Social Media Week Singapore

February 18-22 will be Social Media Week here in Singapore. I didn’t attend Social Media Week last year, but looking at the schedule of over 30 events this year, a few items caught my attention. I will be attending,

Opening Keynote: Damien Cummings, Samsung Asia & Laura Balkovich, Google – could be awesome, or not. Either way, it might be a chance to meet some of the organisers of the week and get a better feel for the social media scene here. And, any opportunity to hear Google explain what they are doing in social media is worth it.

Growing up on Facebook – kind of telling that a panel on parenting in the digital age is branded with a Facebook focus. Still, since I write a column on parenting issues for the South China Morning Post that frequently touches on social media issues, I will be very keen to hear what the speakers have to say and ask questions.

Where Music, Social & Tech Collide – I wonder if this panel will live up to the delightful title they’ve been given. Suspect it might be more music marketing and pr than social media and music tech. But, it’s pretty much essential either way.

#SMWSGSOUNDS – not a lot of info about this one. Purportedly it is a music industry networking event, which means it could be brilliant or a complete waste of time. I’ll go in hopeful, but with a finger hovering over the taxi booking app.

Marketing to Women – one of two panels on women and social media. I’m really interested in this one, not so much because I want to market to women specifically, but because I want to understand why women are often so much better and smarter at using social media (especially in Singapore).

To be honest a lot of the panels really don’t capture my imagination. Social Media Week here seems to be very focussed on “how-to” and “discovery” events, some of which are thinly veiled promos for certain products, companies or services.

That feels a lot less compelling than the kinds of events organised for Social Media Week in Hong Kong, which tend to be more focussed on best practice and highlighting active and supportive social media communities (like food blogging, fashion writing, iPhoneography and social PR).

Maybe it’s just a reflection of the differences between the two cities. I know many of the Hong Kong Social Media Week organisers and they are part of a fairly small number of people who really enable the social media scene in that town. They are quite a helpful and approachable bunch, often willing to bring people into the fold, support interesting newcomers and even follow you back online.

My experience of Singapore’s social media scene has felt colder. I don’t really know if it’s because the scene here is bigger, or more disjointed. Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to Social Media Week Singapore and finding out a little more about what makes this place tick.