The Twitter Side Of BIF

It has long been my practice at such events to stuff entire yellow legal pads with detailed but often incomprehensible scribbles. Unlike my colleagues in the news business, I typically do my report writing upon reflection after an event. But at the BIO Investor Forum, I gave myself completely to the new, here-and-now technology of Twitter, and to the almighty power of the hashtag. As speakers spoke, presenters presented, and roundtables roundabouted, I sought to master the art of simultaneously listening and commenting in real time to the outside world — to everyone, that is, who followed me or my retweeted tweets, as well as others, at #BIF13.

Now and before all witnesses, I confess I no longer believe Twitter is as ridiculous and superfluous as I once did. Having followers — having any at all — is nice, I find. But even nicer is doubling the size of my flock in two days (however small it was), mainly drawing from an instant hashtag community of tweeters gathered around the serious purpose of funding entrepreneurial medicine. As each session proceeded, audience members tweeted away, sometimes with the speakers and panelists taking cues from or even joining in the tweets.

In this parallel universe of activity, a conversation unfolds and a record is created. Make that multiple records, however — for the unique quality of Twitter is that each person may see a different document, a unique sample of the pooled tweetings of the hashtag crowd blended into the “Home” view along with others. Instant, even individual subcultures form, such as the handful of journalists at BIF. In one session, I saw tweets by Luke Timmerman (xconomy.com) traded almost one-for-one with my own, like two eyes offering parallel vision on the panel discussion. After the closing session on the second day, all the journalists were invited to a closed chat with some big VCs, meeting each other face-to-face without any intervening social media.

Although #BIF is the tweeting center of the event, each of the companies presenting and attending likely has its own hashtag followed by other attendees or investors and other observers far away. Two years, perhaps even one year ago, Twitter was a sideshow at the Forum; now, as at conferences in general, joining the BIF tweet stream (or streams) is as essential as sitting in a presentation or networking over coffee.

But what Twitter can’t do so well is accommodate follow-up discussion, research, and reflection on a given issue or company. Prior knowledge or subsequent investigation is essential to put each momentary tweet in context. If you walk into a presentation of a company you are meeting for the first time, your “tweetporting” will be only superficial and ephemeral. Others in the room may alert you to a fly in the ointment with a telling tweet, but don’t confuse such good fortune with knowledge.

Among journalists, most good tweeters also write comprehensively in the traditional media. They study, follow, and analyze their subjects the old fashioned way — they put in the time. Twitter has not actually changed the physics of time; it has merely carved it into smaller bits to serve a limited purpose. Knowledge exists at every scale of resolution, ensuring the long forms like magazines and books will always be with us alongside the digital-clock-like readout of Twitter and its social-media cousins.

One sidelight of the BIF Twitterfest was an initial protest by members of the press against hyperbolic clichés such as “robust data” and self-promotional slide decks by roundtable or workshop panelists. Some of the traffic was shared on the hashtag #cutthecrap. I responded with a few Dutch-uncle comments about the inevitability of hype among early-stage companies still digging for data to support their dreams. All of this traffic took place on Twitter; no one outside the discussion would have even known it was going on. But it might be valuable information in the future for any young company wanting to make a good impression on the press.

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