IBM is currently hosting its annual SOA event at the Venetian in Las Vegas. In order to promote the event and to encourage collaboration between attendees and those who couldn’t make it this year, IBM have launched a number of social media iniatives.
One promotion that particularly caught my eye is the social media game, whereby anyone who actively shares content around the event is entered in a competition to win free entrance to next year’s conference. So whether you blog, post videos on Youtube, pictures on Flickr or engage in any one of the following social media tools, you have the chance to win.
| Activity | Points per Activity | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| Register at SOAsocial or the Impact Social Network* | 10* points (for both, earn 20) | SOAsocial.com Impact Social Network |
| Tweet about Impact | 1 point | www.Twitter.com (include hashtag #ibmimpact to tweet) |
| Blog about Impact | 5 points | Any blog post related to Impact will count, as long as the tweet includes a link to the post and the hashtag #ibmimpact |
| Pic posted to Twitter (using Twitpic, Flickr™, etc.) | 2 points | Any picture related to Impact will count, as long as the tweet includes a link to the picture and the hashtag #ibmimpact |
| Post a 12 second video about Impact | 2 points | 12seconds.tv |
| Post YouTube Video about Impact | 5 points | YouTube.com |
| Attend a Tweetup at Impact | 5 points | See details above. |
| Grab a ‘scavenger prize’ | 10 points | Be sure to follow @smartSOA on Twitter for clues to scavenger prizes |
A leaderboard around the event lets participants know where they stand and the winners will be announced on the last day of the conference.
This looks like a great idea to encourage participation in social networks and I look forward to following up with the team after the event to gauge the success of this initiative. For more on this and to see how else IBM is using social media the Impact event, check out the Impact Communities page.
(In the interests of disclosure, I should point out that I am an IBM employee)
