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Social Media Geeks Descend Upon Blogworld

millie-richter-
Frequent Flyer C

Twitter Guy #1:  "You look thinner in person."
Twitter Guy #2:  "No, it's the hair transplants. They are as fake as they come."

This is but one of the conversations I overheard at the 2010 Blogworld and New Media Expo that took place in Las Vegas this past weekend.  With thousands of social media “geeks,” myself included, descending on Sin City, twitter buddies (like the two above) met face-to-face for the first time.  I even heard one attendee exclaim, “So, this is what the bottom half of you looks like!”

I know what you are thinking, “And what is this ‘Blogworld’ of which you speak?”  Well, it’s the world’s largest gathering of new media gurus and enthusiasts—all coming together to discuss best practices and the future direction and impact of new media channels and devices such as Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, and location-based apps like FourSquare.

It’s a new frontier of communications and Southwest Airlines is one of the companies leading the social media charge.  So, it should have come as no surprise that we were a Silver Sponsor for the 2010 Blogworld—but it was. The question I received most was, “I love Southwest Airlines … but why are you here?”  I simply smiled and explained that with more than one million Twitter followers and quickly approaching one million Facebook fans, Southwest Airline is huge in social media.  Additionally, we were one of the first Fortune 500 companies (and first airline) to have a company blog and recently Nuts About Southwest was inducted into the PR News Hall of Fame.

With other members of Southwest’s Emerging Media Team, I hosted conference attendees at our booth, called the Southwest Lounge.  Our uber-cool space offered many fun activities including interviews with influential bloggers (which were streamed live on blogsouthwest.com) and a photo booth for people to take fun Southwest-inspired pictures.  And no Southwest-event would be complete without a contest and all the peanuts you can eat.  

As Managing Editor of LUVLines, our monthly Employee magazine, my heart still belongs to the traditional communication channels such as magazines, newspapers, and books.  I love their feel and smell.  But I also am extremely excited about the opportunities that these new communication channels offer, and that I’m involved in this revolution. 

 

So grab your smartphone and start tweeting.  You’re welcome to follow me @millieSWA and we can learn together!  Either way hold on to your laptops—it’s going to be a heck of a ride!

 

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