Are you not able to head to Austin for South by Southwest Interactive this weekend?  No worries… we’ve got you covered.  Michael Deichmiller and I will be traveling down to Austin tomorrow morning for this year’s interactive festival.  We’ll be posting daily video updates on some of the coolest takeaways we saw from each day’s panels and events.  That is, if the entire bandwidth of Austin, TX doesn’t crash 30 minutes into the conference…

Feel free to ask us any questions before, during or after the festival.  We know… seeing our ugly mugs won’t be the same as attending the event yourself, but we hope to bring a small piece of SXSWi to each of you via Media Mosaic.  Leave your questions or comments throughout the weekend right on our posts, or contact us via Twitter at anytime (@gavinthomas11 or @mikedeichmiller).  As always, we truly appreciate your readership and hope to thank you by giving back some content from the SXSW show!

Over the years, we’ve had a lot of great interaction with clients, prospects, employees (current/future/past), industry leaders and professionals and the general community.  Like many companies, we have seen a surge in the possibilities of interaction and engagement through the use of social tools and platforms.  Whether it’s talking about our work in media and marketing, explaining our favorite television shows, discussing our favorite tunes or sports, or sharing information on our favorite cause or charity – we’re an agency that loves conversation!

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B2B and B2C marketers have both been using social media as an advertising tool. A recent survey done by E-marketer took a look at how the two categories use social media differently. Each has their own objectives that drive those differences.

Because the sales cycle of a B2B product is longer than a B2C product it makes sense that they are utilizing tactics that will help build leads and CRM. Social media tactics that are working for them include blogging, participating in third-party sites, and monitoring company mentions. Several of these tactics are helpful when trying to engage or stay in front of the audience over a long period of time.

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As marketers in the social media world, we often hear how we don’t know what “the next Facebook” will be.  The funny thing is, we say this phrase like it is a certainty.  We have become used to seeing social networks or platforms pop up and be successful – only to dwindle and be replaced by a stronger social superpower.  Myspace has turned from the social network giant to a niche entertainment portal in a short amount of time.  With all of the technology and talent out there today, it’s natural for us to assume massive sites like Facebook and Twitter will follow in the Newscorp property’s footsteps.  In presentations we all deliver and hear, we find ourselves reverting back to the idea that Facebook is on top today, but something else will clearly pop up in a year or two to take its place.  After reading the immense amount of news over the past year or so, I’m ready to refute that statement.

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Earlier today, Mashable.com posted a stats-heavy article regarding news consumption by Americans based on findings from a recent Pew Internet research study.  The numbers from this article back up claims and predictions from analysts saying the internet is still becoming more of a player in the news consumption game.  While still trailing television consumption (78% of those polled), primary online news consumption came it at 61% – well above that of radio and newspaper.  I actually found 61% to seem a bit low for the nature of this report.

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When reading through an AdAge article this morning about the recent news of Twitter and Yahoo! integration moving forward, I was quick to jump on the bandwagon of skeptics.  I knew there had to be a way that this relationship wouldn’t prove to be completely successful.  Why did those thoughts pop into my head?  Good question… and it’s one that is reminding me about an important concept in media/marketing – common sense.  I realized the thoughts stemmed from the fact that I don’t frequent the Yahoo! network of sites.  It’s natural for me to jump to a conclusion based on my own usage patterns.  I most likely won’t be knee-deep in the Twitter/Yahoo! integration, but common sense tells me a good number of the 600 million+ worldwide users of Yahoo sites will.

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Microsoft’s Xbox is proving it can be a robust enough platform to potentially grow into a more generalized entertainment center. The Xbox 360 functions not only as a gaming system, but also delivers streaming TV, movies and music along with Facebook and Twitter integration. This could certainly appeal to the entire household as well as a younger generation of consumers. Check out my conversation with Senior Media Manager, Mike Della Porta on whether Xbox will be able to blur the lines between media enough to replace your cable box?

In almost all cases, television programs rather than commercials are what attract viewers.  Any advertiser knows that viewers often go to great lengths to avoid having to sit through the commercials.

Of course the Super Bowl is a bit different.  Since I work in the business, I might be a bad example, but I’ll openly admit that I found myself wandering off for snacks during this year’s game and then rushing back to the TV for the ads. But according to Nielsen, I’m not alone.  More viewers now say they tune in to the Super Bowl for the commercials rather than the game (51%).  Given the lengths to which advertisers go to produce entertaining (and hopefully effective) spots, it’s not surprising.

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Like the majority of advertising investments, the decision to advertise in the Super Bowl comes down to return on investment. With the average cost of a 30 second national spot running around $3 million, the decision to advertise is not an easy choice.  Repeat advertisers warn that it is essential to re-evaluate yearly campaign objectives, and past results to determine if the hefty investment will be beneficial year over year.

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Earlier today, Google announced its latest push into the social space – Google Buzz.  The tool lives within the user’s current Gmail platform and seems to work seamlessly with existing email functionality.  Rather than explain it all here (which I’m not quite able to do yet), I thought I would share Google’s take on the new social feature:

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