SXSW Interactive: Search Meets Social Media in Pictures

Readers of Online Marketing Blog may know that after last week’s WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference, I stayed over the weekend in Austin for the Interactive portion of SXSW. I’ve heard up to 9,000 people were registered for the SXSWi event and by looking at the conference sessions, hallways and restaurants/bars, it was undoubtedly the place to be. Below is a summary of my brief time at SXSWi in picutures where search marketing, social media and public relations people converged, networked, talked and listened.

If there were baseball cards for internet marketing and social media superstars then these three would be Upper Deck Premium: David Berkowitz of 360i, Frank Gruber from AOL and Brian Solis, owner of FutureWorks PR

Charlene Li, previously with Forrester and now founder of the Altimeter Group, presenting on the future of social networks. Summed up in 9 words: “Socnets are like air and in Google we trust”

If you want the Godmother of PR & social media measurement, here she is: The one and only Katie Paine

Dave McClure aka 500hats & Foodzie People strike a pose at the Driskill

Let’s Get Social! Peter Kim, previously with Forrester and now with a well funded startup in stealth mode, Liz Strauss and Aaron Strout from Powered, connecting in the Techset Blogger Lounge

Search Marketers Todd Friesen of Position Technologies & Scott Polk of Bruce Clay with plenty of reasons to be happy

Amber Naslund of Radian6 & Jason Falls of Doe Anderson keeping lively at the Mohawk

Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy 360 PR & Rich Brooks are all smiles because the coffee is fresh. Kinda. In the blogger lounge.

Jeeze, this Jason Falls guy is everywhere! Hanging out with Krista Neher aka Marketess & Jason Baer in the Blogger lounge

A press room will never look like this at a conference.  I wonder if some people ever left the blogger lounge. I think they reported on the entire SXSWi event without having to go anywhere because everyone came to the Techset lounge eventually. Even Willie Nelson’s daughter came and sang for a bit.

Hey search marketing people, remember our favorite Yahoo PR person, Heather Meeker? Here she is in a BlogWorldExpo sandwich with founders Rick Calvert & Dave Cynkin. Heather now works for Whrrl

Ah ha, more search marketing people (Tony Adam of Yahoo and Kate Morris of New Edge Media) and there’s that Polk fellow again. This time at Stubb’s BBQ for the Diggnation broadcast. Or maybe it was just for the beer.

Chris Brogan of Chris Broganland and Scott Monty of Ford chatting it up in the Pepsi BlogTalkRadio Pavillon.

Social meets Search. Chris Heuer of AdHocnium and Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing

Pedicabs on 6th Street are a welcome sight at 2am