Facebook, Twitter And Caribbean Summer Carnivals and Festivals 2009

Well if you haven’t realized by now, let me tell you.  Summer time is here again! I know, I know some of you are still tied up with exams and others are under project stress at work. I know summer is still very much a distant thought for you in the face of these imminent deadlines! I do feel your pain. I don’t necessarily want to share your pain, but I do feel your pain. Let me leave you with some words of encouragement –

Pain is weakness leaving the body!

In our beloved Caribbean, summer is a big, big deal. Our Caribbean Community hosts several major festivals and Carnivals around the world during this time, the big ones being Vincy Mas,  St. Lucia Carnival, Crop Over (Barbados), Antigua Carnival, ATI (Jamaica), Reggae Sumfest (Jamaica), Great Fete Weekend (Trinidad), Caribana (Toronto), Spice Mas (Grenada) and more!

We all love the festivities from connecting with old friends, meeting new people or wining to the latest riddim. Summer is the time that we taste and enjoy many of the  true blessings of our Caribbean Heritage.

I have been wondering though, how will technology, especially social media, affect summer  in the Caribbean Community this year. To get even more specific, how will Twitter and Facebook affect summer this year? Last year, I wrote on my most referenced posts – Facebook Impact On Caribbean Entertainment. I am wondering now about this summer!

In a recent post, I spoke about Twitter and its core strength being speed and immediacy. Twitter is all about the now. Facebook’s recent homepage upgrade makes the latest things immediately available to us. Facebook has become all about the here and now.
In short, keeping track of someone’s facebook or twitter you might be able to consistently answer “What’s up” to one of the most common questions we all ask.

An interesting development is the crazy level of adoption of BlackBerries in the region. It is now common place for the average person to have a smartphone, and its even more common for people to update their facebook or twitter directly from their phones as they go through the day. Many of us can now share our latest and greatest experiences using facebook and twitter.  The question still remains, how might this impact summer in our Caribbean Community? hmmmm.

I think that one obvious way is that it might affect is in the music we hear over the air waves. Imagine last year’s hit Tempa Wine by Machel Montano and Patrice Roberts (according to the BoomTribe Top Ten Caribbean Countdown) might be remixed this year to …..

‘What you going to do when you get on Twitter?”

What you going to do when you get on Twitter?

Twitter wine, Twitter wine

Yeahh …

‘What you going to do when you get on Facebook?”

What you going to do when you get on Facebook?

Facebook wine, Facebook wine

Yeahh …

I can see it now masquerades dressed like the blue chick like outfit jumping down the road … twitter wining! lol –  there might not be a remix planned, but it is a good thought! I would have to  sit down with the producer Dwain “Dwaingerous Antrobus and see how likely that is to happen.

But for real, Let’s get serious –

I have had the experience of blogging live from events over the last year, and the idea of being able to watch the masses from around the Caribbean Community doing these same kind of updates is really facinating to me. I mean I have gotten very good response to my live updates. Imagine it! Information will now be able to island hop at a rapid pace with several people being able to do these kinds of updates. Some interesting conversations might also develop for example – I was at an event about a month ago tweeting & updating my facebook status saying that Anthony B was closing a show in Barbados. My friend Amala in St. Lucia responded saying that Barrington LevY was closing a show in Lucia.

Imagine if the Twitter and Facebook conversations be like this or even a bit more involved we could have messages like.

• Who is going to Wet Fete this year?
• not me, the VIP for Wet Fete at US $ 300 – that is too expensive!
• well for me I’m going to one event this season. I pay one price and see all the big acts on one stage. Going to buy my ticket now
• Why would I really pay US $500 for my costume not to fit?
• that happened to me too which band are you in?
• (Mas Band Name) Is sold out?
• Who is at __________ event ? Did it flop fa real?
• Yes, its a huge flop I am leaving now.
• Cha I was just about to leave home to come down
• Lime at my house now bring a drink if you are coming?

I see the promoters amoung us twitching … Promoters, it is a double edge sword, the word can spread across the Caribbean Community that your event has flopped or its the hottest event ever.  It is really something to consider. These updates and conversations might mean that you have to play the game a alot more honestly. Maybe this year you might treat us a little better and make less claims untrue claims in your ads. Could this be the year that we don’t have to listen any of the following phrases?

e.g.

This is the biggest fete for the year.
The best event you will ever go to.
The most creative concept ever …

Your days of superlatives might be just be numbered. Personally,  I am paying very close attention to my use of superlatives myself. Its not just superlatives but don’t make any false promises, it could really hurt you. Play the game honestly you focus on your customers especially the loyal ones and be sure to treat them well and ensure that they have a good time. They will tweet about your great product or service without having to be forced or even help clear up misinformation some people are putting out there.

Some very interesting things might happen this summer simply because people can share information so much more quickly, almost instantaneously via Twitter and Facebook.

Now for those of you with your own business or those who are intending to make some money this summer. It might make sense that in your marketing meetings you discuss how you will join in the conversation on Twitter and Facebook and truly connect with your market and your customers.

Note I said JOIN the conversation, not shout at people like you do in your radio ad!

I am sure you want to reward your biggest fans, those people who believe in you and ur product and recommends you to others.
Now, Twitter and Facebook are good places to find out who these fans are. Twitter and Facebook can also be used to make an example of your biggest genuine fans publicly by rewarding them tickets to the next show. Imagine the satifaction of reading several tweets or Facebook status messages – Going to Soca Monarch compliments (insert our brand name here).

Word of mouth marketing just became so much more powerful, Facebook and Twitter now allows your words to travel around the Caribbean Community at breakneck paste.

It is going to be interesting to see it all unfolds and want lessons we will learn this summer.

I encourage you to play your part not just for your business or professional life but share your experiences with your friends and build up this Caribbean Community of ours. Never before have we been able to share information like this in the Caribbean Community. You tweets and status mesages are powerful tools, which can greatly enhance your summer,  my summer experience and the rest of the Caribbean Community. We just have to use it.

Corey Graham 2.0