This document summarizes a project called SMiLE (Social Media in Live Events) that analyzed social media engagement at a conference. It details that over 13,000 tweets with the event hashtag were posted, 430 photos were uploaded to Flickr, and Vimeo videos received over 2,100 views from 47 countries. Nearly half of conference attendees used the hashtag on Twitter. The project plans to produce outputs like blog posts, dissertations, guides and papers on effectively using social media at live events and handling social media data collection. Quotes from attendees praise the high level of social media integration and access at the conference.

1. Social Media in Live Events
(SMiLE)
Nicole Beale, Lisa Harris, Graeme Earl
@nicoleebeale
@lisaharris
@graemeearl

2. The Team

3. #caasoton
• Project details are available from the Digital Economy USRG
website
• 13,000 tweets using the #caasoton hashtag
• 430 photos on Flickr
• Our Vimeo videos have been viewed over 2,100 times, with
viewers from 47 countries.
• Nearly half of the 450 conference delegates used #caasoton
on Twitter before, during, or after the event
• 70 people registered as ‘virtual attendees’ with some 20
additional twitter users joining in the conversations at random
• The CAA Conference website has a round up of social media
activity

4. Outputs planned
• Series of posts for LSE Impact blog (top 5 read
posts this month)
• 4 x MSc dissertations
• A practical guide to using social media at live
events
• E-books
• PLE conference paper
• Development of code of conduct for the ethical
collection, curation and archiving of social media
data with Oxford e-Research Centre

5. Quotes
• “Almost everyone in this session has tweetdeck
open or is tapping away on a phone. And it’s
totally appropriate”
• “Amazing use of social media, accessability,
connectivity. Set the bar VERY high for all future
conferences”
• “If you have no social media account you are no
one”
• “I think just looking at the twitter stream gives a
skewed idea of what people really think is
interesting or noteworthy”

6. Defining ‘Content’

8. Visualising the data

9. Understanding the data

10. Understanding the data

11. To conclude…
• If you’d like to get involved in the next phase
of SMiLE, please contact @nicoleebeale or
@lisaharris or @graemeearl