The Growing Impact of The Audience

When the audience is ignored, revolts occur. At SXSWi sometime back, a few panels were either undone or nearly undone by Twitterers and Meebo users.

How does this connect to marketing? According to Dave Evans, "As a marketer, you can tap into the back channels. You can use the social Web to learn about what your customers are saying to each other and to your potential customers. You can gain insight from conversations occurring now."

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Anatomy of a Twitter Mob
At SXSW, during a Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) interview, Twitter backchannel turned an audience into a mob. The session leaders, not having access to the backchannel, had no idea what was happening, or why the mood of the audience had changed so rapidly.

Meebo Users Plot Revolt During Dull Panels
Tom Parish, social marketing consultant and moderator of the panel, was unaware of the e-heckling going on online. Then halfway through the panel, an audience member stepped to the mike and informed Parish about the Meebo chat, completing the circle of digital life by injecting the online discussion back into the offline one.