocacy

2:00pm: Keynote Simulcast: Christopher Poole

3:30pm: HTML5? The Web’s Dead, Baby

You can keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter @psubuzz or Foursquare, reading my SXSW blog series, and catch some of the sights and sounds of SXSW on Flickr.

Such a title could be taken in so many ways by the SXSW participants, but no, I’m not referring to the different beverage options available to the conference goers (yesterday I was offered and consumed honey milk), I’m instead referring to the panels I hope to attend today.

12:30pm – Social Media and the NBA, Where It’s @ – I’m looking forward to hearing about how the NBA is using social media to engage their fans.

2:00pm – Keynote w/ Seth Priebatsch (SCVNGR Chief Ninja)

3:30pm – How Not to Get PWNED on Facebook – Basically a session about how to prevent your account and your client’s account from being taken over by hackers.

And then after that… a few happy hours and parties (networking opportunities…).

You can keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter @psubuzz or Foursquare, reading my SXSW blog series, and catch some of the sights and sounds of SXSW on Flickr.

Everything I had read prior to arriving in Austin for SXSW had warned me that for new attendees, the conference can be a little overwhelming. I think this forewarning is a bit of an understatement – it’s downright crazy. Imagine 10,000-15,000 people swarming to a 4 block section of town. Then take about 70% of those people, and imagine they are walking with their nose buried in their smartphone. These people could be wearing shorts, jeans, sun dresses, leather, plaid, sport coats, ties, and more leather. They might look like Barbie, Mr. T, members of your favorite punk rock band, or your CPA. They might have died hair, earrings, shaved heads, mohawks, glasses, or look like you and me. In other words, any and every type of person is here – from all over the world.

After I processed the initial shock of being surrounded by such colorful people, the first order of business was check in and get my coveted SXSW badge. And after standing in the wrong long line for 20 minutes (for a swag bag rather than my badge), I was kindly directed by one of the very nice and energetic SXSW staff to the badge collection line. And as I entered the long, winding line, it reminded me of my honeymoon in Disneyworld, waiting in line with high expectations for a crazy ride ahead – except no children.

Waiting In Line for the Ride of My Life

So, after picking up my badge, I walked around the convention center to get my bearings as well as a sense for where I would need to go to attend the various panels. As with most conventions, there are booths set up by every possible tech vendor that you can imagine, from Microsoft hawking the new Windows 7 phones, to Nintendo promoting the Wii Kinect.

A Challenging Bout w/ Wii Kinect

And if I hadn’t just showered and gussied myself up for the conference, I might have jumped into the ring with these guys – I have a nasty right hook.

And after walking around for a bit, it was time to take a little walk around downtown and find a nice watering hole to grab lunch – after all, it had been a long, tough morning. I think what I found the most fascinating on my walk was the transformation taking place around the convention center. Buildings that had stood empty a mere two days before were now “it” spots for parties, or in the case below, what was once just a normal restaurant had become the CNN SXSW Grill. As you can see, the old signage had been replaced with a sign specifically made for CNN for this week. And this was taking place all over the city.

CNN Preparing for Their SXSW Takeover

Finally, after satiating my appetite with a delicious taco salad, it was time to venture back to the conference area and sit in on a few panels. First up was a Fireside Chat with Tim O’Reilly. For those of you who don’t know Tim O’Reilly, not only is he the founder of the O’Reilly suite of tech and programming books, he’s probably one of the smartest guys out there when it comes to emerging technology. He has had a track record of knowing what the next big thing is going to be, before the Googles and Facebooks of the world do.

Tim O'Reilly and Jason Calacanis Take the Stage

Tim O’Reilly has always been a big advocate for “open source.” He and a group of folks actually coined the term “open source” back when programmers were trying to determine what to call their efforts to share programming knowledge with one another. And what I found interesting was how he is now trying to use his experience to apply that concept to evolving our government. He believes we should view the government as a platform, rather than a service provider. He referenced how the government using their abilities to develop GPS technology in the 60′s and then making it available to the public to in ’87 to innovate against is what has led to the thousands of products that now use GPS technology. Imagine what our lives would be like without turn by turn directions from our Tom Tom, or not being able to check in at work to claim your mayorship.

But in all seriousness, Tim is advocating for more people to think like startups, rather than big corporations. Think iteratively, collect feedback, and evolve often. Imagine what our government would be like if bills were 20 pages long, rather than 2600… He has even started a non-profit, Code For America, where he is recruiting the best and brightest programmers, and using their skill sets to help our government evolve, all over the country. Amazing and powerful stuff.

You can learn more about Tim O’Reilly by reading his blog or following him on Twitter @TimOReilly.

And as fascinating as this discussion was, the following panel that I attended was not nearly as much. The presentation, led by Mint.com‘s VP of Product, was billed as an opportunity to hear how companies were using analytics to help determine whether they should build a mobile app versus a web app, versus a mobile-optimized website. This is something we wrestle with every one of our clients – what is the right solution based on who their customers are and what types of information we want to present to them? Sadly, what had so much promise turned out to be an hour long infomercial about the history of Mint.com and how great it is now. The only tidbits worth passing along are pretty obvious to anyone who has worked with mobile products:

1. Pick your platforms carefully. Know who your customers are, the types of devices they use, and build towards that platform.
2. If you choose to develop an application, don’t waste your time on any of the peripheral distribution mechanisms. Take advantage of the iTunes App Store and the Android Marketplace.
3. If you are delivering a lot of data (as in the case of Mint.com) an application gives you much more presentation control than the mobile web does. If the information you are offering is simple, a mobile-optimized website may be the quickest and easiest solution. Less headaches.

Two other random anecdotes which I found interesting were:

• 20% of Mint.com’s user base is now mobile only. They registered via their mobile phone and view all of their data through their smartphone. Which to me, as a Mint.com user, is fascinating given how rich the web experience is, but it goes to show you how we are evolving.
• When Pandora first started, they were trying to develop apps for every single handset, and for the life of them, they couldn’t figure out why Pandora worked on the black Motorola Razr but not the pink one. Come to find out, the pink Razr used a different chip set than the black one. Consequently, they had to modify their app just for the pink phone. He mentioned this anecdote as an example of how complicated developing an application can be if you choose to go down that road

If I learned anything from the Mint.com panel, it’s to be prepared for some to be worthwhile, and others to be less than so. But as someone mentioned, SXSW is what you make of it. Don’t be afraid to walk out if you’re not happy. Message received.

So, let me summarize the day with a few tips that I learned first-hand:

1. Register for the conference early, and get a hotel downtown. Driving in or catching a shuttle is a pain and doesn’t allow you the ability to take a break when you need one.
2. Have your phone charger with you at all times. My battery was on life support by 3pm, which makes it challenging to do much of anything.
3. Be careful when you are trying to walk and check-in on Foursquare at the same time or you might trip over a sand bag.
4. Drink lots and lots of water to balance out the copious amounts of caffeine and other free beverages you’ll be drinking.
5. Wear comfortable shoes.

You can keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter @psubuzz or Foursquare, reading my SXSW blog series, and catch some of the sights and sounds of SXSW on Flickr.