Ten of Thousands of Technology Lovers Head South to Austin

13 March 2011

Packed Interactive Keynote room at the 2010 South by Southwest

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

Tens of thousands of people travel to Austin, Texas each year to attend the South by Southwest festival. The festival is most famous for its music and film presentations. In recent years it has also become one of the biggest new media events of the year.

Last year more than fourteen thousand people from fifty-four countries attended the event. It is the place to learn about promising new technologies.

Margie Newman describes the event as “a sea of Mac-toting, smartphone-obsessed, new media snobs on a mission to know what is next.” Ms. Newman is a public relations professional in Washington D.C. She made her third trip to the South by Southwest festival this year. We spoke with her by phone at the festival.

MARGIE NEWMAN: “When you can go to a place and not only see what’s next and see how to better use what’s already here, but also connect with people who love it as much as you do, it’s just kind of a special thing. A lot of people call South by Southwest Interactive the geek spring break. And that’s pretty accurate.”

South by Southwest Interactive has seen the successful launch of several products. It helped push Twitter into mainstream popularity in two thousand seven. In two thousand nine, a company called Foursquare launched its mobile networking service at the festival. The service lets friends tell other friends where they are by “checking in” using a mobile application or a text message. Foursquare’s owners say they now have more than six and a half million users around the world.