Key Hinkley the CEO of Somewhere does a technical analysis on the Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Lacy interview, he brings forth frequency charts by keyword, new users sign ups, and provides some analysis and predictions.
What’s interesting isn’t so much the interview itself but how social media has spread among the crowd, it’s a cross between sociology , technology adoption, and psychology.
I know the drama of the discussion has already been talked about by many bloggers, so I’ll leave my opinions off the table, I’m more interested in the impact this has to future conferences. At least two conference organizers have come to me asking for guidance, there is some concern over social media revolts.
A few days ago, I reported the keynote wasn’t the only session where the audience asserted control.
J,
In his write-up he asks:
“Does something interesting happen around 45 minutes to cause a spike, or is that a conincidence?”
As I recall, the session was billed as 45 minutes discussion and 15 minutes of Q&A.
If that is so, then it may also pay to understand the psychology of waiting. This is especially important since the audience may have a large representation of folks who are part of the new un-conference trend that posits that the crowd has as much if not more to contribute to dialog than the traditional expert at the podium.
So at the 45 minute point, the psychological issues of waiting may have kicked in, here is a listing of some of these items pulled from an obscure HBS case note called the psychology of waiting lines published in the early/mid 80’s. (find it on the HBS sight, useful for experience designers, a conference session is an experience.)
1. Occupied Time Feels Shorter Than Unoccupied Time.
2. Anxiety Makes Waits Seem Longer.
3. Uncertain Waits Are Longer than Known, Finite Waits
4. Unexplained Waits Are Longer than Explained Waits
5. Unfair Waits Are Longer than Equitable Waits
6. The More Valuable the Service, the Longer the Customer Will Wait
7. Solo Waits Feel Longer than Group Waits
It does not take much imagination to map some of the above into the dynamics of the session and the role twitter may have played to reduce the negatives of the wait.
If Twitter was around in the 60’s, would Kitty Genovese have lived?
Interesting stuff this social thing.