South by Southwest a place to see and be seen for sure. It was for music and film the primary focus of the festival for years, and now it is for the world of social interactive media. Any place where you need to be on a list to get into a party will have that kind of cache (typo intended for geek punery). As a DJ in Philly in the early dance era I get the whole list thing. Let’s put celebrity in perspective, SxSw is not the Oscars, but social media is getting its celebrities. Some traditional celebrities enjoy being a part of the SXSW social stream. Comedian Brian Posehn entertained the crowd at Joseph Jaffe’s party launching his new book Flip the Funnel (Greg Verdino shares some excellent photos

The Twitter trend spikes when Chris Brogan walks into a room or when #secretwinetasting signals, the King of Social Media, Gary Vaynerchuk is pouring into, and for, a party, this one was at Big Omaha. sponsored by Silicon Prairie News

But @GaryVee will likely be the first to tell you that there are no kings of social media. That all those at SxSw and those who are active in the social web contribute to the ecosystem of social. It’s an ecosystem that supports quality content in all types of niches. So Ed Bennett and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn are celebs in health care and Becky McCray rocks the house in tourism circles and Gregory Ng is truly the Master of Frozen Food with Freezer Burns, and the list goes on as long as there is an audience to comprise a niche. No they don’t do wine pourings, but they, as does Gary, command the attention and respect of their audience because of their passion for their content. It’s the foundation of Gary’s book Crush It!

Celebrity Closer to the Fan Base

There is still an element of camaraderie throughout the Austin convention Center that on the social web there is a common thread. The connection that every social media celebrity began from a first blog post, or video or podcast. Perhaps it’s a connection that can be maintained at events like SxSw. There is less distance between those who have succeed in their niche and those hoping to learn from that success. Everyone started out the same in social media and there is still the belief that others can achieve the same level of recognition, and in rare occasion, financial success. Why? because the rules of success are the same, good quality content, presentation, and yes, timing and luck factor into success today just as much as they did in the industrial age. Today It’s just less costly to enter and produce.

The question is whether social media will follow the patterns of the majority of other industries, which is early expansion followed by consolidation. Will the wide open landscape that is fertile ground for the first generation of web 2.0 content celebrities morph into the hierarchal, gatekeeper, celebrity maker, structure of the previous century. Just as an appearance on Johnny Carson was the golden ticket in the golden era of television, will todays’ celebrities be tomorrow’s king makers? If this is the case, then what will SxSw look like in 2015?

Disclosure:
My road trip from Minneapolis to Austin and coverage of South by Southwest is sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

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