The Friday#: SXSWi Hobo Hotspots

The Sizzle: Brandwatch The Fri-Up: SXSWi The Sauce: Idiots crossing

The Sizzle

The Fri-Up

Hobo hotspots

So SXSWi, the USA’s most important tech gathering, hit the mainstream media for the wrong reasons this week.

New York Marketing firm BBH Labs equipped homeless people on Austin’s streets which turned them into wireless hotspots.

People could pay with cash or via PayPal an amount they felt appropriate to access the Internet, which could result in a PR disaster. Let’s wait and see what happens.

In typical Brandwatch fashion, we’ve taken a look at the whole SXSWi event to see which aspects of the festival are being discussed most.

Firstly, here’s a list of the top tweeters talking about the event:

1/ @twitcam

2/ @mashable

3/ @WholeFoods

4/ @wired

5/ @shortyawards

6/ @dosomething

7/ @epicenterblog

8/ @htc

9/ @CaseFoundation

10/ @klout

It’s largely a mix of brands media and event charity, and interestingly it’s the influence-obsessed Klout that rounds up our top ten tweeters, with regards to authority.

What topics were people talking about during the show? Will any tech brands dominate the discussion or will it be all about filthy tramps?

Fig 2. Words near SXSWi from 11th March to Tuesday March 13th.

Looks like it’s Sean Parker and Al Gore that are getting a lot of the attention, but the homeless haven’t been forgotten. SXSWi’s notoriously useless Android app also gets a few mentions and the famous musical parts of the festival are also discussed.

The Sauce

Something for the weekend:

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