Why I’m over live blogging (and I’m not sure about live tweeting either)
I’m falling out of love with live blogging, and indeed live tweeting, from events. Too often, you end up being little more than a snarky dictaphone.
My moment of clarity came yesterday, on the first day of Adtech, and my last live blog may come this afternoon at the APG’s Battle of Big Thinking.
Often, the temptation to be first, or even instantaneous, is at the expense of proper thought. The urge to do something just because you can, is particularly strong in the digital sphere. Yesterday I was quite smug that Mumbrella’s daily email dropped into my Blackberry, including a link to my live blog of the debate on digital marketing in finance, before it was even over.
But often, I don’t think the process does anyone much justice.
When you’re commenting/ reporting on the previous 30 seconds only, it’s almost impossible to give context, and tempting to go for for an easy gag instead.
Take, my live blog of yesterday’s opening keynote at Adtech from Unilever’s Babs Rangaiah. As I chatted to people afterwards, I realised I didn’t have much of an opinion of his address. I’d been so busy reporting up with what he was saying, I’d had insufficient bandwidth to digest it too.
As a result, his list of ten rules of digital marketing, comes across as precisely that, a bland list. The context was lost. I still don;t honestly know if he was any good or not.
An even better example was the session on big ideas. This was a discussion where context counted for a lot. But the structure of a live blog doesn’t let you put the most interesting thought at the top of the piece, as you would a more traditional type of report.
So again, the live blog is a series of bullet points, of ideas people like, plus ideas they don’t think are big (along with a gap in the middle where my netbook ran out of power and I had to switch to commenting via my Blackberry). It’s okay, but I’m not sure having it up instantly outweighs the nenefits of a better thought out piece. It may just be that he’s a better writer and a cleverer person than I, but as a punter, I’d rather have read McCann’s Mark Pollard’s take on it. It may have been a few minutes after the session finished, but it’s far more coherent.
That’s not to say that live blogs don’t have their place. But I’d argue that it the event being covered needs to contain a series of definitive updates, that people who can’t see it will want to stay on top of instantly. Sport is a great example. Conference discussions are not.
The Guardian’s blog coverage of The Ashes in 2005 was probably the best example I’ve ever come across. Funny, factual and inclusive. They even turned the transcripts into a book – Is it Cowardly To Pray For Rain? which still reads well today (if you support England).
As for Twitter, that can be even less helpful.
I’ve moderated a few events with a live tweetstream – including a few of the Social Media Club Sydney panels – and it’s an unpleasant experience. Not because of the tweeters, but because of the set-up. What tends to happen is someone tweets a gag in reaction to something that’s just been said on stage. The conversation moves on, and just as the guest is making a serious point, the gag tweet appears on the screen. The audience laughs, the speaker stops because they think the crowd is laughing at them, and the momentum of the conversation is lost.
Similaerly at Adtech, check out the hashtag, #atsyd.
At the time of writing these are the most recent tweets:
@Doogsta: build branded communities or utilise existing social media tools? Tough to incentivise & maintain a community from scratch #atsyd #atsyd3
@ChrisBjorklund: @inspiredworlds: #atsyd: If u know ur stuff online don’t bother. This is Internet 101. Anyone else??
@svetaz: 15 min into the free social media session from ReachLocal at #atsyd and nothing new or original at all…
@katydaniells: RT @JimiHopkins: #atsyd #atsyd1 #dd what are the possible places were ppl may complain about your brand online? Are you listening?
@inspiredworlds: thinking about heading to #atsyd during my lunchbreak….what’s it like so far?
@daemondigital: CBA – involvement within the environment where conversations happening already. CBA became Hero within communities #atsyd3 #atsyd #dd
@JimiHopkins: #atsyd #atsyd1 #dd what are the possible places were ppl may complain about your brand online? Are you listening?
@daemondigital: Brands can encourage the conversation but can not control what the community says #atsyd3 #atsyd #dd
@lukegrange: Be confident (though education) before dipping your toes into Social Media as a company. #atsyd #atsyd1
They make up a mixture of well-meaning attempts to report what’s happening, and complaints about the content. I’m not sure that those who aren’t there are getting a useful sense of the discussion though.
It doesn’t play to Twitter’s strengths.
Despite that, I’m taking my netbook to the APG’s Battle of Big Thinking this afternoon (Hashtag: #BOBT). But I’m going to take a few moments to digest what each speaker has to say, before racing to publish.
It may not be quite as fast, but I hope it will be more thoughtful.
Tim Burrowes
Linkedin
Carpe diem
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I wholeheartedly agree. Take your notes, muse over them at length, reach some thoughtful understanding and conclusion and then share that with the world.
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Insightful post Tim – interesting reflections.
Not that I speak from any experience here, but I think with live blogging and tweeting you’re mainly relying on direct insights from the conscious mind.
In contrast, having a bit of time to “digest” gives the cogs of the subsconscious a chance to whirr-away and come up with more lateral insights and comment.
But I do like the idea of 140-character wraps of what a speaker has to say – it’s a bit like Lonely Planet’s “Twities”, asking travellers to summarise a city in 140 chts:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tr.....ty/?p=1811
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I agree on live blogging, but the feedback I have gotten from readers is that they really enjoy my live tweeting and want it to continue. People also really enjoy feeding journalists questions via Twitter to ask executives during Q&A sessions etc.
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Nice one, Tim. I’m progressively more leery of both live blogs of conference-like events (sports could well be another matter) and the tweet wall. I don’t think they add any measurable value *at* the event, nor to those watching from afar.
I’d much rather you took an hour to digest and then gave us well-considered responses.
And enjoy BOBT. I wanted to come, but can’t make it.
Thanks!
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I against live blogging/tweeting 100% when it comes to “professional” events. Here there is good reason to silently digest (note take if that is your thing) and contemplate on the often complex subject matter and theorems being thrust forth. As a speaker, I would personally be a little miffed to stare down at a crowd half-populated by humans more engaged with their device than my words. If you cannot attend, a live stream or recording is easily provided.
When it comes to “non-professional”, after-hours or more open salon/debate type of functions then live tweeting is more in play. These events are organised to allow interaction with the crowd, and therefore open discussion (live tweeting) during the event becomes more of personal choice.
Having hashtag streams visible during proceedings, often in stereo, does tend to distract a crowd from the real life action occurring in front of them. Thus, the organisers need to make a decision prior to the doors opening as to whether this crowd distraction will have a negative or positive on their goals for the occasion.
I often wonder if we have become too attached to these mobile devices, and fail to understand that putting them down when in a crowd (or even with a couple of people) is still important for respectful human relations.
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Some news/information gains credence by being immediate/first. Others doesn’t.
It is interesting to hear you say this having also just read Ben Shepherd’s posting from Texas. Fair enough that was in a different country and timezone but whereas readers feel they got a good sense of what was going on over there from Ben’s post-session report, you sound like a frustrated government interpreter (who really wants to be a policy advisor)
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While I agree that live-blogging is not ideal, one of my clients in the nonprofit sector has used it successfully – for conferences/forums.
I believe it is still a good alternative particularly for those that cannot attend key events. Inclusivity is important and this is a viable way to ensure that happens.
Cheers
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What I find these days is that live tweeting (and blogging) is as often as not for people who can’t make it to the conference and are watching remotely – the information is somewhat ephemeral. So, I prefer live tweeting (ephemeral anyway) to liveblogging (as you point out, the medium allows for deeper reflection anyway).
What myself and a few others do: live tweet, then use the tweets as a way to write a more considered blog piece afterwards. Best of both worlds – fast and informed. Would be interested to hear other’s strategies.
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Even a sports commentary teams will have a play by play announcer (the live blogger if you will) and the special comments person (the analyst). Just being the announcer is pointless without the special comments and does nothing to ‘include’ the public in an event or conference, especially an event or conference as boring as adtech.
Until Tweetie supports blocking tweets containing hashtags, I’ll just keep on unfollowing any moron live tweeting from a conference floor.
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One of the best posts I’ve read on here for a while
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But if you cant be there + you want to know what is happening + be involved + all of the livestreams – video+audio aren’t happening – what do u do????
Maybe there is a place for liveblogging – if there is a dedicated person to report the event then others who are attending f2f can provide the commentary – this can allow you to be able to ask questions – as an outside person with more context and more understanding of what others are saying.
There are many of us who cant afford to be at all of these great events – or sometimes not such great events. Please keep the live blogging + twitter streams happening. Maybe there needs to be a bit more thoughtful use of twitter streams and how they are used with speakers + panels + question time.
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At SXSW the live tweeting is intense … look around the room during most panels and half the audience are heads down looking at their phones or computers.
It’s the conference equivalent of ppl who take shitloads of blurry pics of concerts with their mobile phone … ie, you miss the experience you’ve paid for and you’re left with a load of stuff after the fact you’ll never look at again.
I’ve abandoned the live blog / tweet / yammer in favour of Wave with a group of friends. The text is constantly rewritten to capture what we — as a group — see as important. The result is usually some quite terse but useful notes. I suppose you could position that as the group working together to understand what was really important about the talk. A big plus is that it highlights the speakers which are all style over content (and there seems to be a lot of that around at the moment).
I also find the tweet wall evil and completely valueless.
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It’s useful as a news feed, but only if you consider it like wires coverage or the role of a court stenographer, not an editorial blog.
The problem word here is “blogging” not “live”.
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agree 100%. i’m increasingly disenchanted with twam.
the tweetverse becomes inherently less valuable and more about either clever oneliners or robotic parroting devoid of true meaning as the purveyers of these not so fine goods seek to secure status or foster credibility in a constantly shifting world.
all it means is even more noise to signal ratio. as witnessed pre web 2.0 and then again with the mobile movement. every brave new technological world wave brings new celebrity seeking cowboys to the wild west.
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Wow Tim, that’s quite a revelation.
Maybe we’ll even subscribe and pay for your well thought out opinions…
Ed
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Good points Tim. It is hard however when the conversation (on twitter) has moved on faster than you can keep up if wishing to ‘digest’ a little more. I absolutely agree that a shorter, later but more meaningful comment is… well, more meaningful, but it must be hard to get your point across when the conversation is already peering at the next tweet (or topic).
Looking forward however to seeing how you go! I do hope it’s successful as perhaps the world’s pace is a little too fast these days. We should all slow down and smell the roses and provide some more meaningful banter to the online world.
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Context, and depends on the event.
Live blogging works best at a big product launch or keynote, example a Steve Jobs keynote. At an event where someone is giving his views on a particular area without product, everything you say is true.
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Ah, a moment of clarity from an evangelist. I love it, thanks Tim.
Now for the real battle: Convincing the entire online journo crowd that there is more to reporting than facile opinion (regurgitated and weighted) in the fastest possible time, assuming readers give a stuff that they’re using the latest fad platform.
Yes, that’s fired at the lot of you.
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Sorry Tim was there live blogging from Ad:tech? I missed it. I’ve been listening to some great live blogging, forums, tweeting and video streaming from SXSW.
Did I miss anything good?
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YMMV
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You do yourself a disservice Tim. I always love reading your thoughts. I do however agree with the sentiment.
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Totally agree Tim – I am trying to follow adtech and battle of big thinking and the same people are putting up the same snippets – rushed, badly written – really not telling me much about the events – I would much rather read a well written piece tomorrow to see what I missed out on.
I think live blogging/tweeting is really interesting when there is a more urgent or more exciting message to get out like a press conference or a sporting event or even the oscars!
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What a great blog post. Context is key to events like Ad:Tech and there’s been some great sessions. Always love reading your thoughts here on mUmbrella and the Babs post did seem a tad out of character. I think twitter the audience are more accepting of the fact that some of their updates will lack context. I suppose it goes to show that there’s nothing quite like being there.
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I think tweeting is OK for those not at the event, but can you really concentrate while using a mobile device at the same time? Isn’t your time in front of a speaker better spent jotting down new facts and information?
I attended Bab’s Keynote yesterday and loved the fact you summarised it in a blog. It meant I didn’t have to do this myself (for the rest of my team) back at the office. What was missing however, was some of the context. Unless you were there, it was hard to get the full meaning of each of his 10 points.
Live blogging is great for live sport, but is the digital world moving that fast that we can’t wait a couple of hours for a more thorough report later? I don’t think so.
Thanks Tim! An insightful blog.
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Mine was one of those tweets from ad:tech Tim copied in his entry, and I think live tweeting and live blogging (as in capturing the content) is fine to do for jouranlists and like-minded people, and will be appreciated by those not attending. But if you are a normal delegate, IMHO you are indeed better off actually digesting what is being said in the session. If there is an urgent thought you have to share (as I had to whinge) – please do, but see the same transcript/quotes from 50 different people about one keynote? no thanks
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Couldn’t agree more, excellent post. Blogging and tweeting is about dialogue and conversation leading to understanding, but live blog and tweet is neither – it’s just a regurgitation engine leading to confusion
live tweeting from conferences is a particular pet hate, and often leads me to unfollow people if I know my feed will be full of hashtagged nonsense for the day
i was thinking as i was reading that some sports liveblogs are actually great – the guardian’s over by over for instance – and then you mentioned just that! what are some other instances where live blog/tweet has been used well
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Twitter is going to go under in a couple of years.
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Great post Tim and I am inclined to agree
On a related issue last night went to a SMC Melbourne (@SMCMelb) event and of course it was about SM so you expect people to be tweeting…somewhat. But not to the extent I saw. I “interrupted” at least three people who were tweeting just to say “hi” and to network. Because lets face it that was one of the two reasons I went there in the first place. The people were very nice about my interrupting them but I counted at one stage several people just leaning against a wall and punching their iPhones. Yes, they were probably interacting online but not interacting face-to-face and isnt that one of the reasons they came to the event in the first place also?
In the “olden days” (about 5 years ago!) when you went to a conference or event you didnt have your iPhone to lean on and had to interact and talk to people face to face. It was either that or stand by yourself like a lemon.
And on your point I think @qanda might be onto the right idea. The live event is left live. No twitter stream showing during broadcast, but if you choose to go on Twitter and following the stream you can. It also allows the host to concentrate on the hear and now which is courteous to their guests and also leads to more quality debate.
SM etiquette is developing rapidly. We are all learning the rules. In time I think it will more seamlessly integrate with live events. At the moment that is not happening. So keep watching!
Ann
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Brilliant Post.
When looking at my list of followers – more and more of the last published tweets are in 2009..
When people are Tweeting about events or restaurant reviews on my247.com.au – more often or not its their first and last ever post.
Our recent user-survey indicated 90% of our users (550,000 monthly visitors) are not bothered by twitter. I know our demographic is the longer tail and not online all day / every day..but the results still surprised me.
So Twitter has a place, but its not the be all and end all for all business, services and conferences. Maybe they need to tweek it some more.
Anyway, I was beginning to think it was just me.
CK
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Well – allow me to retort: http://engineerswithoutfears.b.....irect.html (the ending gets a bit florid)
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Couldn’t agree more Tim. I basically think that it’ very rude of the audience to not be paying their full attention to the speaker.
Twitter – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
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Two social marketing conferences in the past month & it was the same in every session: it was like the room was being eaten by locusts with their constant tapping.
As a presenter it’s rare these days to have someone establish eye contact with you; I guess you can take it as a compliment that what you’re saying is tweet / blog worthy – unless of course they’re not saying complimentary things.
It’s ironic in these days of social networking that people seem to have the lost some of the nuances of flesh & blood interactions.
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