SXSW: A sea of tweets and check-ins

For those in the digital and tech industry South by Southwest is the event of events in the calendar, where 'digital creative minds' meet. For those not in the industry it's basically a major nerd fest, often dubbed "nerd or geek prom".
We don't care as we know geek chic has been in for years now, so I'm joining 24,000 others in a tweet up like no other. Undoubtedly there'll be more hashtags, checkins, status updates, blog posts, swarm badges, smartphones and tablets than you can poke a stick at.
I'm already a little overwhelmed by the number of apps, events, parties and volume of tweets I'm faced with, anyway – first world problem.
You'll be hearing from me over the next few days, giving you a rundown of the key themes from the event, the next tech explosion and must have app or social network. I'll also be checking out the most ridiculous job titles at the conference... a couple of early leaders I've seen include "Cyborg Anthropologist" and "Chief Quixotic officer" - watch this space.

It's worth noting the festival isn't all about nerds though, and its actually more famous for film and music, which has been running for 20 years or so. The interactive component was added around ten years ago and has grown each year since, and in that time Austin has been given the name 'Silicon Hills' because it is such a major hub for tech start ups. In fact, Twitter really came to the fore at SXSW in 2007, and although it didn't officially launch there many believe it was the conference that really put it on the social map.
Early indications of what's going to be big this year include location and social context, and the concept of co-sharing through social.

'Highlight' looks like it could be one such darling this year, it's a social network (do we really need another?) that uses information from your Facebook account to find your friends or others users near you who like the same stuff as you, from which you'll be sent push notifications about people in your nearby radius. Take a look here http://yhoo.it/ABVGyL

And Co-sharing through social takes lending your hedge trimmer to your neighbour to a whole new level, read more about that here http://bit.ly/zEL8nx

That's plenty for now. For more news and stuff you can follow me at @nicchamberlain or #sxswi

Nic Chamberlain is writing for AdNews from the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.