On stage, gurus held forth on Twitter and news, Twitter duringemergencies, Twitter as a business tool.
It was the 140 Character Conference Northwest. A chance to talk,tweet and learn about Twitter, right here in Vancouver.
More than 800 characters signed up to attend on Thursday. Somecame from Seattle and California, but most were fairly local.
I stopped in to say hi.
It was hard to make contact with anyone there. At a row oftables, people tweeted from laptops. In nearby chairs, they peckedat phones.
In an hour, they posted 353 Twitter updates about the unfoldingconference. Ten minutes later, another 67 tweets.
Twitter, of course, is a hot digital tool. Built to send a blastto friends, it now lets us connect with strangers, share ideas, sellgoods.
Its been used by revolutionaries in the Middle East. A way tocommunicate beyond dictators control. Each tweet maxed at 140characters.
But revolutions were not on the agenda at the 140 CharacterConference. Government uses of Twitter were center stage.
Politicians can use the tool to connect to voters, said PortlandMayor Sam Adams.
Emergency crews can follow and share updates, fire chiefsreported.
Agencies can learn and adapt based on their online fans, saidGahlord Dewald, Internet strategist.
Twitters often a tool for businesses, too. Two experts oncorporate use shared tips for the for-profit crowd.
When businesses use social media, they must remember to besocial, said Bruce Elgort, chairman of OpenNTF Alliance.
Dont just put out blasts about your product. Listen to customers.Interact.
Make sure Twitter helps you get stuff done, said Chris Martin,documentary filmmaker and social media maven. Otherwise yourewasting time.
If youre not productive and meeting your goals and objectives,youre probably not going to stay in business, Martin said.
Businesses that use Twitter well boost customer engagement. Do itwrong and youre better off avoiding the social Web.
That said, be bold, give it a go, Martin exhorted.
Get social. Do business, he said. Dont fear what is new.
Theres evidence hes right.
Companies use Twitter to track complaints and fix them, rewardcustomers with coupons, answer questions, spur a sale.
JetBlue, Comcast, Dell and Starbucks all boasted of tweet successdetails online here: http://bit.ly/SOCl.
Still, I thought, the screens an odd way to connect, especiallyin a room full of other people.
I looked around to see if anyone might agree. Nobody looked back.All eyes were on their screens.
On my phone: 62 new tweets about the conference. People quotingspeakers, arguing, checking in.
To the tech savviest among us, perhaps I was the odd one out.Looking for eye contact when the real conversation was online.
Courtney Sherwood is The Columbians business and features editor.Reach her at 360-735-4561 or courtney.sherwood@columbian.com.
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