Fashion Goes Digital?

Last Tuesday, I hopped a cab from work down to Thor bar at the Hotel Rivington on the Lower East Side. I was headed down there to attend a panel about Fashion “going digital,” as part of the events of Social Media Week here in New York City.

Panelists hailed from Ideeli.com and MyItThings, among others, and sat down in close quarters to talk about their take on the role of social media in the fashion industry and vice versa.

In light of Fashion Week beginning this week, I will briefly discuss a topic that arose regarding the streaming of runway shows. Will designers start streaming their runway shows instead of showing live? Marc Jacobs is already livestreaming his show this year in conjunction with the live event.

Perhaps they will, but I do not see this having the potential to debunk Fashion Week. There is a thrill that passes through the air during a live runway show that cannot be experienced digitally. To hear the music live, see the clothes parade before you as the physical manifestation of each designer’s vision is a visceral experience.

However, let’s not forget that Fashion Week is in fact a trade event. This is for members of the industry, despite the consumer, social and celebrity interest it garners. For most worshippers, respectful admirers and even students of fashion, a ticket to the tents at Bryant Park is unattainable – but with an accompanying live, streaming video, the shows can receive a greater audience. As someone who religiously follows the fashion industry, I have to say I would love to see the shows streamed live. It is not the authentic experience of course, but I do think that should be left to the actual industry professionals.

Another interesting subject that becomes an issue when these shows pop up on the internet live, is the instant and rapid spread of trends. The trends reach mainstream audiences so quickly that shoppers want to get these looks before they’ve even hit the storeroom floors. Trends have been viewed 80 plus times, passed between the hands of countless blogs and feel old and tired before they’ve even been unveiled. I wonder how the fashion industry will tackle this issue.

All in all, it was an interesting forum and the fashion industry certainly stands at an interesting crossroads, as it cannot seem to avoid the influence of social media, whether it likes it or not. Sentiments seemed mixed, and I myself am, I confess, ambivalent.

-Kristin

Digital Divas Get Social

Talk about a lady that knows how to throw a par-tay! Peg Samuel, Social Diva and author extraordinaire, and her gaggle of digital divas hosted a very sassy, very social shindig at the Hotel on Rivington on Tuesday night in celebration of Social Media Week NY.

While sipping on my ”Retweet” (one of the complimentary signature cocktails of the evening), I met Katie HellmuthMartin, founder of Collective-E (@collectivee), a unique, forward-thinking company that provides female entrepreneurs and small-business owners with the marketing resources and connections they need to build their brands. Here we are, stunned by the flash of one very ”enthusiastic” photographer (think Rico Suave).

A special shout-out also goes out to Khary Barnes, a social-media savvy investor from American Express’ Corporate Development and M&A group and probably the only other person in the room who enjoyed the DJ’s reggae selection as much as I did, given our Caribbean backgrounds (yes, put me in a room of hundreds of people and I can spot the fellow Caribbean folk from a mile away). In the midst of chatting it up, we had to pause to give mad props to Digital Diva Emily Gannett, co-founder of Klickable TV, for her fabulous Twitter necklace.

All in all, the event delivered a truly social experience by bringing together a group of amazing people who share a mutual love of all things digital and all things par-tay. Check out the full photo gallery on Guest of a Guest.

On @Dr_Drea’s agenda for the rest of the week - Whole Foods’ New York Food Media Panel and Harlem Blogging 2.0. Stay tuned…

-Andréa S.

Social Media Week Continues

Social Media Week is in full swing and I’ve had the chance to attend two events – “The New Age of Social Media” panel on Monday night and “Keys to Success in Social Media Campaigns,” hosted by Gotham Media Ventures on Tuesday night.  Both provided some pretty interesting insights on trends and the future of social media, including:

• Geolocation tracking and augmented reality are the next big things in social media (I may just break down and join FourSquare today)
• Only 0.02% of people click though on ads on social media sites
• Consumers that have a positive online experience with a product are likely to purchase a product within 24 days
• Social media will continue to become more niche with the development of sites for people with specific interests, characteristics and needs

Both panels took a look at how brands can capture and then continue to engage and audience and everyone seemed to have different view when it comes to whether it is more important to have 1 million inactive followers/friends or a smaller group of very active and engaged followers/friends. It really boiled down to the fact that there isn’t one game plan when it comes to social media.

The highlight of both events was probably when I found out that “Keys to Success in Social Media Campaigns” panelist Katy Kelley from Carrot Creative is a fellow Iowan, which provided her with instant credibility in my book.

-Jenny

A Very Special NYTM

In honor of Social Media Week, February’s NY Tech Meetup was extra special…and extra long. It was $20 this time and all the proceeds ($14,000) went to Partners in Health for Haiti relief, which was nice. Although most of the presentations focused on the somewhat vague theme the “future of tech” rather than app demos, I thought it was a nice change of pace. Some of my favorite presentations included:

• SeeClickFix, a site that allows people to report local issues in their communities — basically, like 311, but online (and better)
• Our old friend Tony Bacigalupo (remember our interview with him?), who talked about the future of coworking
• Clay Shirky, who looked exactly like Tom Hanks with a shaved head and a Three Wolf Moon shirt, and talked about the power of social networks
• Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the Acumen Fund, who briefly discussed entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty
• Dr. Jay Parkinson, who wants to change the health care industry through his organization The Future Well (you may have previously heard about his very intriguing work with Hello Health)

Oh, and then Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping showed up to do a gospel performance and confuse the heck out of everyone (see photo above). True story.

—Alyssa

Twitter Adds Local Trending Topics

When I logged into Twitter tonight, I was surprised by a little pop-up window telling me about Twitter’s new location-based trending topics feature and asking me to set my location. Right now, the feature is only available in five countries and 15 cities, but apparently Twitter is working on expanding that list.

So now I can see what people in New York City are twittering about, although it mostly just tells you what people are currently watching on television. Which I guess is sort of helpful for someone like me, who doesn’t have a TV? For instance, I know that most New Yorkers right now are watching a rerun of the Jersey Shore reunion on MTV, the Lifetime TV movie The Pregnancy Pact, Diary of a Mad Black Woman on BET, Kristin Kreuk making her TV comeback on Chuck, or someone named James Roday on WWE Raw. Who needs Nielsen when you’ve got Twitter?

However, I think the most interesting thing I learned is that there are a lot of NYC-area high-schoolers on Twitter who are apparently taking the Regents exams tomorrow. Sharpen those No. 2 pencils, kiddies!

—Alyssa

The First NYTM of 2010

Last night, I went to the first New York Tech Meetup of the decade, and it looks like all my favorite NYC geeks survived the holidays. Here are some highlights:

• SpeakerText was the clear standout of the night, judging by the spontaneous applause and number of audience questions. The site aims to provide searchable text transcripts of online videos, and even allows you to link to a specific point in the video with a “quotelink.” Wouldn’t this sort of magic make all of our lives so much easier? Yes, yes it would.
• I was pretty excited about PressLift, since it’s designed for communications professionals. It’s basically like drop.io for PR folks, allowing you to create an online pressroom with analytics. I definitely need to sign up and check out the beta site when I get a second…which will probably be around March, at this rate.
• I was also really excited that WNYC came out to present. Even though they didn’t have a cool new app to offer, they wanted to appeal to the New York tech community for help in marrying journalism and technology, two of my favorite things! It warmed the cockles.
• Taxi Hack is an app that allows people to review and provide information about various taxi drivers and companies. I really liked this idea when I first heard about it a while ago, but then I realized that if a taxi pulled up and the driver got a bad review on Taxi Hack, I would probably still jump in. Beggars, choosers, you know the deal.
• I was excited to finally see a lady presenter for Yogoer, since girls are usually the ones moving the mouse onstage at NYTM…or not on stage at all. And we can all use a little more girl power in our technology-filled lives.
• Lastly, I wanted to let all you New Yorkers know about NYClothingDrive.org. In order to give back to the community, TechiesGiveBack and some other charitable souls will come pick up your unwanted clothing on February 6 and deliver it to charity. They only ask that you make a small donation, which all goes to New York Cares.

—Alyssa

Don't Knock the Hustle...

Today, Gawker’s Ryan Tate posted a story entitled “Three Annoying Habits of the Laziest Journalists on Twitter.” In a nutshell, Gawker hates journalists who (1) Tweet a “barrage of rushed, repetitive questions,” (2) Make their “heartless pursuit of the story totally obvious” and (3) rhyme gratuitously on Twitter. Being the unapologetical bunch they are, they’ve named names. Most horrifyingly…USA Today’s Barbara De Lollis.

Is this not why there’s an “unfollow” button? If people are so annoyed by these journalists’ tweets, why are they following them? I’m sure many PR professionals will agree that Barb and her cohorts make it easier to track what they’re writing about, thus enabling us to send appropriate information. Other professions are using Twitter to communicate directly to their trade audiences and gather feedback and research more quickly, so why can’t journalists?

Sure, Barb could be more engaging and interactive with her followers and show some more personality in her tweets - that’d probably make her queries more appealing to her readers and would probably generate more responses from them. But hey, from a professional standpoint, her tweets serve their purpose to the PR community. So, to answer Tate’s question “Do any of De Lollis’ followers actually answer…?” Yes, we do!

As for the rhyming lady, well unless her followers are all in kindergarten, that’s just not cool.

-Andréa S.