Our two-person Social Media Team represented Ten Square Games during the third edition of Social Media Convent, the biggest event of that kind in Poland. We were eager to take in all the current trends in the world of social media and to expand our knowledge on the subject, since we know close to nothing about the Internet compared to the Generation Z (if you want to find out more about this mysterious term, go on reading!).

This year the Convent took place in a different venue than the years before – the new European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. And we have to admit, hands down, it made a huge impression on us!

The convent took 2 days, which consisted of 16 hours of lectures and discussions, with some extra time for socializing and connecting with prominent people of social media. We’ve comprised a brief summary of the key issues discussed at the Convent.

The power of a bird

The first day was almost completely focused on Twitter. Since TSG is new to Twitter and we are only discovering its endless possibilities, we were pleased to hear Katie Lampe, the Head of Sales Operations at Twitter, speaking with great passion about the platform. She provided some great ideas for the use of Twitter and we are meaning to put them to life!

Tweeting government

We were surprised to learn that Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not only present in social media, but highly active and professional doing so. The MFA manages over 340 accounts on social platforms in various languages from all over the world! They employ a lot of people responsible for keeping the world up to date with Polish affairs abroad and they have proven to be experts in it! We can surely learn a lot from them.

Wait, is that…? Him?

The biggest surprise awaited us on the second day. Right in between the speakers, an unexpected person appeared on stage – the former president of Poland, Lech Wałęsa! As he is a legendary figure, not only in Poland, due to his contribution to overthrowing the communist rule in Eastern Europe, everyone was excited to see him and listen to his speech.

Can you go to prison for tweeting?

One of the speakers, Piotr Waglowski, took social media from a more serious angle and brought up the issue of legality of posts published by companies on social platforms. At the moment we don’t have to worry about while posting something on our companies’ or products’ fanpages because the law does not yet regulate these proceedings but we have to bear in mind that one day it might change.

Snap!

Our attentiondrew a talk on Snapchat – an app that is usually viewed as a tool for exchanging pics (or snaps) that appear only for a few seconds to the receiver. Joanna Kurkowska of Hoop Festival showed that this app, seemingly of no use to companies, can be utilized for quick and direct promotional campaigns. And we’re looking forward to new features from the Snapchat Team as it is developing really fast and gaining a lot of popularity, especially among Generation Z!

Aliens?

Yes, Generation Z! Haven’t you heard this term? Then you ought to because this generation is taking over social media! Depending on who you ask, Generation Z refers to the young people born in the 2000s but not earlier than mid-1990s, which means that the Internet and social media have always been present in their lives. Their experience of the world differs significantly from that of their older colleagues, even those born in the early 1990s. Thus if you are over 20 years old, then you’ll have a hard time competing with those fervent users and real inhabitants of the truly global village.

Twitter vs. Facebook

Twitter has been getting much more attention from Generation Z than Facebook, a site that is slowly getting old along with its users. Additionally, Twitter does not use EdgeRank or any other algorithm that prevents users from seeing certain posts. The two features combined contribute to the great potential of Twitter that is still not fully used by brands (especially in Poland).

The Final message

What turned out to be prevalent among all the lectures was the importance of two-way communication between the company and the clients. Brands are no longer a higher entity that descend to mortals on special occasions only but rather they try to appear as just the same people as their customers. To do so, they communicate with their clients directly and on daily basis, using all available social networking sites.

Take a look around Gdańsk

After the Convent we had some time to walk around the city which surprised us with its beautiful architecture and amazing Scandinavian atmosphere. See for yourself!