Alex Payne Keynote: The Business Value of the Twitter API

Scores of businesses are utilizing the rich and dynamic data set provided by The Twitter API in ways that improve customer experience, enhance product development, increase visibility, and provide bottom-line profits. In his keynote, Alex Payne will provide several real-world examples of how the Twitter API is delivering results for organizations large and small.

Best Practices Panel: I am a Twitter God(dess) and So Can You
Panelists: iJustine, Tara Hunt, Dave Peck Moderator: Steve Broback

The Twitterati are masters at gaining followers, driving conversation, and assimilating the tsunami of commentary and links that stream to them on a daily basis. In this session, our panel of experts will discuss what strategies, tactics, and tools have taken them to the top of the twitosphere.

Writing Tweets that get attention and retweeted * Services and utilities you can’t live without * Smart followership — knowing who (and how many) to follow * The best devices and software for mobile posting * Timing your Tweets

What Makes a Great Twitter App?
Panelists: Loren Brichter, Britt Selvitelle, Dom Sagolla, Moderator: Sudha Jamthe

At the core of Twitter’s popularity is it’s utter simplicity. Building on top of that functionality while retaining the ease of use and visual appeal of Twitter itself is no easy task. This panel, including both external developers and one of Twitter’s own user experience players, will talk about the design and functionality choices they made, how they worked with the API to streamline them, and how you can apply these concepts to your own applications.

Purpose-driven user interface design * Managing system resources * The limitations of mobile devices * Working with the 100-call hourly API limit

How Twitter Will Make A Billion, and How You Can Make a Million
Jason Calacanis

Jason Calacanis has a proven track record for spotting and embracing winning Web technologies — and profiting from them. As the founder of Weblogs Inc, (launched in 2003) he was among the first to make millions from blogging as a business. Marrying “community” with search may be all the rage in 2009, but Jason had a business plan for that (Mahalo) back in 2006. That’s also the year he started Tweeting.

In this lively (and debate-provoking) keynote Jason will detail from an outsider’s perspective how the Twitter platform will be monetized by its founders, and how publishers, marketers, and developers can make their own fortunes from the service.

Twitter Strategies: Real-World Success Stories
Panelists: Jeff Pester, Bryan Rhoads, Warren Whitlock, Justin Kan

Signing up for Twitter is simple, but using it effectively as a business tool can be complex. How do you turn a service that lets you share messages in 140-character bursts into a valuable business asset? We’ve assembled a team of business innovators who are doing just that. Learn how you can use the same strategies they’re using to grow your audience, your influence, and your bottom line.

Supporting customers while courting shoppers * Contributing vs. messaging * Timing your tweets * Bringing value to the conversation * Gestures that bring positive responses * Essential tools and services

Visualizing Twitter
Panelists: Damon Cortesi, Jeff Katz, Dan Zarella Moderator: Steve Broback

With tens of millions of tweets generated daily, the data Twitter generates can be overwhelming. To capture true meaning, filtering and visualization are essential. Luckily, many innovative and powerful tools and techniques exist to turn text and numbers into pixels, vectors, and movement.

In this session, our panel of experts will share some of their favorite visualizations along with the code and service architectures that drive them.

Fast and easy online services * Code templates * Flash vs Javascript vs Silverlight * Techniques for interactivity

Twitter Goes Mainstream: What are the Issues and How Will They Be Resolved?
Panelists: Jennifer Leggio, Jonathan Matkowsky, Richard Brewer-Hay

No technology or platform can go from zero to 12 million users in three years without experiencing a myriad of challenges, and Twitter is no exception. This session will examine some of the pressing concerns facing Twitter, their users, and the developer community. We’ll drill down on what aspects of these issues most affect those in the commercial arena, while debating potential solutions.

Security and authorization * Name squatting * Scaling concerns * Pay per tweet and spam * Buying followers * What happens if Twitter gets acquired? * SEC concerns: will it take the soul out of tweeting? * Oprah and Ashton: the beginning of the end?

*The two day Twitter event starts Tuesday May 26th*

This is only the second WordCamp San Francisco and promises excellent insider insights from WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and Google’s top blogger Matt Cutts who has been using the WordPress blogging format for several years.

This is the first major Twitter conference *ever* and is sure to bring a lot of interesting people and companies to the Computer Science Museum in Mountain View.

Hope to see you there in person or here at Technology Report’s live coverage of these events.