Social Media World Forum

Times may change, but the constant exchange of information remains a vital human need.

The Social Media World Forum will be held March 15 and March 16 in Olympia, London.

Workshop partners include: Facebook developers, Viadeo, Social media Monday, DMA, Immediate Future, Real Wire, and more.

Topics will include: How to run a social media campaign on Facebook; trends in moderation and support services for social media; are we ready for the future of social media; what are politicians doing in Web 2.0; social media and direct marketing; the viral loop and how to harness it; how to measure ROI with social media; the latest in social media releases, and much more.

To view the free workshop agenda or to register visit http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/register/free-exhibition.html

In addition to the free workshop event, there is also a program of more than 200 conference speakers from top companies such as: Mars, Ikea, Tweetmeme, Facebook, Bebo, Viadeo, LinkedIn, Xing, Matel, Talk Talk, Becks, Netlog, Orange, Mercedes Benz, Virgin, COI, Ecademy, Vodafone, BSKYB, BBC, and more.

New Media Sector, UBS Investment Hires

UBS Investment Bank has hired in its communications sector, focusing on internet, interactive entertainment and related technology companies.

Brian Pitz joins as an executive director and the team leader, Brian Fitzgerald as a director, and Kaizad Gotla as an associate analyst.

Pitz most recently worked at Banc of America where he was lead analyst covering Internet/e-commerce, online advertising, and marketing companies for the past three years. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Morgan Stanley as an analyst.

Fitzgerald previously worked at Banc of America where he spent the past three years covering the Internet/mobile Internet companies. Prior to that, he spent five years at Morgan Stanley as an analyst.

Gotla also joins UBS after spending three years at Banc of America where he covered Internet/mobile Internet companies. Previously, he worked for Yahoo! in the global market research group.

UBS is headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, and serves an international client base with wealth management, investment banking and asset management businesses. The firm has offices in more than 50 countries; shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

Tax Incentive Grows Film, Digital Media

Film industry production tax incentives in nearby states versus Connecticut?

Connecticut passed a 30 percent film and digital media tax credit (which took effect in July 2006); New York, 30 percent (35 for productions in New York City); Massachusetts, 25 percent; Rhode Island, 25 percent (for projects more than $300,000), according to a report by New England Film. (The Screen Actors Guild offers a listing of all states and incentives offered in alphabetical order.)

A new private-sector group, Connecticut Production Coalition’s (CPC), supports the state tax incentive and wants to continue to build the "film, television and digital media sector" industry.

CPC founders: Howard and Karen Baldwin, Baldwin Entertainment Group; Chris Campbell, Palace Digital Studios; Tom Carruthers, Connecticut Film Festival; Ephraim Cohen, The Fortex Group; Brandon Curiel, Venan Entertainment, Inc.; Donna Elkinson, Elkinson + Sloves, Inc.; A. Searle Field, United Studios of America; Andrew Gernhard, Synthetic Cinema International; Bruce Heller, Connecticut Film Center; Mike Kuhar, VisualEFX; John Lanza, Kostin, Ruffkess & Co, LLC; Fred Litty, Sonalysts Media Group; Al Maiorano, Televersemedia; Mark Osora, Sheptoff, Reuber & Co, P.C.; Kevin Segalla, Connecticut Film Center; Jeff Taylor, Elements Post; Neal Thomassen, Annual Film Industry Mixer; and Ron Wishna, RM Studios, LLC.

“Connecticut is searching for ways to generate jobs, strengthen the economy and lessen its dependence on the crippled financial sector,” said Chris Campbell, owner of Palace Digital Studio and one of the 19 CPC founders. “As one of the few growing industries in the state, film and digital media are key to that effort."

In two years, according to a CPC news release, "91 film, TV and digital media productions have brought more than $600 million in direct investment to Connecticut, resulting in an estimated $1.5 billion in new economic activity . . . some 80,000 hotel rooms, permits, rented homes, buildings and parking lots from property owners; spending at hardware stores, printing shops, coffee shops, restaurants, dry cleaners, lumber yards, car rental agencies and many other community businesses."

The tax credit helped attract Blue Sky Studios (digital animation and creators of the movie Ice Age) to move to Greenwich, bringing along more than 300 jobs. Films shot in Connecticut include Revolutionary Road and Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

For an independent network for the industry see New England Film at www.newenglandfilm.com.

World Economic Forum Channels New Media

More and more business people and world leaders are seeing the power of YouTube and blogs for broadcasting ideas.

Now viewers can comment on the video proceedings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos -"Shaping the Post-Crisis World" - Jan. 28 to 1 Feb. 2009. (The WEF YouTube slot had some 83,087 channel views as of Jan. 26.)

The WEF is an independent international organization incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. For a list of global corporate business leaders attending the event see this link.

This year two “citizen reporters” from MySpace and YouTube are invited to the annual gathering in Davos following online contests on both sites. Reports will be filed to their respective communities using the MySpace and YouTube platforms.

Rebecca McQuigg from Los Angeles, California, represents the MySpace community; Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post; Frank Luntz, communications specialist and political consultant; and Chris DeWolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace.

McQuigg receives an all-expense-paid travel to/from Davos and will report by blogging/vlogging on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/myspacejournal), and on the Wall Street Journal online.

Follow the forum exchange of ideas on Twitter at http://twitter.com/davos or Qik (mobile live video news) or visit the Davos Universe at http://www.netvibes.com/davosconversation.


The WEF is committed to improving the state of the world by "engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas." Its mission is impartial and not-for-profit; and is "tied to no political, partisan or national interests."