The hash tag, or “pound sign” has become ubiquitious with Twitter.com’s search model. It’s so addictive, I find myself using it on facebook, in emails, and even the occasional #SMS… whoops, there I go again. At any rate, the hash tag can make a movement where there was a void before. I recently saw my friend Tim use this on Twitter, using the tag, or hash, #insteadofshopping he also made a video using the ever enjoyable animoto service.

There are countless examples of its use, #sxsw is a biggie, it symbolizes perhaps the place where the hash tag really took off, South by Southwest. More on that later, my 140 are just about #up.

Check out the hashtag here.

Every March musicians, industry insiders and music fans swarm Austin Texas to experience 1000000000 bands. OK, slight exaggeration but not really. Once the festival gets rolling you can see bands from 9a through until the wee hours of a Texas morning.  Of course you’ll need to see Dr. Drew upon your return.   No, you do not have a drinking problem.  It’s just SXSW.

The good folks at SXSW have rolled out the first list of bands playing. More bands will be announced. Check out the list now and view my SXSW 09 video below to witness the chaos and great bands from last year like Silversun Pickups, The Temper Trap, Passion Pit, Delta Spirit, Glasvegas, White Lies, Razorlight, Cage the Elephant and more.

[worldnow id=3636961 width=385 height=288 type=video]

      I love NYC. It used to terrify me, but since living in the East Village and Brooklyn this summer, I am very comfortable in the center of the Empire State. But sometimes even I have to poke some serious fun at my hipster homies in good ole’ Williamsburg (Beacon’s Closet is an amazing destination). This is guest art from the webcomic Alien Loves Predator

       I can’t even begin to express how accurate this is and how much I love observing hipsters in their natural habitat. Watching them in college among the rest of the undergrad crowd is simply nowhere near as rewarding. They just cluster together in circles of trend-dependent judgement.

      Keep in mind that I say this as the girl who wears red, green, purple, and white jeans with a serious collection of scarves and downloads NPR podcasts (not to mention dreams of the day that she  can take off a week of work to go to Bonnaroo or SXSW). This is as much reflection on myself than a specific minority. Also, PBR is really popular amongst hipsters because it is the liberal Natty Ice and sponsors NPR. When Ira Glass is sponsored by cheap beer, you know some skinny jeans will be lining up.

by Katie

SXSW has announced some 200 of the artists who’ll be playing at the festival this March. Probably, I won’t be able to afford to go, unless someone wants to make a generous donation of $1400+ to the Misanthropes. (I wouldn’t leave Mikey hanging!) Instead, I welcome you, my dear readers, to look forward to me perusing the band list and letting you know which ones I deem worthy of listening to. It’s nothing you couldn’t do yourself, but that is one of the basic tenets of unsuccessful blogging. (The others should be evident elsewhere on this blog.)

Excitingly enough, about 97% of the names on the list are brand spanking new to me! I already enjoy Fanfarlo, Ha Ha Tonka, and Miniature Tigers, and have heard good things about one or two others, but that is it! Consider this a musical Carnival Cruise, with slightly less environmental degradation and significantly more hip snobbery! Excelsior!

‘Soon’ from Stockholm band ‘Mixtapes and Cellmates’ is a belter of a track. Mixing scuzzy guitar feedback, stop-start rhythms and a smattering of keys this is further proof that Sweden is continuing to produce quality music.

Information on the 5 piece is scarce, though it would appear they are onto their second album and are lined-up to play big industry shows at SXSW March 2010.

I’m slightly annoyed that they are playing a show at Debaser 6 days before I get to Stockholm next month but they could well be playing here in the UK … soon >>>

Mixtapes and Cellmates - Quiet

bertrum1

MORE ON MIXTAPES AND CELLMATES:

LAST.FM :: MYSPACE :: BUY

Hello everyone,

We thought we’d bring you up to speed with our goings on at BandCentral HQ over the past month, because, well, there’s been a few.

…

November began with a road-trip to Birmingham and the Music Live exhibition at the NEC, where for three days, from the 6^th – 8^th, we got to talk directly with our user base.

At Music Live – which is largely a trade show for (very cool) music equipment companies and music education centres – our stall really stood out, and we had loads of people approaching us to find out more about BandCentral.

It was very gratifying to be able to talk face-to-face with practicing musicians, who were looking to push their bands to that next level.

…

After one week back in the office, BandCentral founder Wil Padley was off again, this time to New York City for a Digital Mission with Chinwag and the UKTI. Chinwag’s Digital Missions are essentially a coordinated envoy of up-and-coming UK new-media companies who want to bring their cool new service to the good people of the US. With some of our most enthusiastic uptake coming from North America, we jumped at the chance to apply, and were very happy to be selected.

Over five very full days, Wil and Belle embarked on a series of workshops, one-on-one meetings, and new media exhibitions.

The workshops and seminars were especially helpful, and we thank Chinwag and the UKTI for pulling together a really productive week. It was exhausting, but we got to meet some interesting people, and what we’ve learnt has sparked some excellent ideas that will most certainly filter through to the BandCentral application.

…

The week before last we got word of our nomination from the UK Festival Awards for Best Sponsor Activation for our sponsorship of Summer Sundae Weekender festival in August. It was slightly surreal to be lined up next to Bulmers, Bacardi, Rayban, Red Stripe, Gordons, Jagermeister and Schuh.

Our sponsorship of Summer Sundae was our first ever sponsorship of an event, and we were always very proud to be supporting an awesome music festival with a big focus on promoting new and independent musicians.

…

All the while, back in the office, the development team have been diligently burning the midnight oil on the Version 2 build.

By now, most of you will have picked up on some rumblings about the revamped site. We’re really excited with how the new application is shaping up!

Version 2 is a major upgrade, and it will be released in stages from the middle of January.

All existing accounts will be automatically migrated over to the new application in the New Year. Users can expect a cleaner, more attractive user-interface, along with some very cool new functionality; and all of the existing features have been enhanced. Apologies for not saying more, but we’ll have more news in the coming months.

…

On to 2010.

Depending on who’s counting, BandCentral’s second birthday/year approaches, and in 2010, we will continue to build the web’s best band management application.

Here are some of the things we have lined up for 2010:

Following our experiences with Music Live and the Digital Mission, we will once again be taking BandCentral on the road.

From the 23^rd – 27^th January, we will head to Cannes, France for MIDEM.

Probably the world’s biggest music industry talkfest, MIDEM will be a chance for us to meet our peers from all over the world, and spread the word about BandCentral as a new service for a changing music industry.

There, we will have the opportunity to share BandCentral – the application and the concept – with the global industry, and we will also have the chance to meet and share ideas with some of the best minds working in music today.

…

And then, in March, we’ll pack up the travelling circus once more, and ship over to Austin Texas, for the holy grail of modern music: South by South West (SxSW). We’re really looking forward to this one. More news to follow!

…

Thank you, to all of our supporters and users for your ongoing enthusiasm in 2009. We are really pleased that BandCentral, as a new concept for a new music industry, has been embraced so whole-heatedly.

Keep sending through your feedback, and we’ll keep rolling out our upgrades and improvements to make BandCentral the best possible management tool for bands on the web.

Happy holidays!

BandCentral HQ

…

Geez, it feels like South By Southwest 2009 just happened. And already a flurry of bands have been announced for the 2010 incarnation of Austin’s biggest music event. A few Japanese bands will be heading out to Texas next March, including Osaka freak outs Acid Mothers Temple and rock outfit Boom Boom Satellites. Joining them will be Caucus, Geeks and Maruosa…who I hadn’t heard of before, but will now check out. Thanks to JPOP Lover for posting this information. For a list of all the bands currently announced for SXSW 2010 go here.

I’m not making this up. SXSW is already announcing an initial batch of bands for the 2010 festival. Unbelievable. I mean, I must admit that I’ve been thinking about it some, but it’s still about 4 months away! Regardless, some highlights that I noticed: Deer Tick, The Brunettes, The Coathangers, Robyn Hitchcock, We Are Scientists. Decent list, I guess. I’m pretty sure it will improve drastically when the full lineup finally comes out. SXSW ‘09 was literally one of the best trips of my life, so one way or another, I’m going back next year! Check out the full list here. (Via Pitchfork)

Twilight has officially gotten out of control. It’s already sad enough that New Moon had the most successful opening weekend in history… but now we have people biting other people in the theaters? And to top it all, Twilight-themed heroin was confiscated in Florida! See for yourself at io9. WTF?!?!?

So this will probably be my last post till next Monday. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

South by Southwest
The world renowned Austin festival just released their initial slate of bands which includes several local favorites. Announced Seattle bands include The Intelligence, Ivan & Alyosha, Past Lives, Smoosh, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, and Trespassers William. For a complete list of bands follow the above link.

The 2010 SXSW Festival down in Jon’s home base of Austin, TX will take place March 17-21 at various locales throughout the city. Yesterday, the festival announced it’s initial line up of bands. Highlights of the list include Frightened Rabbit, Japandroids, Robyn Hitchcock, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Harlem, Deer Tick, Jookabox, Miniature Tigers, Fanfarlo, and We Are Scientists. For the full list, go here.

I’d a lovely seat-hop-squeal moment this afternoon. And So I Watch You From Afar will be setting their guitars to kill Austin, Texas, at the South By South West festival next March. They’re not the only ones either; Fighting With Wire make their return while Autumn Owls, Halves and So Cow have also been summoned to represent Ireland in the least-embarrassing showcase in the world. Past selections certainly didn’t harm Channel One, Fight Like Apes or The Redneck Manifesto.

From what I’ve heard, the bands can expect to find themselves on the Sunset Strip of the South, a long dusty string of venues crammed full of industry-aficionados, journalists, photographers and of course, fellow musicians, all dying to hear what they have to offer. With over 200 making the final cut, the full list of bands is whopper to say the least. SXSW always mixes its billings to include the freshest new sounds with exciting headline acts and 2010 is no exception; Acid Mothers Temple and Mariachi El Bronx will bring the exotic sounds, along with the odd accents of Frightened Rabbit, Scanners and The Boxer Rebellion. So far, so good: let’s skip The View.

sxsw.com/music/shows/bands

It’s never too early to start planning for SXSW. Hotels book up a year in advance and your friend’s only have so many couches to lend out to their out-of-town music fan friends. In the interest of getting you amped up well in advance the organizers have released a list of 230 showcasing artists who will be kicking out some serious jams from March 17-21. This 200-plus barrage of acts is loaded with obscure names and lightly seasoned with the occasional established names like Vancouver’s much hyped Japandroids, Brookyln’s We Are Scientists or Jersey girl Nicole Atkins. SXSW is also like the diplomatic corps of the music world, with acts hailing from locations as disparate as Brzil, Japan, Iceland, Zimbabwe, South Korea and even Iran.

Check out the full list of announced artist’s HERE.

WAS is listed at Austin’s annual South By Southwest Festival next year. The music portion of the festival is from March 17-21.

Check out the rest of the SXSW 2010 information at SXSW.com. Details on where and when they’ll be playing at SXSW will be announced later at the SXSW site.

SXSW released over 200 more bands that will be showcasing for 2010 SXSW.

As they release more, I begin making my list of the bands that I must see.

After reviewing the list, there are a lot of bands with interesting names that I am going to check out.  However, the ones listed are the ones I am frequent listeners of and am making a point to see.

• Apostle of Hustle
• The Brunettes
• Floating Action
• Frightened Rabbit
• Good Shoes
• Goober and the Peas
• Ha Ha Tonka
• Miniature Tigers
• My Dad is Dead
• Riverboat Gamblers
• We Are Scientists

Highlights in italics.

Aa (Brooklyn NY)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO (Osaka JAPAN)
A Classic Education (Bologna ITALY)
Alpha Rev (Austin TX)
Amaral (Madrid SPAIN)
And So I Watch You From Afar (Belfast IRELAND)
Apostle of Hustle (Toronto ON)
Arms (Brooklyn NY)
Ólöf Arnalds (Reykjavik ICELAND)
Art vs Science (Surry Hills NSW)
A Shoreline Dream (Denver CO)
Nicole Atkins and The Black Sea (Asbury Park NJ)
Autumn Owls (Dublin IRELAND)
Bare Wires (Oakland CA)
Julian Berntzen (Bergen NORWAY)
Best Fwends (Austin TX)
The Black (Austin TX)
The Black Atlantic (Groningen THE NETHERLANDS)
Dan Black (Paris FRANCE)
Black Tide (Miami FL)
Bliss N Eso (Albert Park VIC)
Boom Boom Satellites (JAPAN)
The Boxer Rebellion (London UK-ENGLAND)
Break of Reality (New York NY)
B-Real of Cypress Hill (Los Angeles CA)
Broadway Calls (Rainer OR)
Broken Records (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)
VV BROWN (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Brunettes (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Buckshot (Brooklyn NY)
Canja Rave (Porto Alegre BRAZIL)
Capsula (Bilbao SPAIN)
Carsick Cars (Beijing CHINA)
Caucus (Tokyo JAPAN)
The Chevelles (Melville WA)
Chew Lips (London UK-ENGLAND)
Suzanna Choffel (Austin TX)
Chris T-T (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
C-Mon & Kypski (THE NETHERLANDS)
The Coathangers (Atlanta GA)
Simon Collins (Victoria BC)
The Constellations (Atlanta GA)
Contra Coup (Austin TX)
Cotton Jones (Cumberland MD)
The Crystal Method (Los Angeles CA)
David Dallas (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Dappled Cities (Sydney NSW)
Daveman (Berlin GERMANY)
The Daylights (Los Angeles CA)
The dB’s (Chapel Hill NC)
Dead Sexy Inc (Paris FRANCE)
The Deaf (The Hague THE NETHERLANDS)
Deer Tick (Providence RI)
Delhi 2 Dublin (Vancouver BC)
Paul Dempsey (from “Something for Kate”) (Melbourne NSW)
Diplomats of Solid Sound (Iowa City IA)
DJ Car Stereo (Wars) (Austin TX)
DJ Evil Dee (Brooklyn NY)
DJ Revolution (Los Angeles CA)
Daniel Francis Doyle (Austin TX)
Adiam Dymott (Goteborg SWEDEN)
The 88 (Los Angeles CA)
Electric Electric (Strasbourg FRANCE)
Val Emmich (Jersey City NJ)
Eternia (Toronto ON)
Everything Everything (Manchester UK-WALES)
Fanfarlo (London UK-ENGLAND)
Michael Feinberg (New York NY)
Fergus & Geronimo (Westway TX)
Fighting With Wire (Derry IRELAND)
FINALE (Detroit MI)
Floating Action (Asheville NC)
Francis (Borlange SWEDEN)
Robert Francis (Los Angeles CA)
Frightened Rabbit (Selkirk UK-SCOTLAND)
The Funeral Pyre (Los Angeles CA)
The Ganjas (Santiago CHILE)
Geeks (Tokyo JAPAN)
Gerald G (Austin TX)
Colin Gilmore (Austin TX)
Giulia y los Tellarini (Barcelona SPAIN)
Rosi Golan (New York NY)
Gong Myoung (Seoul KOREA)
Goober and the Peas (Detroit MI)
Good Shoes (London UK-ENGLAND)
Guitar Shorty (Harlingen TX)
Ha Ha Tonka (Springfield MO)
Halves (Dublin IRELAND)
Darren Hanlon (Sydney NSW)
Harlem (Austin TX)
Headdress (Austin TX)
Hey Colossus (London UK-ENGLAND)
Robyn Hitchcock (London CA)
Hot Panda (Edmonton AB)
The Hounds Below (Detroit MI)
I Fight Dragons (Chicago IL)
The Intelligence (Seattle WA)
Ivan & Alyosha (Seattle WA)
Japandroids (Vancouver BC)
Jazz One (Austin TX)
Stephen Jerzak (La Crosse WI)
John Dear Mowing Club (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
The Jim Jones Revue (London UK-ENGLAND)
Jookabox (Indianapolis IN)
Julia Says (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Karnivool (Perth WA)
Kartick & Gotam (Chennai INDIA)
Kidz In Space (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Kidz In The Hall (Chicago IL)
Kingston (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Maurice Kirya (Kampala ZIMBABWE)
The Kissaway Trail (Odense DENMARK)
L.A.B. (Novo Hamburgo BRAZIL)
The Law (Dundee UK-SCOTLAND)
Vander Lee (Belo Horizonte BRAZIL)
Unni Lovlid (Oslo NORWAY)
Lowood (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Audra Mae (Los Angeles CA)
Malente (Essen GERMANY)
Natalia Mallo (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Mantles (San Francisco CA)
Julia Marcell (Berlin GERMANY)
Marco Polo & Torae (Brooklyn NY)
Mariachi El Bronx (Los Angeles CA)
Carolyn Mark (Victoria BC)
Maruosa (Tokyo JAPAN)
MegaRex (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
The Middle East (Townsville QLD)
Middle Finger Salute (Blackburn UK-ENGLAND)
Miniature Tigers (Phoenix AZ)
Mixtapes & Cellmates (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Monarchs (Austin TX)
Michael Monroe (Helsinki FINLAND)
PJ Morton (Conyers GA)
Mountain Man (Bennington VT)
Movits! (Lulea SWEDEN)
Moxine (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Mr Sicc (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Mumiy Troll (Los Angeles CA)
My Dad is Dead (Chapel Hill NC)
Nailpin (Boom BELGIUM)
Nakia & His Southern Cousins (Austin TX)
NiCad (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
9th Wonder (Raleigh-Durham NC)
The Novas (Dallas TX)
Jackie Oates (Exeter UK-ENGLAND)
One Night Only (Helmsley UK-ENGLAND)
1001 Nights Orchestra (Austin TX)
The Pack A.D. (Vancouver BC)
Paleo (Brooklyn NY)
Parlovr (Montreal QC)
Past Lives (Seattle WA)
The Peelies (Montreal QC)
Julie Peel (Montreal QC)
Mandi Perkins (Los Angeles CA)
Peter Wolf Crier (Minneapolis MN)
Pink Nasty (Austin TX)
Pivot (UK) (UK-ENGLAND)
P.K. 14 (Beijing CHINA)
Plants and Animals (Montreal QC)
Please The Trees (Prague CZECH REPUBLIC)
Steve Poltz (San Diego CA)
Andy Pratt (Amesbury MA)
Sean Price (Brooklyn NY)
Princeton (Eagle Rock CA)
Profetas (COLOMBIA)
Psalm One (Chicago IL)
Quantic and his Combo Barbaro (Cali COLOMBIA)
Random Axe (Brooklyn NY)
Rebelle (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
Red Mass (Montreal QC)
Tommy Reilly (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Riverboat Gamblers (Austin TX)
The River Raid (Recife BRAZIL)
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (Brooklyn NY)
Brisa Roche (Paris FRANCE)
Rock of Heltah Skeltah (Brooklyn NY)
Rogues (London UK-ENGLAND)
Ruste Juxx (Brooklyn NY)
San Saba County (Austin TX)
Scanners (London UK-ENGLAND)
Kate Schutt (Guelph ON)
Serious Sam Barrett (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Shit And Shine (London UK-ENGLAND)
Sixteen Deluxe (Austin TX)
Skyzoo (Brooklyn NY)
Small Black (Brooklyn NY)
Smif N Wessun (Brooklyn NY)
Smoosh (Seattle WA)
So Cow (Tuam IRELAND)
Solid Gold (Minneapolis MN)
Soulico (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)
So What (The Hague THE NETHERLANDS)
The Spring Standards (New York NY)
Sabrina Starke (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)
Steel Train (Teaneck NJ)
StereoHeroes (Les Gorguettes FRANCE)
Surrounded (Malmo SWEDEN)
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (Seattle WA)
M. Takara 3 (Guarulhos BRAZIL)
Team Facelift (New York NY)
Thunder Power (Omaha NE)
Timber Timbre (Toronto ON)
Todd (London UK-ENGLAND)
Marques Toliver (London UK-ENGLAND)
Toolshed (London ON)
Trembling Bells (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Trespassers William (Seattle WA)
Twin Atlantic (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Two Star Symphony (Houston TX)
Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights (Dallas TX)
The Uglysuit (Oklahoma City OK)
Uncle Lucius (Austin TX)
The View (Dundee UK-SCOTLAND)
Volovan (Monterrey MEXICO)
Waco Brothers (Chicago IL)
Miho Wada (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Warpaint (Los Angeles CA)
Wave Machines (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)
The Wave Pictures (London UK-ENGLAND)
We Are Scientists (New York NY)
We Are Wolves (Montreal QC)
Withered (Atlanta GA)
Wolf Gang (London UK-ENGLAND)
Woot (The Haque THE NETHERLANDS)
XV (Wichita KS)
The Yellow Dogs (Tehran IRAN)
YellowFever (Austin TX)
Zlam Dunk (San Marcos TX)
Zona Tango (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)

We love Pete Cashmore’s insight into the future landscape of social media.

Next year’s Twitter? It’s Foursquare

By Pete Cashmore, Special to CNN, November 19, 2009 1:18 p.m. EST

Editor’s note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He is writing a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.

London, England (CNN) — As 2009 draws to a close, with Twitter undoubtedly this year’s media darling and Facebook continuing on its path to global domination, you may wonder which social-media service will become tech’s poster boy in 2010.

Among the Web’s early adopter set, the answer is nearly unanimous: Foursquare.

While the technology landscape is ever-changing, I’d argue that Foursquare already has aligned itself to become next year’s mainstream hit.

The Twitter connection

Birthed by the team that brought us the mobile social network Dodgeball (acquired by Google in 2005 and later shuttered), the location-based mobile startup serves a simple purpose: It lets an individual share his or her location with a group of friends.

Foursquare ventures beyond utility, however: It’s a virtual game in which participants earn badges for checking in at various locations; those that check in most become a venue’s “mayor.” By all accounts, this mechanism is as addictive as Twitter, Facebook or checking your e-mail on a BlackBerry.

Originally launched as an iPhone application and seeded by the young early-adopter set in cities such as New York and San Francisco, the site’s founders were able to leap from a ready-made springboard: Twitter.

With users’ “check-ins” being posted to the messaging service, Foursquare was able to gain a foothold in much the same way YouTube built its lead from videos embedded in MySpace pages.

The parallels with Twitter are numerous. As technology early adopter and popular blogger Robert Scoble wrote in September: “Go back three years ago. Twitter was being used by the same crowd that is playing with Foursquare today.”

The similarities don’t stop there: Twitter first took hold at Austin’s South By Southwest festival in 2007; Foursquare made its debut at SXSW 2009. Members of both founding teams have previously built successful social startups; both those startups were sold to Google.

The two companies share investors, too: Union Square Ventures is a backer, while Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey made an angel investment in Foursquare. Other notable investors include the founders of Digg and Delicious, and famed angel investor Ron Conway. Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson observed that Foursquare’s first round financing was “among the most competitive early round financings I’ve seen in a long time.”

Foursquare’s power play: Platform for developers, retailers

This week Foursquare debuted the singular piece that launched Twitter into the stratosphere: an API. This application programming interface allows third-party developers to build anything they desire on top of Foursquare’s location-based social network.

It’s been shown time and again that once these ecosystems gain momentum, potential competitors face an arduous task. From Flickr to Google Maps to Twitter and beyond, it’s clear that early critical mass — having enough users and applications to make a service invaluable — sets the stage for a landslide victory.

Google’s Android, entering the mobile platform wars long after the iPhone App Store had served up a veritable smorgasbord of apps to its army of users, is evidence of the chicken-and-egg problem that arises for new competitors: What’s the incentive for users and developers to switch to a smaller, less visible platform once a leader has emerged?

With the launch of its API, Foursquare looks set to capitalize on this “rich get richer” phenomenon before others can make a play. Foursquare is doing more than wooing users and developers, however: It’s also courting local bars and restaurants.

“Foursquare for Businesses” is a platform for retailers wishing to offer special deals to Foursquare users: Check in to frozen desert maker Tasti D-Lite at two venues in New York, for instance, and you’re eligible for a discount.

Competitors abound

Nonetheless, multiple players are vying for victory in the location-based services market. Between Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite and Google’s Latitude, Foursquare will by no means have an easy ride. While Gowalla debuted an early version at SXSW 2009 alongside Foursquare, both Loopt and Brightkite have a head start.

All of these services, I’d argue, lack the highly addictive game play that appears to have Foursquare users hooked.

Google is undoubtedly the 800-pound gorilla, but the fastidiously numbers-driven search engine has proven time and again that it cannot grasp social-networking dynamics — from Orkut to Friend Connect (its Facebook Connect competitor) to its failure to turn Google Video into a YouTube competitor.

One company may unwittingly squash Foursquare in its infancy: Twitter itself. The very service that propelled Foursquare to prominence is rapidly building out its location-based features, with a location API that directly challenges Foursquare. Twitter already has the critical mass of users and ecosystem of eager developers. If it executes correctly, the service could leave Foursquare in the dust.

In Foursquare’s favor: Young, fast-growing startups such as Twitter often find their engineering teams overstretched simply trying to achieve scale. Twitter has added less than a dozen new features since launch as preventing frequent downtime has become its greatest challenge.

Meanwhile, the overlap in investors means the Twitter-Foursquare relationship is unlikely to turn sour. Foursquare may network its way to the top in 2010 or find itself lost in an increasingly competitive landscape. Early adopters are betting on the former.

This year I finally put one of my dreams in action.  I produced a show at my house, The Whitis House a.k.a. The Disco House, in conjunction with SXSW 2009.  The idea was that my chances of having awesome bands play at my house would increase during a major music festival in Austin. 

So I enlisted a few friends to help me.  Jeremiah was my ultra sound guy who went to pick up the PA system while I was at work.  Jacqui made a rad flyer to my specifications.  I contacted a few bands I was interested in at the time which were A Faulty Chromosome (ATX), Protect Me (LA), and MVSCLZ (ATX).  They all agreed to come and so the date was set for the Friday during the music part of SXSW. 

The night before the show, some friends and I were handing out flyers downtown when we ended up meeting a couple more bands, The Splinters (SF) and Tempo No Tempo (SF).  They were eager to come play.  Friday came and the lineup became much more monstrous than expected.  To the original three, two more had been added.  Once people started showing up it was apparent that some of the bands had brought their also musically talented friends. 

We had to make some arrangements, but it worked out alright.  The Splinters and Tempo No Tempo shared instruments.  Hermit Thrush only played a couple songs.  Tommy Boy provided some visuals.  MVSCLZ had a round robin set with Shams (Bmore), Narwhalz, and Terrior Bute (Milwaukee).  We were finally shut down when someone forgot to shut the front door and the authorities told us that “it is NEVER acceptable to have music that loud.”  All in all it was a great night.  Kids came and had fun.

For 2010, I’m starting to plan early and if I manage to get a few bigger names interested I would like to attempt to find a sponsor as I’m not made of money and renting equipment is expensive!

Last week I finished reading Twitterville by Shel Israel. Prior to picking it up, I’d heard a lot of positive about the book. So needless to say when Shel came to speak at Third Tuesday in Toronto I felt compelled to buy it.

The good

I found Twitterville gave great, real world examples of how Twitter is working in the business world from big companies to small non-profits. These companies are using the site to engage with stakeholders by gaining trust and developing conversations, not just feeding corporate speak. One of those large companies is Dell.

The book explains how Ricardo Guerrero, an online marketer at Dell, discovered Twitter at SXSW in early 2007. By June of that year, after figuring his way around the site, Ricardo created Dell Outlet. Since then, Dell’s presence on the site has soared and according to the book, earlier this year, Dell announced it had made $3 million in sales, thanks in large part to its activity on Twitter.

The bad

In terms of the book’s organization, “Part 3” along with the “Afterward” could have easily been put at the front. For me this works better because even though the book is great for all audiences, many readers are learning about Twitter and why they should join; having it at the front lets them get comfortable with how the site works. And as someone who knows how the site works, I found having it at the end took something away from the book. There wasn’t that feeling of conclusion because I spent the last while skipping through pages that were irrelevant to me.

The ugly

I can get over the organization of the book to some extent, but failing to fact check is something different altogether. It took a lot away from the book seeing the editors not catch that David Miller is the Mayor of Toronto. Instead I saw in his place,  Sandy Kemsley, a Torontonian yes, but definitely not the mayor. After Googling a bit, I saw she wrote a blog post on the situation; others had noted the gaff and told her about it.

She brings up a great point by saying, “I didn’t buy the book: if it lists me as the mayor of Toronto, who knows what other nonsense it contains?”

That simple mistake could mean the difference from recommending the book to all who will listen, to panning it because people would have doubts if other stuff were truly facts.

Conclusion

In the end, this book is not without it’s flaws (some bigger than others). It is, however, a great handbook on examples of Twitter’s use in business. My recommendation is to pick it up, however if you do, do it soon; the book is completely relevant, but as with anything involving social media, it can quickly become not so.

#1 You Need to Learn from this Post:
If you have a launched a game-changing business in the past year (or will launch by May 2010), the SXSW Accelerator is your chance to gain traction, attract funding, and win a fat cash prize.

A More Detailed Exploration:
When you think of the South By Southwest Interactive Festival, I bet the word “innovation” comes to mind. It is THE spring conference within the media and technology world and rightfully so.

Last year, the SXSW Accelerator was launched as a way to spotlight emerging companies. Over 200 companies applied for the opportunity to present their business concept to a panel of judges and prevail as the winner. Based on this success, SXSW Accelerator is broadening its focus to include new business categories.

For obvious reasons, I am most excited about this new one:

Green / Non-Profit – This category pertains to applications and technologies that make the world a better place. Entrants will include non-profit initiatives, Government 2.0 technologies, energy efficiency applications and frameworks, “social media for the social good,” and more.

As a volunteer on the SXSW Accelerator advisory board, I am here to help encourage social entrepreneurs, Government 2.0, clean tech, and other social good types to take advantage of this great opportunity.  You can learn more, review and submit an application, or connect directly with its main organizer, Chris Valentine.

If you need a top ten list of reasons to participate, feast your eyes on this.

How You Can Help
Whether you plan to submit an application, can you help me spread the word?  You can use this shortened URL back to this post: http://bit.ly/rtcxltr or straight to the SXSW Accelerator site: http://bit.ly/SXSWXLTR.

Alright so I’m lagging behind. Still working on my Second panels post, but it’s taking a while because I am doing it in a bigger chunk this time around. But since then, two other things and come spinning down the pipeline. T-shirts and the first of the confirmed bands.

First off the shirts.

So for the T-shirt of the festival they decided to make a contest, with 658 possible choices. Five have been filtered out to be the very short list of t-shirts. Those five are here. The 658 are here. All I really have to say is what the hell. Out of those five there is one that is decent… There were way better ones that should have really been re-considered. But whatever, Not truly complaining because, come on, it is still I shirt that said I went there.

But the bands. Nugh. Only six have been released. I can tell I am going to have ALOT of trouble choosing what bands to go and see. I want to see bands I haven’t seen before but also ones I have seen before that have awesome shows. I also want to cross and cover different genres. So far on the list, bands I have seen and want to check out again. The Temper Trap, were awesome when I caught their show at the Horseshoe when really I was only there to catch Cut Throat Britva. Then of course JAPANDROIDS. Always fun. But for the other four left. I really want to check out The Hong Kong Blood Opera. I can’t really explain their music, punk I guess would be closest but this band from Mexico should be awesome live. Sounds like they would be awesome live. And I friend of my from the UK says that I should definitely check out CHEW LiPS. This should be pretty awesome week since I am already going nuts. Definitely hoping to see some more Canadian bands down there, but I will definitely take anything I can get. Because I know it will be five days of good music no matter what.