So what happened at SXSW ‘09?

Lots of social media gurus - really popular since it’s catching on in the corporate and mainstream worlds.

Question was largely: “So what’s next?”  ”Why do we care?”  or in the words of Tim O’Reilly, “How do we use this to get to the STUFF THAT MATTERS?”

One of the themes that came out loud and clear, both in the hallways and in the keynote sessions, is that in order to do what matters you have to know what that is - you need data.  Our technological models, product models and even pricing models in pure-play technology are changing.  

To keep up, much less cut through the glitzy fluff, you need real intelligence, from real - meaningful data.

Scene 1: Nate Silver, brilliant young’un who has used data to do the unthinkable, shows how how understanding - and acting on that insight - in the worlds of baseball, finances and politics all share some data-driven techniques and power (think Moneyball and Sabermetrics, and - you know, - the Obama victory).

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Keynote 1
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Scene 2:  Stephen Baker, big media guy who wrote a book (the Numerati) - translating the kind of stuff Nate’s done for the masses - interviews Nate and continues the theme: the world’s a changin’ and those who control the oil, guns, data will/do run it.

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Keynote 2
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Scene 3:  Chris Anderson, Wired chief editor and Long-Tail author, does his thing about the long tail - ie it changes the economics of markets and products - redefines what effeciency used to be.

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Keynote 3
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The key to manage - not just keep up, but actually accelerate - to use the SXSW summary of Baker’s explanation of work like Silver’s: meta data - specifically “the growing power of meta data in today’s society.”

Anyway, this wasn’t just a keynote theme or a slick metanarrative - it was conversations in the halls - heard more than once, from various groups the same phrase: “It’s the data stupid.”

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So blue “blue-haried kids” and even their big-media translaters are hopping on board the data train in the world at large - makes you wonder about the implications for health care.