Socialising events is becoming a priority of most of our beloved social networks. How cool is that?
Trends and direct sources tell me this is a space planners should carefully monitor as big surprises are ined up.
No doubts this is one of the most exciting arenas for event technology developers. There is true value to be generated. Questions such as who is attending what demanded an answer. It looks like answers are piling up.
In the past couple of months I have noticed more changes in this space than anywhere else in the socialsphere (well, apart from location). It looks like offline/online integration is finally happening.
Here is a list of 5 tools you should keep an eye on:
5. Plancast
I had the pleasure to have a chat with them a while ago and I was very pleased with what they are cooking in their labs. Plancast is one of the first social tools for events that made you discover what’s hot in your circle of friends. It is quite easy to set up and allows good integration with Facebook and Twitter. The exciting new changes I had the pleasure to see make it worth monitoring.
4. Upcoming
Upcoming had it all. They had a great concept, although their Yahoo-centric perspective of the Web trashed the opportunities for growth. It is still a great tool but quite niche at the moment due to lack of integration with external services. Sharing on Twitter is great but that is a basic script that was developed in 2006, Yahoo developers can do better than that and I am sure they will.
3. Facebook
Integration with Eventbrite and amiando as well as recent redesign, made Facebook Events a respectable platform where to promote events. As all things Facebook, it needs constant feeding and promotion in other channels. Nonetheless Facebook is at the forefront of the social networking revolution and can really deliver that ‘viral’ effect lots of us are looking for. I am sure new changes will soon come.
2. LinkedIn
Chances are that if you are reading this blog you plan conferences and meetings. Therefore all of the above tools may be too hip for your audience. Well, LinkedIn has a kick ass event recommendation system that deserves attention. Although it has been left to itself in the past months, the recent wave of platform updates tells me that it will be revamped soon. Definitely a space to watch and to invest in. Remember that most of the high earners/spenders hang around here.
1. Lanyrd
Amazing. This is what I thought when I first bumped into Lanyrds. The simplicity, yet depth of attention to details immediately impressed me. amazing how speakers can identify themselves and seamless integration with Twitter. It also looks like they nailed integration with the most appropriate social networking tool, that being Twitter. Most of the relationships on Twitter revolve around the willingness to meet at events and they seem to have understood that very well. The quick response they had on Twitter after a spike during dConstruct tells me they will soon have big surprises.
Have a look at this great lanyrd review from Gianfranco.
Bonus: Twitter Events.
This is definitely the service to keep an eye on. Back in 2008 I stressed how Twitter was event driven. they seem to ave realized that as well
Photo by Robert Scales