Social Media in Germany

 

In preparation for my second German-American Social Media Boot Camp, which is scheduled for Oct. 10-11, 2011 in Berlin, I assembled an expert panel of digital communications professionals to discuss the state of social media in Germany, and the start-up scene in Berlin.

 

Germany has come a long way since Fredric Lardinois wrote on ReadWriteWeb that the country is still 5 years behind with lots to learn.  But that may not be true for all companies.

 

Big organizations are hiring big agencies and jumping in feet first. But privacy concerns among small and medium sized businesses have stymied adoption. In fact, Xing’s compliance with local privacy laws has allowed the service to lure more users in Germany, despite a veritable lack of features and some municipal officials are still scared to launch Facebook Pages.

 

Berlin’s start-up scene, including SoundCloud and Etsy, is creating jobs for the digitally literate, but the post industrial generation is still left out, because they lack the skills to compete in the digital communications marketplace and almost now formal trainings opportunities exist for them to learn these important new job skills.  

 

	Thomas Praus (@stylewalker), managing director of Panorama 3000, a member of Box Network Europe and an advisory board member for Social Media Week Berlin 2011
	Oliver Gassner, (@oliverg) conversation evangelist and Blog Coach at carpe.com communicate GbR.
	Sebastian Vasta (@sebastianvasta), Australian expat, former digital strategist and community manager, most recently for @Optus.

 

This episode also includes a tribute to the great Liza Minnelli and her inimitable performance in the Oscar winning film Cabaret.

 

 

 

 

Subscribe:

 

 

 

Embed this Podcast:

<embed width="400" height="27" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" flashvars="audioUrl= http://www.ontherecordpodcast.com/pr/otro/electronic/social-media-germany.mp3" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>

About the Podcaster:

Eric Schwartzman (@EricSchwartzman) provides social marketing services, social marketing research and social media training to businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. He has over 15 years experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs.  He has served Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, US Embassy to Rome, United States Marine Corps and many other small to medium-sized companies and agencies.  Eric is also the instructor behind top-rated social media training seminars and the Social Media Boot Camp which are offered regularly in the US and abroad. Visit the social media training calendar for upcoming dates.