mbc09

A year in Germany (oder so)

TwinglyLeave a comment

Soon it will be one year since Handelsblatt.com as the first German partner ever went live with Twingly – and in total it were twelve exciting and inspiring months for us working in the market of a country that is and has been so close to Sweden in many ways.

One can start with Gustav II Adolf’s invasion of Germany in early 1600, Swedish soldiers during the 30-year war on Saxon soil (battle at Lützen, close to Leipzig, where the same king found his death), the Hanse (Visby was in 1200 an important Hanse-town – and don’t say it is not Swedish, you Gotland critics 😉 ) and one must not forget Swedish soldiers joining the German army in WWII (to name a darker chapter of history).

Nowadays  there are lots of German tourists in Sweden, plus the silent invasion (as I’d like to call it) of Germans working in Sweden or finding their love there (me = one example), Swedes moving to Berlin for working and living (maybe loving, too?), Germans buying Volvos even though most still prefer VW, Mercedes, BMW, loving their Sony Ericsson mobiles, chatting on Skype and longing for Spotify – and maybe even for Twingly. Although we are a little different to Spotify or Skype.

Anyway, Germany in many ways is one of the most important business partners for Sweden. And in 2009 it also became one for us at Twingly.

During 2009 we probably went from “Who the f… is Twingly?” to “What? You don’t know Twingly? Check it out!” if you would have asked someone in the German blogosphere.

Some newspapers online joined us on our path of recognition in Germany by using Blogstream to connect their content with blogs. These are Handelsblatt, Wirtschaftswoche, Karriere, Freitag, Lausitzer Rundschau, BILD and FOCUS. The last two decided to give it a few months try only, though, but keeping in touch and with our further development of services we are pretty confident to welcome them back as partners at some point later soon.

We also welcomed the German first shop to use Twingly to connect to blogs – check out Yomoy.

In 2010 there will be a few more German Blogstream partners joining which really glads us and we feel honoured to be entrusted with supporting them in their online strategies.

The year to come will bring new Twingly products and therefore also a greater variety of business models that will suit different types and sizes of businesses. All new products like i.e. Twingly Channels or Twingly Live (to name the ones already somewhat out there) will incorporate real time web – which has been stated as one of the top trends for 2010, as every digital native by now knows.

Twingly Live already now supports lots of events and conferences. Twingly Channels will be doing the same and a lot more like i.e. Social Media Monitoring for everyone or “channeling” the media around one event or in general givving the opportunity to get all important news in one place. Possibilities with Channels as we imagine it to be will be endless, and that’s why right now we work hard on getting all you want into place before we launch the open version some time in the first half of 2010. Stay tuned.

We will also develop our Enterprise Solutions like i.e. Blogstream further and it goes without saying that the results for Germany on the Twingly blog search will be better and better. Not sure if I have to mention this, but – we do love feedback and we want yours. So let us know if you have a great idea or a problem!

At this point I would like to say thank you to all our German business partners who allowed us helping them to improve their connection with social media.

But the same thank you goes to all the great people that I have met over the year online via i.e. Twitter but also offline and in real life on for example the Microblogging Conference in Hamburg, the re:publica in Berlin and the dmexco in Köln in September. It is just so nice to be a part of the German blog and social media world, although we are located rather remotely in Sweden. But thank goodness Germany is in the end only a couple of flight hours away. So thank you for your friendship, support and trust!

For 2010 the following these events are already scheduled: the MBC (so it hopefully takes place), the re:publica (tickets bought, hotel booked, flight to be booked) and the dmexco in autumn.

Also, since there are some quite innovative things cooking at our end we would be interested in taking part in some more happenings and/or competitions in Germany. Any hot tips, anyone, for what we absolutely should not miss this year? Get in touch.

Let’s bring it on in 2010 then! Or how was that again in German? “Es gibt viel zu tun. Packen wir es an”.

Looking forward to see you soon, in real time and in a brand new decade!

The world’s 1st Microblogging Conference

Twingly1 Comment

Better late than never – this one could say about a late summary from me about the MBC09, but also maybe “last but not least”.

The MBC09 in Hamburg on the 23rd and 24th of January 2009 was the first Microblogging Conference of the world ever, organised by Cem Basman and a great team of people around him which made it a real success. Cem’s Summary together with links to media and pictures you find here.

I went there as a non-techie and must say that I was a bit wary about maybe the tech-talk being a bit much for a non-developer. Many asked me if I was sent by the company, and the answer is yes and no. At first I just wanted to go as a visitor in order to meet old faces and new people, but then our project of developing the Microblog-Search took vast steps forward. First we decided that I should introduce the concept of it, but then, after Christmas it was pretty clear that the release date could even be before the MBC09 – which we thought would be a great opportunity to introduce its functions to a larger audience and get some direct feedback. So I had the pleasure to present our new baby to a rather interested crowd. Among them were Marco from Seesmic/Twhirl, Carmen from Cirip.ro and Tapio from Oseon Conversations. A bit later joined Nicole Simon, author of book and blog “Mit 140 Zeichen” (for when again is the book’s translation into English planned? 😉 ) – she added some more really good questions to the little discussion that already had formed.

I on the other hand also listened to some really good keynotes and sessions, i.e. from Sarik (Cellity) and Ralf who presented the development of the German microblogging service Bleeper. This motivated me to create also an Identi.ca account. Which brings us to one of the main discussion points of the MBC09 – will Twitter have to open or will they survive as a closed solution? The panel in the evening of the first day put this topic forward once again. By then also Evan Prodromou had made it to the venue – and all that because the peeps at Identi.ca did not obey the old rule “never do an update or a release on a Friday” 😉 … In the evening however one could find him after a long day enjoying himself on the party and chatting away to the MBC09 crowd.

Unfortunately, I was there only for Friday (collision with a long planned personal event on Saturday/Sunday in Stockholm) – but next time I will be there all days! Then I do not miss great sessions and panels like “Twitter in Journalism”. Also, as it is for sure that the conference will be held again in English and as we do have some time now for planning, there might very well a (developer?)-colleague following to Cologne as well. We will see!

I made quite a few new contacts, not only for business, and I really loved that one day, the people and the party a lot.
Let’s make part II even better – “Cologne, Cologne, we will go in Cologne!” (alternative version of the German “Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin!”)

This is some information about the past MBC09 and about the one to come.

– The old stuff (with new stuff about the old stuff).
– The new stuff.

C U in Cologne – and before that maybe even in Berlin?

MBC09 Logo