Jun
08

Feedback’s Off To Bonnaroo 2010

by Feedback

The Feedback Mobile Lab rolls out for the Bonnaroo Music and Art Festival tomorrow! While the Mobile Lab may seem like any other RV, it will be transporting Feedback’s eyes and ears to the festival. This excursion mixes both business and pleasure, as @dbrowell, @ideaman and @alucas9 observe social media activity among Bonnaroo artists and attendees while taking in the sights and sounds of the festival.

While Feedback Roo-goers are out enjoying Bonnaroo, those remaining at HQ will be tracking social media trends both at Bonnaroo and the series of tubes at large.

On-site, we will be testing geo-location services to see which most efficiently handles a gathering the size and scope of Bonnaroo. Our field team will be using FourSquare for the iPhones as well as at least one of the many competing social gaming/geo-location apps including Gowalla, PlacePop, and SCVNGR. Weather services will also be put to the test, with comparisons being made among applications from The Weather Channel, WeatherBug, and Weather Underground. In addition to regular Twitter updates, we’ll also be sharing parts of the Bonnaroo experience live via Ustream, the popular video streaming platform.

DryDay.com's Rain Forecast

But don’t think we’re waiting until Bonnaroo starts to track the related buzz on social media!  We’ve already started collecting data, revealing a few surprising trends, including widespread use of @Bonnaroo in place of the #bonnaroo tag on Twitter.

Collection and observation of such trends will continue as the event unfolds, so check back here daily for updates covering any major phenomena in the world of social media. We’ll also be maintaining a YouTube channel with live clips taken by the Mobile Lab team at Bonnaroo!

Let’s hope that the weather stays dry for Bonnaroo, though! According to DryDay.com, a favorite of Dean’s, it’s definitely favored to rain on a couple of days during the festival.

Hoping it won’t rain on the Mobile Lab,

— Feedback Interns: Brad Carr (@bcarr) and Brittney Trimmer (@bntrim)

May
18

Announcing The Feedback Mobile Lab

by Feedback


Rendering is not representative of actual lab, which will clearly utilize hyper digital beaker technology

Our Target: The Bonnaroo Music & Art Festival in Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo was named one of the 50 Moments That Changed The History of Rock & Roll by Rolling Stone, while The New York Times said, “Bonnaroo has revolutionized the modern rock festival.”

Our Mission: Gauge the usefulness (and usage) of social media tools, explore and experiment with new ideas and trends of destination marketing, consider the effect of communication concepts from within and outside of the participants, and find out what innovations are coming from the crowds.

Featuring: Onsite, @dbrowell, @ideaman, @alucas9, @ScottTKE517

Homebase: @thomasmcdonald, @hmillar13, @bcarr & Brittney!

Details: The people, not institutions, drive social media trends. So when more than 80,000 online denizens converge for a vacation, we’ll see tens of thousands choosing how they communicate to those inside and out. What that communication does to help them prepare for, travel to, live within and reminisce after their chosen destination will say a lot about the current state of tourism online and where its going. Plus, what best practices can we observe from festival-goers, event organizers, bands, vendors and more?

Feedback will use four distinct personal accounts and personalities to cover one of the largest music and art festivals in the US, testing trends, performing live tests of multiple apps, taking a look at the communities and cultures that are reflected online, studying communications and, of course, having a blast watching how radically diverse acts and fans share experiences in person and online. The “best of” our live work will be featured on our Feedback channels and studied for post-event analysis. (Also be on the lookout for performances via Radio Free Feedback; if you’re going to Bonnaroo and from an ad agency or PR firm, or are a Friend of Feedback, let us know and we can organize a jam session!)

One of Feedback’s founders, Dean Browell, was one of the first people to broadcast social media content from the farm at Bonnaroo, covering the entire weekend via blog, Twitter, Brightkite, and more for the last five years. Now he returns with a company and team to continue that tradition as well as take it the next step: treat it like the incredible laboratory it is for the benefit of all of our clients, from travel and tourism to healthcare.

In Preparation: Ahead of our trip, we will be canvassing our clients and our partners to find out what they would like to know about how certain trends perform, apps, critical mass of usage, technology needs and what events they have that we should keep in mind for new ideas. If you have an idea or a question you’d like to see us pursue, just let us know! Just email Contact@feedbackagency.com or through our individual contact info, below or on Twitter.