South By Texas State

It’s the constant battle of new media: Where do you draw the line between privacy and publicity? That was the subject of Saturday’s keynote address, delivered by Danah Boyd, social media researcher for Microsoft New England. She believes online privacy is not dead. However, she said privacy is understanding how technology flows.

Boyd focused much of her talk on privacy issues with Google Buzz and Facebook. Regarding Google, she was concerned with the amount of information that was available when Buzz launched earlier this year. Boyd stated that just because something is publicly accessible doesn’t mean people want it publicized. As for Facebook, Boyd said only 35% of users went into the security settings that changed in December and made their information private.

The keynote then focused on teens and the information they’re putting on the internet. Boyd said she has talked to tween-age girls who have deliberately posted risqué pictures of themselves in order to get a modeling contract via the web like Tila Tequila. She believes teens want to be celebrities, but don’t understand the difficulties that come along with it – like paparazzi. “There’s a big difference between being center of attention at school and being stalked by photographers,” Boyd said. She went on to say the worst thing parents can do when talking about privacy with their kids is say, “Back in my day…” Parents have to involve their kids in the discussion and genuinely value their feedback.

Boyd wrapped up her keynote with a key point. She said, “Wanting privacy is not about having something to hide. It’s about wanting to maintain control.” The question you have to ask is how public are you willing to be?

Remember when actor Jeff Goldblum died? It had to be true because I saw it on the internet. Problem was – it was a hoax.

Stories like this can spread like wildfire with the help of social media such as Twitter. Goldblum himself had to go on Comedy Central and read his own obituary to let people know it wasn’t true. However, this isn’t always the case. Stories like Michael Jackson’s death broke online. It took mainstream media an hour or so after TMZ broke the story to finally get it confirmed.

In a panel called “RIP Jeff Goldblum,” Megan McCarthy from Techmeme talked about how to tell fact from fiction. She presented three keys to do this.

1. Know your source – The Goldblum story was on an obvious hoax web site. If someone had googled Global Associated News, they could have learned it was a hoax immediately.

2. Know the information – Know what is being passed along. For example, a tech executive sent a tweet to friends that a former Myspace executive was joining his company. He attached a link that Rick Rolled people, but the people who spread it never clicked on that link. They simply retweeted it as fact.

3. Know the big picture – See if a story passes the smell test. What is the big picture? Does someone have an agenda? This can make you understand if something is really news.

A lot of people have blogs these days. That means they have a voice – and that voice could earn them big bucks.

In a SXSWi panel called “From Blogger to Social Media Guru to Public Speaker,” Nick Morgan and Tim Sanders discussed their advice for hitting it big in the world of public speaking. Their rules were simple. First, do not self-publish a book. Sanders and Morgan say meeting coordinators are looking for a speaker printed by a reputable publisher. Secondly, create a DVD of yourself in public speaking situations. Pay a board guy to make a dub of the video system feed and pay a stringer to shoot crowd shots. Have a professional then edit the DVD together and send that out. Finally, do not cuss in speeches. Sanders and Morgan say this will kill your public speaking career.

However, this advice is not always true. Gary Vaynerchuk is living proof of that. He self-published his book which became a NY Times best seller. Gary cusses during his presentations…a lot. Yet, he is one of the most successful public speakers going right now.

Several people replied to the tweets during this particular panel, disagreeing with the advice given by the panelists. There are obviously many ways to become a hit on the speaking panel. It’s up to you to find the way that works in your particular situation.

Nan Palmero is referred to as the head nerd of San Antonio. He’s at SXSWi 2010 to cover the event for the San Antonio Express-News’ web site. I asked him about his thoughts so far, beating the CEO of 4square at 4square and how he and his friends are asking weird questions to internet celebrities.

I had the pleasure of running into USA Today tech writer Jon Swartz at SXSWi. I asked him for his thoughts on the conference and the battle between old media and new media.

The key theme from the SXSWi Panel “How to Make a Living as a Blogger?” It’s not easy. Panelists Brian Fairbanks and Colleen Kane discussed the challenges a potential professional blogger faces.

Some of the highlights:

Some of the silliest topics get the most hits. This is something a blogger has to balance. Do you really want to write about hot actresses or top Hollywood bodies? Sex is usually the easiest topics to draw traffic to your blog. Also, “top” lists are huge hit-getters, especially if they are about sex. Sites like Digg make these lists so easy to find and draw huge traffic to your blog.

Start writing your blog and eventually ask people writing similar things to help contribute. Not only are you getting free content, you’re also getting 100% of the traffic on your site.

A professional blogger in the crowd suggested bloggers should sell their brands to companies to help their brand. For instance, this blogger writes about parenting and sold a “road trip” blog to GM.

Another person in the crowd said if you have a niche blog, let a company know if you are writing about its products. It could lead to great publicity and more opportunities to write.

Bottom line: becoming a professional blogger takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. Most importantly, it takes passion that you can market.