Twebinar Combines Summize, Twitter, Acrobat, Hashtags And More

Earlier today I got to participate in the first ever Twebinar with Chris Brogan, Radian6 and other social media heavy hitters. I must say it was one of the more informative hours I've spent in quite some time.  It wasn't so much that the social media thought leaders were saying anything new, it was more the conversations centered around the Twebinar on Twitter and Summize.

The Twebinar was orginally slated to air on WebEx. It filled to capacity so fast that WebEx was unable to handle it, which led to Radian6 and Chris Brogan pushing it off to  Acrobat instead. I had not had the chance to use Acrobat in this way before, and I must say it handled the load of 500 participants for a web based seminar with chat quite well once I plugged in to the ethernet instead of trying to use WiFi to participate.

A recurring theme of the afternoon was the phrase "game changing". I actually heard it said so many times I was ready to let out a little scream of frustration, though from the title of the Twebinar I should have expected it. Instead, in keeping with the conversational style of the Twebinar, I tweeted what I was thinking. That by the time marketing/media types start bandying about the phrase "game changing", the game has already changed, and possibly moved elsewhere, and that people and businesses have to be ready to shift with it.

There were some excellent points made over the course of the Twebinar, but the best part was how people were able to follow along on Twitter, via Hashtags using the #tweb and #tweb2 hashtags (they had to break the sessions out into two events to handle the number of people who wanted to participate), on Summize and on FriendFeed. It was the first truly immediate, multi-platform webinar I've seen. Game changing indeed.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Twebinar was how many people it brought to Twitter. Various numbers were bandied about, and I've been unable to find the actual concrete number, but it seems the chance to participate in this multi-platform conversation pulled in people who had never used Twitter before today. It also upped the follower counts of those who were actively participating (e.g. talking too much about the event during the event), like myself. Shockingly, Twitter did not fly the FailWhale, though the diabled replies tag had many frustrated and turning to Summize.

By focusing on the conversation instead of the video playing in which the social media heavy hitters were being interviewed by Chris Brogan, you could see immediately what points resonated with the viewers. Immediate feedback, resulting conversations and expanding ideas. All from one hour long event online. In fact, the focus on the conversation instead of the event proved the point many of the social media thought leaders were trying to make: that your customers are no longer your customers. They are your community, and business is now a two way street.

For a list of participants, go to the Summize page above, or visit the Twebinar participant group page on GroupList (not all participants chose to list their information there, however).