Live Blogging at Webstock 2010

By the end of the live tweeting for the event, I had reached 400 tweets. It’s not a lot, but it’s a round number.

I’m at Webstock, one of the year’s hottest events, gathering big names from the Internet industry in Romania. This is my first live blogging experience from morning to evening.

I’ve been at the presentations since morning but lost the 2 first presentations. You can also see the event on live streaming at Webstock.

Today, I will do live blogging to cover the whole event. You can also follow me at @analyticvision on Twitter (ask permission if I’m not on your list).

Marco Kind, CMO of Vodafone, demonstrated how to use social media to create large networks and promote this on TV.
Raluca Kisescu, Marketing Director, Avon, launched the new social network from Avon, a pilot project in Romania that will be soon found worldwide.
Radu Ionescu, Managing Partner, Kinecto talked about 7 things he learned while working with LG. He also presented himself, saying there were many people he didn’t know. This remark is obvious proof that the Internet industry has genuinely developed during the last years in Romania.

Cristi Manafu says this is the first conference streamed live on Facebook.

The second session started.

Alexis Bonte, CEO & CO-Founder eRepublik Labs says the new spam is on Facebook & Twitter, and others. All these things affect our ability to concentrate. It’s precisely the kind of stuff I was writing about here. Most parts of the content on social networks are rubbish and irrelevant. “You don’t get to 500 million friends without talking to a few enemies”. Learn to know what is relevant for your readers. Not everything that happens to you is worth posting/twitting. It requires skill to master the ability of awareness.

Emotionally engaging sharing. People create emotion by sharing pictures.

The future of social media might kill privacy. There is a Big Brother perspective to be careful about less than 5 seconds ago. Everything converges towards integration. Alexis Bonte thinks Facebook is the most likely to get the supremacy, but it’s in the position it was in MySpace 3 years ago.

Zoli Herczeg, Technology Evangelist, Microsoft Technology Evangelist, and Microsoft talk about how to scale applications for various masses of users. How do we monetize such initiatives? This is an ABC of Cloud Computing. [en, wiki] This will affect the future of web 2.0. The future in this industry is not only software as a service but also infrastructure as a service. And also platform as a service. Clients for the platform are the developers. Those who already have a platform and want to move it to the cloud need infrastructure as a service.

Hosting is not dead. Things don’t have to be in the cloud, for example, when you have 1000 users daily. Hosters will live more and more on sites that don’t have hops of cloud computing needs.

Cloud computing has allowed mobile applications to develop. Zoli Herczeg also argues that opportunities also bring responsibilities. Those who create such services must leave control to the users. Privacy is dead because it is legislated through laws from 10-15 years ago. I personally disagree.

We are here because we prefer face-to-face meetings. Innovations from cloud computing bring developments “back to Earth”. Zoli Herczeg #webstock2010 on http://zoli.herczeg.ro/ in 3 hours, there will be launched 15.000 $ contest for cloud computing applications.

Vlad Stan: to talk about the future is complicated. Only about 3 people in the hall know what they will do in 10 years. Technological evolution is exponential. Let’s talk about the future with Vlad Stan. 2 years ago, you could not see in real-time if your presentation was good enough with the Twitter wall. Many of those present have between 20-25. Man, I feel old.

Haters still have old-kind phones.

He quotes Ray Kurtzweil. Do you live in the future, in the present, or in the past? The only chance for the long term is to be an entrepreneur. The top 1000 companies from 100 years ago only have a standing company. To be prepared for the future is to be ready for change. Change is essential to entrepreneurs.

Dragos Manac has an excellent presentation. He had a funny intro about things everybody thinks they know about cars, women, and football. His presentation is really about cost-effectiveness. Think ahead. What kind of money can you save through acquiring samples or outsourcing? It’s better to keep essential people for essential tasks and outsource to Indians the rest :)

Usually, ideas-driven people hire technical people. Do you search for technological innovation or business innovation? Is it essential to scale? People buy stuff they don’t need for the hoped success and then get super-bills they pay until running out of money. Get awareness. Don’t try to swim in the bathtub! (a brilliant suggestion that I think also applies to the coaching market in Romania).

Get a consultant to guide you.

I am at the Concepts section between 14.30-18.15

The first speakers didn’t speak loud enough, and there wasn’t any microphone available. Stefan Stroe (BuzzMen)
Sergiu Machidon (BuzzMen) presented Oba Project – a boring presentation (something so DUH…) Razvan Tirboaca (Zoom Studios) fought to be heard by the public, but he couldn’t be heard in the back. His project, BuzzTwist, will be launched in 2 weeks. It’s an infrastructure for promoting press releases on social media. I don’t really get the point: who would pay for it?

Ciprian Gavriliu (Play The Balls) presents The Unit project. He started by explaining the differences between Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, and Timisoara. He mentioned Dimitrie Gusti [en, wiki], who launched the “social unit” concept. He throws a platform that locates relevant bloggers by content and traffic in a geographic location. The tool can also be used for media planning. The user pays for access to a platform that he can use for media planning. This great tool can be used to syndicate content and plan budgets for web 2.0 advertising. The idea seems reasonable. It will be launched approximately at the beginning of November 2010. This platform can be used by advertising agencies to target specific clearly delimited regions and offers more bloggers a pack. It’s like a self-service advertising agency & media planning company online.

Bogdan Bocse (Time OP) presents a tool that tracks what you do in your free time. It allows you to track what you do with your time to monitor your productivity. The information can then be used in marketing or for monitoring purposes. For example, you can clearly see how much you worked on each task. The application has some potential.

Alexandru Ciochia (Radio Lynx) doesn’t present WhisperCast anymore.

The Concepts section continues to be moderated by Victor Kapra [ro, blog]. Phoebs talks about the social media component of Lets’ Do It Romania [ro, blog], place 5 in Zelist, 50.000 + users. The project has brought together a lot of bloggers to get awareness about the project. The main idea is to have a whole day (25th of September) to clean Romania of garbage. Initially, there was little support for the initiative. Not everybody theoretically follows the project. Don’t rely on what social media says about you. It matters who actually gets involved. The 50.000 number is relevant to get people involved. Phoebs needs volunteers. Victor Kapra [ro, blog] says he wishes more people would get involved like this.

Madalina Uceanu [ro, blog] talks about HR and social media. She does job-hunting coaching and career consulting. She uses LinkedIn, Xing [German market], Viadeo [French market], Facebook, Plaxo, and Twitter. Some people have to learn how to connect with people and maintain a network of references. She learned how to use web 2.0, for example: “how to apply for a job on LinkedIn”.

Delia Constantinescu presents the DiverCity Cafe project. Worse than the fact that she doesn’t have a PowerPoint presentation is the fact she has a lot of “ăăăăăă”s, and it’s natural to observe she hasn’t exercised her speech (I remember the old times when preparing a presentation was more important than making a slideshow). She says a lot of banalities. Victor Kapra [ro, blog]: “Delia, tell us concretely what you’ve done”. Delia: “Oh, my, have I talked so much?”. One in all, this is the funniest (even if it’s not supposed to be) presentation I have seen today.

Adrian Niculescu [en, blog] presents Clubv3. How to promote a smartphone application through Social Media. He is a social media strategist. This project was developed for a UK company. Case study: Brainbox Quizmaster Series. Not anyone having Twitter and Facebook is a social media strategist. There are a lot of incompetents claiming a lot. Many cannot prove their status. Flurry.com is a good site to test your application. You can reach Adrian at 0040744777544 0040788522238 Adrian [at] clubv3 [dot] com

Andrei Ruse, a writer, speaks about how he did a trailer for a novel that he has brought to the top. Social media is free. Readers might have favorite writers alive. They might want to give feedback to them.

Adrian Chira [en, blog]MBA has precisely the same speech Bogdana Butnar had last year, only less attractive. He works for Daedalus Millward Brown and is a Personal Brand Grader. One-third of 1.7 million people from Romania currently search for a job. But people don’t know how what they write on the internet affects their image. So he optimized himself for LinkedIn search after “online identity”, “digital reputation,” and “personal branding”. The first impression someone gets through what you post on social media gets formed. After that, people eliminate you from the shortlist based on things they discover before seeing you. You can use Twitter Grader, which is different from Social Mention. Have status changes as often as possible on Linked In to get visibility. adrian [at]personalbrandgrader[dot]com.

The Concepts section has ended. Then, in 45 minutes, begins the awards section.

I checked out the Connections section. Adrian Soare made a statement about how to use social media with awareness. What you post on social media affects not only your public image but also the relationships you have. A post on Facebook doesn’t make you an idiot; it simply reflects the degree of idiocracy you proved. It’s a mirror.

The Gala started

Publishing category Daniela from Petrom (sponsor) presents III. Refresh. ro Costin briefly speaks on the stage. II. Dezlegatorii de integrame I. Trilulilu Cock’nRolls.

Utility Raluca Krisescu from Avon presents III. Agenda Banca Transilvania; T5 developed by Evolutika II. Tide – Workshops P&G I.ZeList Monitor SC TreeWorks SRL

Sergiu Nicolescu, media manager at Vodafone, awards for viral clips: III. Salvati Gropile S.C. Green Media Channel S.A. II. Avatarul Dupa Oscar S.C. Green Media Channel S.A I.Ca$$a Loco – La Mall Trilulilu

Ana Burger, online manager at Petrom, presents the Social Networking section. III. Petsbook.ro SC KickMedia SRL II. Korea Film Blog Ogilvy PR I. Pasiunea.eu Tabasco&Ciusca Tomorrow is the day of passions. Please celebrate with us!

Costin Radu presents User Generated Content III. LG Infinia – TU esti vedeta! LG Electronics Romania and Kinecto Interactions RCA pentru tine Groupama II. ? I. Plimbarescu.ro SC TreeWorks SRL

Costin Cocioaba presents video-audio section II. TuborgSound.ro – Portalul muzicii romanesti care conteaza
URBB I. MB Dragan KoVideo CPM Media Drive

Alin Zainescu, general manager of Media IQ, presents blogging campaigns. If eCostin lost 10 kilos, Alin, he says. III. MB Dragan Golden Box Pagini Aurii II. Republika – Magazinul cu cele mai multe sucursale on-line Romtelecom I. Starcom Coffeechat.ro gained 15Kraft Foods Romania

George Lemnaru, founder & CEO at eRepublik Labs, presents Special projects 2010 III. Petrom Festivalul Enescu Petrom ILeo II. Herbal Essences House of Fun P&G I. Scoala de Bani BCR

Victor Kapra presents Facebook applications III. Kinecto – 25Plus.ro Avon Cosmetics Romania; Shock – Shopsbook II. Trip Journal Facebook Application iQuest Technologies DWD I. HotelPeeps Zitec Alexandru LAPUSAN said a few more words than the other speakers. To tell you lost 10 kilos.

Dragos Manac presents Facebook Fan Pages III. Mega Image Facebook Page Mega Image; Kinecto – LGnews Fanpage (later edit: the page title was repurposed years later for another brand) LG Electronics Romania II. Cosmopolitan.ro Fan Page Sanoma Hearst Romania I.Decât o Revistă

Justin Kadima from Kondiment presents microblogging projects III Inter(heart)ivity
MB Dragan II. uTweet INC3 I. Treeworks – INNA in FHM (May 2010 issue), the Twitter uncovering game Empire Music Management

Laurentiu Dumitrescu from Visual Star presents Other 2010 as the most disputed category each year. III. Zane.ro – nu doar prin basme SC Winsoft Invent SRL II.Proiect special Mobexpert Mobexpert I. IubescBrasovul.ro Iubesc Brasovul

Webstock conferences have ended. Join us for the party at Bangcock Gran Cafe at the Webstock Party starting at 20.30.

Later edit: 10 years after writing this posts, I started doing a manual maintenance cleaning of the blog. One of my tasks was to remove broken links. It’s interesting to notice that most of the original winners of these projects do not exist or work anymore. Even though the article is hyperlinked, it was even more so initially when I published it, as you may see on the archived web page. So what happens when I try to open most of those original old links? A lot of stuff like this: