This will be the online discussion for January, details coming soon...

We will host our discussion on Wednesday, 13th of January, 1-4PM GMT. Do join us then!:)

Please join us today at 1PM GMT - but try to register earlier, in case if your registration e-mail needs a bit time to arrive;) Talk to you then!

We will start in 10-15 min, time to make a coffee;)

OK, I have got my mug now. When you join, please say a few words about yourself, maybe add your Twitter ID (@presleysylwia) and simply say Hi!;)

Hi Sylwia! @tomhall14 here. Others may know me from http://www.womworld.com/nokia, but as of next week I'll be moving to Vancouver, and am keen to get an impression of what's what over there.

Hi @tomh14, nice to see you here;)

Have you got your coffee ready?;)

Sab log namaste. How's life?

Hi @Paulus, good here. How are you?

@Paulus, hi

Hi Sylwia, my name is Thiago Giamarino ( @thiago128 ), i´m from São Paulo - Brazil, and i´m representing Gustavo from Riot ( http://twitter.com/agenciariot )

I'm quite busy, but that's good

Hi Thiago!

HI Thiago

Hi all, thats Thomas from Vietnam!

Hi @Thiago, nice to see you back!  How are you!?

Hi @Thomas, nice to see you too!

Happy New Year everyone;)

and @diegocasaes [in PortugueseHello all, this is Diego Casaes, Lingua Editor of Global Voices in Portuguese. You may find me on Twitter @casaesdiego [in English]]

To whom it concerns:

Paulus is a professional speaker about online media and innovation and member of the Professional Speakers Association Holland. After a successful career as an internet project manager, he followed his heart and now shares his passion for new media with both large and small audiences. His dream is to live part of the year in India, the country he loves, as soon as he has convinced his girlfriend Anja that this is a good idea.

Hey Sylwia! Chung mung nam moi Actually Happy Near year is in February in Vietnam

@Paulus, are you still working on the Twitter project you have mentioned last time? How is it going?

Hi @Diego!

gee, the message is all messy

Hello Sylwia.

I think Molly is around too!:) As I mentioned in my mails, she will be continuing with the panels from next month onwards;)

I am a podcaster, blogger and IT-Consultant from Germany living in Vietnam now @thomaswanhoff on twitter

Things are doing fine here, happy new year for everyone!

@Thomas I think some of my Russian friends celebrate New year tonight actually...

Hi everyone and happy New Year

Bonjour @Lillian!

@Sylwia We have managed to get one third of the employees on Twitter, at the moment more than 100. Not bad at all. Next, week I do a 'Twitter bootcamp' for everyone who wants to know more about Twitter. This is also the close of the activity.

Is everyone busy, as @Paulus mentioned earlier, in January?

Bonjour @Sylwia

not that much here.. 

so...as someone moving to Canada who wants to know what's what over there, does anyone have any suggestions?

people take it very easy the weeks before Tet in Vietnam, the new year..

@tomh14 when are you moving, exactly? do YOU have any plans? do you want to stay working in social media?

@thomas so there is no events around this time, I am assuming...

nope..

I'm moving next week!!! I will be continuing some of my work on WOMWorld/Nokia, but also looking to attend SM events and networking opportunities

@Paulus sounds awesome! 100 people is a lot, do you use some kind of social media policy? how do you manage their content?

Hi guys I'm here now, great to meet you all and excited to be involved...

oh there is actually Barcamp Yangon in Birma happening next week

Hi Molly!

Hi @Molly:)

Hi Lilian

I would suggest you to get close to the Yulbiz community @tom

Yulbiz?

@Lillian, can you tell us few words about yourself, incl. location;) thx

@thomas I was surprised for a second that there is nothing on the agenda in the area;) what are you up to, resting?

I'm Lilian, community exec at 1000heads and located in France

trying to get some projects up and running.

@thomas exciting:)

@thomas are you, by any chance, involved in Twestival Global?

no, sorry

Yes, Yulbiz Montreal if you're looking for a SM community. I could give you a few names if you want ... Podcamps are also quite interesting to network

@Sylwia Yes, I have written a policy that basically states: 1. Use Twitter personally, not directly for marketing etc. and 2. Use your common sense.

@Thiago - are you guys busy nowadays?

@Paulus haha, I love it:) I will make a note of that:)

@Lillian what exactly is a podcamp?

@Thomas I just asked as I would like to know what cities in Asia are planning one...but I am sure it will become clear on their site fairly soon

Sylwia Podcamp is a Barcamp foccusing on podcasting

@thomas is it directed mainly on podcasters, or general audience too?

i think like barcamps everyone can join. i attended the first second life podcamp 3 years ago

Anything specifically in Vancouver?

A podcamp is a series of recorded speeches. Here's a link to their last videos : http://www.ustream.tv/podcampmontreal/videos

Well, now in the beggining of the year we´re a little busy, but is going to get harder after carnival...

i'd like to start local, then go global

On a barcamp mode ... as Thomas specified

Lilian we had a podcamp in berlin like a barcamp style but with topics around podcasting.. might be different ways to do it

I see...so basically it would be a good place for me to learn more about podcasting too, as all I can do is AudioBoo;P

And @tom - I think for you it's a good place to start networking, don't you think?

I guess so...will give it a shot

Yes, definitely @thomas

I'd like to throw in a question here seeing as we've opened up Canada as a topic. I'm pretty ignorant about the general state of play in terms of Canadian social media. @tomh14, @lilian could you give me a few pointers as to similarities/differences. Is there a distinct national community? Are there more ties with France than US/UK?

Before I ask you about what you think will happen in social media in 2010, what do you think of 2009? how was it generally for global community? how was it for each of you?

audioboo is actually all you need as it provides you a rss feed and even a itunes link, a flashplayer and and a download link.. i like it!

@thomas and it's a social network too;) glad to hear it's a good start...

in vietnam it as the year of facebook and zing.me a local network.. globally i think it was the year of twitter.

in Poland it was a year of Facebook's increasing popularity

@thomaswanhoff I agree. 2009 was the year of Twitter. Even our queen spoke about (against) Twitter in her Christmas speech!

I could tell you a bit about the french part of Canada. You have big names like Michelle Blanc, Laurent Maisonnave, Claude Malaison ... all interested in social media but each have a specific topic (enterprise 2.0, video blogging, social media marketing). The Yulbiz community is quite representative of what's happening in the french part of Canada. They created Yulbiz France to extend their reach and to co-organize events. @molly

and I think of Twitter too, though 'gossip' says, it might change this year;) http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/gordons_republic/archive/2010/01/12/twitter-s-growth-flatlines.aspx

I have literally no idea I am going to have to hit the ground running and get involved pretty quickly in West Coast meets etc

In Brazil, 2009 was the year of Twitter and Facebook also had a huge raise, most of it thanks to the social games as FarmVille, but Orkut still the biggest social network in Brazil...

@Paulus and you talked about it on TV!;)

Thanks guys.

I did, my five minutes of fame

@Thiago - interestingly enough I heard in few places already that gaming is to be one of the main trends in SM in 2010...do you agree?

Do you think Twitter will remain popular in 2010?

@Sylwia The queen attacking Twitter caused a lot more discussion, however.

@Paulus attacking? why?

Sylwia. totally agree. People love games on iPhones, and of course on Facebook.. Yes twitter will be popular yet its not for everyone.. its like blogging, you may have more readers than writers

What she said: electronic communiction kills face-to-face, 'real' contact between people, "like those people sending just very small messages all the time"..

@Sylwia, at least in Brazil we´re quite sure that twitter will remain popular in 2010, and for sure gaming is going to be one of the main trends in SM in 2010!

What about mobile? Every year we seem to finally see predictions that THIS will be the year mobile/social possibilities fully come to life... will we get there in 2010?

I think Twiiter became popular due to #iranelections and other instances where news have been reported on instantly...I remember looking for Air France info when the plane disappeared, and comparing BBC site to search.twitter results - amazing, really. Even with the scope for misusage, Twitter was way faster!

Paulus, its not that wrong what she said. We shouldnt forget the real life. Actually my wife and me just discovered that some stories we usually tell each other while having dinner we already told "the world" on facebook

@Paulus I so disagree with that! What about Twestivals? Twitter connected so many people offline!

Hi Molly!

Ah Molly, I might be better placed to get on that one. 2010 might well be THE year, but it's a very personalised area. What works for one might not work for another, everyone's networks overlap, but I'm not sure there is a happy medium that will please all the people all the time

Sylwia, yes, online activities indeed to connect people. Like us

I agree with @Sylwia. Offline meets are a great way to actually get to know people you have interacted with online

@Paulus on that point I like what Zoe Margolis said (popular for the fact her anonymous sex blogging was revealed by tv!) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/12/privacy-online-sharing 'We may be sharing more, but we're gaining more too.'

Mobile.. hm.. yes with more smart phones coming up more people may use it for their social network activities.. location based services may grow like foursquare

Absolutely @Molly There seems to have a good adoption rate of smartphones, the app market is also growing and social networks are part of the landscape.

There are so many examples of great ways to relate via new media, starting with Skype, that I do not think this makes any sense. I do not buy the cause-effect idea of more digital -> less human-to-human.

I think mobile is taking over already, in some areas - like in Africa (see reports from Economist, ReadWrteWeb etc) the web access via mobiles is very popular...

@Sylwia that's a great link - thx

Hi Paulus! @thomas, @sylwia, @tomh14 yes I think we'll see more serious studies into the psychology and sociology of our 'connectivity', global sharing etc and what it means for us as individuals and culturally... more of the academics are getting interested, I've seen some great panels at LSE (London School of Economics)

even in vietnam and cambodia, where you have many free wifi spots people start connecting with their smart phone. at least the middle class and rich.. talking about south east asia means also that most people dont really use the internet at all as a social network

@Paulus I agree. Even the definition of a geek (in my case geekette, ehm;)) has changed. Few years ago, I would not use it, as it was associated with person of low social skills, sitting all day in front of PC, eating pizza and considering their cat the best friend. Only bit left is the love for cats;)

Yes @Sylwia We should take infrastructures into account .. some part of the world would be more advanced than others, and more willing to use social media with their mobiles

@Sylwia LOL

@sylwia we have all become geeks!

a friend just got her doctorate about a study about computer games and the social impact .. summary: you are not getting isolated because you are gaming. you are gaming because you are already isolated.

@Molly I really hope we do:) And I think we really need them, as the discussions around paid tools increase (paid Twitter accounts, how to monetize web etc), we need to measure the social capital too...

Right, you love cats too, @Molly, right?;)

@thomas @tom @lilian Do you think some less developed countries might skip PCs altogether and adopt mobiles as their first access to social media as they become better and cheaper?

<- has dogs, but loves cats too

@Molly That is, apart from the people that are stotally lost in their overblown mailboxes and 1998 web sites. The majority, methinks

@sylwia I am an original sad cat lady

@thomas what about 'you are gaming, because in recession it's a cheaper way of entertainment AND socialising' argument, which I actually support...?

Molly, first of all people use laptops instead of desktops. mobile will not replaces laptops. @sylwia: agree. just want to point on the social aspect of gaming. doesnt mean that all gamers are isolated. its more that gaming (like social networks) brings you back to people

@Molly There's already moves afoot by some handset manufacturers producing Life Tools to help those in developing countries to really enhance their...lives. Example: automated SMS to a fisherman with the market which has the highest price for fish that day to save him time and get him the best price

yes sms is just a great way to use mobiles. in vietnam, we will work with xe om (moto taxi) drivers to connect them

@thomaswanhoff sorry, I meant laptops. So it's not feasible that people without laptops could go straight to s.m. enabled phones?

not is SE asia. smartphones are too expensive for the majority. for now.

That's an interesting challenge @Molly I think it'll be more based on social levels. In Africa, especially, you have a tiny part of the population with high revenues. This category of people use to travel and to be ahead of their country's curve.

For the rest of the population, I don't think they'll skip PCs to use social media.

@Molly I am not sure if agree with @Thomas and @Thiago, maybe I just look at it from different point of view - in certain areas (lack of good/cheap Internet connection), for certain activities mobiles do already and will continue to dominate. I saw GV colleague using FB from mobile, as Internet connection is expensive and well..slow - all this to socialise, but also share the links etc. I also see Oxfam and other similar organisations incorporating more and more SMS based programs to target developing communities. So I think it will vary, however with the development of mobile devices incorporating more and more apps related to social media tools, I see the potential of mobile growing even more...

@Lilian It's also that the devices seem to converge: mobile phone and laptop morphing into tablets.

@Paulus I agree

@Paulus +1

@Sylwia @Paulus exactly, I was thinking as laptops almost merge into mobiles surely it makes more sense for less developed and remote populations to adopt mobile technology. I know we're not there yet but I wonder if some organisations out there are working on this cheap but connected mobile solution...

Oh yes the Oxfam offices may have nice desktop, laptops and iphones, but the people in the rural area doesnt have. They have mobile phones without Wifi feature. Thats why SMS is so successful (disclosure: had some really bad experience with Oxfam in Cambodia )

you know it just occurred to me - thinking of social media tools used on mobiles - that I have not seen a lot of big new tools this year? did you?

Four Square? Does that count?

@Paulus Yes, it's also a factor to take into account

the status message tools work fine on mobiles. twitter, facebook, foursquare. and dont forget the IMs like Yahoo

@Sylwia What do you think of AR apps for mobile (many are social) and, of course, Foursquare & Gowalla.

Do you think it's going to be a sustainable success ? @tom

yes. think so.

AR is still in early stage.. but more coming up this year

@Lilian Not entirely sure. It may rise and rise in popularity, but the bubble might burst. You never know. There's only room for on Facebook in this world IMHO

on = one

tom, good point. FB is getting the social google

which is not bad in general

Got you! @tom

@thomh14 oh, comm'on why only FB?

@Paulus I am new to AR, I would be careful to express my opinion...

@thomas @tom part of what protects it I think is Zuckerberg's continued attitude that he doesn't really care whether it's massively monetised or progressive. I could be being sucked into an image, but he genuinely seems relaxed - as long as it's fun and serves its original purpose. Saves it from overreaching (although could mean it's simply overtaken...)

I think Facebook might be one of those tools/sites where people prefer to go to have it all in once place...or maybe it's just me:/

What about the personal/professional frontier on Facebook?

@Lilian I just read something very interesting on that today from Tamar Weinberg, my social media ethics guru..let me digg it out..

AR is a typical technology-driven development. Ok, we have a compass in our mobile phone, how can we make this work? But Google Skymap and Layar are already prettu useful, IMHO.

http://www.techipedia.com/2010/facebook-friendships/

@Sylwia you are queen of the links today!

@Paulus I agree, and I think that's the point - usability - what ever new tool appears, it needs to be utilised, however I have not seen anything picking up so drastically as Twitter or Facebook, and I have a feeling that in previous years we had more globally popular tools...does it mean the web is fragmenting so much that apart from few main venues, we will look at smaller, local developments?

Thanks @Sylwia I'm reading it

@Molly, I started posting weekly inspirations on my blog in one post, just to force myself to read more blog, and read them properly - hence the database of links:)

I think Facebook will stay personal for majority of people, for us - social media professionals - we will need to compromise on how to use them. I think @Dawidpacha posted today on FB the same question - he himself started creating lists of profiles..

Great article @Sylwia

What about you, how do you use Facebook?

i still dont like facebook, but i have to use it because its my main information source about events in saigon

i use FB purely for social reasons, playing games etc.

I use Facebook for both, however recently I generally restructured my social media presences - separating places where I post private stuff from more professional - my blog in English is more towards social media and activism (things I do), Polish about my emotional life (things I feel, live in private), the same with Facebook where I translate it as my personal profile and blog fan page - works ok so far, but it's early days to say, really...

Yeah, I very much keep my Facebook personal with only social work contacts... the rest of my life is already infiltrated with work!

but I must say, it's impossible to keep both separate all the time - when I started testing gaming with playing FarmVille I actually started networking too;)

Doesn't it depend on our completely subjective sense of privacy?

See, for me whatever is on-line is public, even if it's Facebook, hence why news like this (http://therumpus.net/2010/01/conversations-about-the-internet-5-anonymous-facebook-employee/) do nto really bother me..

But it does bother me if my mobile appears on-line - as I do not share it there, not in many of registrations, unless it;s really needed..if that makes sense...

It's quite hard to find a balance between the personal and the professional side.

when I started testing gaming with playing FarmVille I actually started networking too

This is where the idea of social objects comes in ... Farmville is a good way to start a conversation

is there a European vs Rest of World difference of opinion?

opinion....attitude

hi everyone. sorry im late joining

@Lillian indeed, quite addictive though;) I cannot stop...

@Tom good point, is there?

never played on facebook

Hi @Dwight, how are you?:)

im good. sounds like you're discussing gaming?

clearly the attitude is different in China....or is that just a governmental thing? Would the Chinese people be as open as Westerners if they could?

@Dwight yes, gaming was mentioned as a new trend in 2010 (large topic of our discussion today), but now came up as an example of social objects in relation to Facebook. We also just talked about how we manage personal vs professional on Facebook

Yes, I've heard of it ... we could mention the Middle East as well. Does the political/governmental take over the rest?

Vietnam, what is kind of a little china, shows that educated people are open on facebook, sometimes too open. but never talk about politics

oh you have to be nothing short of schitzo... and very on top of the privacy settings

well, China is pretty difficult area to tackle at the moment, as even Google struggles...http://mashable.com/2010/01/12/chinese-censorship-implications/ but this might answer some of your questions, @tom http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/13/china-googles-possible-exile-leads-to-cyber-protests-netizens-on-move/  - GV reports that Chinese bloggers do want the access to information

In Korea (don't remember if it's the north or the south), YouTubers must use their real names

Lilian there is no internet in north korea!

Was it not the case with FB too? There was a time when one should not really set up a profile without actual name and surname, not sure it changed or not...

ok it might be the South @Thomas Thanks

How do you think these privacy and censorship issues will pan out in the coming year? Will governments be forced to open up by groundswell or will they lock down even further? Are there new ways/tools/platforms people are using to get round it?

@Molly You mean government privacy? I think if we all knew what the whle government was doing the whole of the time, countries would go into meltdown. There has to be some aspect of secrecy to protect us from what we don't/shouldn't know...

 @Molly: In vietnam they tried to block FB on the DNS level (not quite successful), and political issues are a no on blogs. @all:ok everyone, my notebook is running low on battery (8 percent left), and its already getting late here in Vietnam. Means i have to leave!

@thomaswanhoff Bye!

Bye @thomas

I am so glad you asked that @Molly:) I think the governments increasingly learn the social media mechanisms and with that learn to manipulate both access as well as interpretation of the information - see what is happening in Poland now: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/10/poland-discussions-of-tor-and-internet-filtering/  - and we are talking about EU! at the same time I see more and more organisations growing in awareness of it. If you are interested in it, there is a new project kicking off, mapping our globally initiatives for government transparency - http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2009/12/28/rising-voices-launches-the-transparency-and-technology-network/ (launching in few weeks time)

Bye all. Thx for the nice discussion. See you! And thanks to you Sylwia. Take care and all the best!

bye @Thomas! stay in touch;)

I also think what is happening to Google in China today is not helping...governments, as the discussion will finally kick off on the international level, and I hope that in mainstream media too...

@bye thomas great to meet you. talk again soon.

Great links thanks @Sylwia, I might rope you in for more discussions later!

Apologies to bring this back to N America, call me biased if you like Do you think that N America is best at early adoption of new tech and SM (like iPhone, app store, foursquare) and the rest of the world follows west --> east?

Can I ask one question, something that I was really trying to address with all the sessions we had so far: what do you think is the relationship of global social media with the regional? I know, not easy to answer with one sentence - but what is it now, today, where you are, and what do you forsee happening in 2010?

or is it that N America is better at innovating?

@Molly any time, I will be a reviewer on the project, so more than happy to keep you posted;)

@tom, good one, I think my question is somehow about the same - is the North America social media innovation leader?

(@Diego @Thiago - are you still around? I have not seen you posting, but would love to hear what you think...)

Maybe a bolder attitude (in general) and an active network of open business angels/VCs to start innovative projects @tom

@tomh14 This might give you an idea: http://www.globalwebindex.net/images/Public/global%20Map%20of%20Social%20Web%20Involvement%20-%20Global%20Web%20Index%202009.pdf

I even think the link came from Sylwia.

(might be, it's still on my desktop, which makes looking for folders fun:P)

Yes... Still here. So, I think N. America is always innovating in SM, maybe thats why the leadership...

What about regional innovations, can you think of examples of start ups, ideas that kicked off elsewhere?

What about the World Wide Web

I can´t remember anything specific right now...

Is it too ridiculous to say the relative youth of North American cities and its cliched trademarks of positivity and flexibility (as opposed to the older European businesses) mean it is quicker to adapt?

@Paulus good one:)

Linux?

Twestival (UK)

Ever heard of http://www.youare.com a spanish startup (which is basically a twitter-like network). Innovative startups in Israel too ... http://www.startupisrael.com/

@Molly You may have hit on something there. An entrenched European attitude that has had time to embed itself over a longer period and is resistive to change vs. a (relatively) new country that is [in development terms] probably classed as an adolescent, so more open to new things?

LeWeb?

(btw i just got a message that some people cannot register, or still wait for registration e-mail: do watch us, if you have a question, contact me on FB or Twitter @presleysylwia - and remember it's a monthly event, you can join us also in February! thank you for your patience!)

LeWeb could be seen a regional innovation as well @sylwia

The thing is, most of the guests are from North America ...

Do you think it's a question of financial and creative contingency or language?

Or experience?

Innovative startups it´s a question of experience and creativity, I think.

Well, let's all assume we speak Hungarian for a second. Would the social media landscape look the same globally?

I mean, let's assume we use Hungarian instead of English...

did I ask a silly question?;) I just think the fact we all speak English contribues hugely to the popularity of tools originating from North America...

@Sylwia Look at it from a * cough * marketing perspective. If you are a startup, what could you beter do than move to the Bay Area? It's also a matter of scale.

indeed...

Is it fair and safe to say that North America is the cradle of majority of social media developments and trends?

@all: Here's an angle to think about. Do you think that the uptake of businesses in adopting social media as a useful engagement tool DRIVES innovation of those tools? i.e. because businesses have been so quick to take notice and implement strategies in social media, are more tools being created because of the chance of monetisation?

@Molly I would suggest that bussiness and tools follow changes in behaviour.

@Paulus I agree, but does it start to work both ways? Does the business uptake feed it?

Of course. But here's an example: one of the first social networks was SixDegrees, in * guessing * 1997. It shortly hyped and then went broke. It was very much like LinkedIn!

@Molly But I think you are right, it might work both ways. When 'knowledge management' hyped, we did not have adequate tools..

I think it works both ways, tools affect out behaviour - this is how citizen journalism gained on importance (see today http://www.dankennedy.net/2010/01/13/citizen-media-and-the-earthquake-in-haiti/) , but usability and adjustment of tools to communities and ways we like to behave is a primary drive I think. I also think we have a need to see tools adjusted to our needs. We do not like to be pushed into usage of particular tools  - we follow our tribes, but also choose tools according to their functionalities..

@Sylwia As for tools and behaviour I agree. I am only not yet sure how business adoption fits into this. Interesting point raised by Molly.

Business adoption has to be measured according to usability, in my view. Would you invest in a tool, in relation to which you - with your experience - can already foresee lack of interest?

I am sorry, but I have to say goodbye now. @Sylwia and @Molly thank you for hosting this. Looking forward to the next episode.

@Paulus thanks for your great contributions and look forward to staying in touch

Thank you for attending, @Paulus!:) let's stay in touch!

I think we can wrap it up slowly, @Molly, what do you think?

@Sylwia Thx for your enthousiasm and insights. We will surely keep in touch!!

@Sylwia yep, lets ease everyone into the New Year Hopefully we can sort the registrations out for the next session.

I am sure we will, @Paulus!:)

@Sylwia and @Molly thanks for the conversation and the insghts here today... we will keep in touch!

Thank you everyone for attending, and reading us! Personally I would like to thank you all for all the contributions so far. And @Molly - thank you very much for taking care of the WOM Expert Groups in the future! I will join you as often as I can!:)

Have a successful year 2010 @all!:) stay in touch on Twitter (@presleysylwia) or on my blog http://www.sylwiapresley.com, or - of course - here, next month!:)

thank you @Thiago!

Thank you @all Nice chat on various topics

@Thiago please do, and thank you all for making this a first great session for me - see you in February!

and of course a big thanks to @Sylwia for doing such a great job in bringing this group to life

thx @Molly;)