SXSW Interactive Day 3 — Feed My Head

Heaven help me, it’s Day 3 of SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas.

The sun has gone away, the clouds have moved in, but the compelling family digital entertainment just rattles on and on.

Scott and I did another podcast recap yesterday, this time just the two of us. I don’t have the link at the ready as I’m blogging from the Chris Poole session on the iPad, but if you Google “Scott Laningham” and find his blog, you should be able to find the link.

Day 2 was pretty compelling. My favorite session was on the use of social media in the Middle East, and it got pretty heavy duty during the discussion, as I mention in the podcast, when a Washington, D.C.-based Al Jazeera reporter in our session announced that an Al Jazeera cameraman in Libya had just moments before been confirmed killed while doing his job in Benghazi.

So, in juxtaposition with the poser sessions where teenyboppers are talking about brand influence, to have the stakes raised to life and death kind of gives one a sense of perspective.

But that’s always the case for me: It’s the big ideas leaking through the SXSW sieve of inconsequentiality that keeps me coming back again and again, and this year in spite of the overcrowding.

That, and having great dinners with great colleagues and friends from around the globe.

More later, but check out that Day 2 podcast if you get the chance. We did a good wrap for 15 minutes!