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Stephen Gates
Starwood Hotels Interactive Creative Director
The social ties that bind us are wearing increasingly thin, according to Stephen Gates. As worldwide interactive creative director for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Gates has become an authority on social media and its impact on society and branding. Listen as we explore online networks as “Social Surrogates” and the implications for brand connections.
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“Facebook has really almost become a social surrogate to real human interaction,” said Gates, who decided to test the strength of his own personal bonds by defriending anyone with whom he had not interacted offline in a meaningful way in the year prior.
The results of Gates’ “Inverse Facebook Experiment” may come as a surprise. In this interview, Gates provides insight to help marketers rethink the meaning of “interactivity” and how to apply it in a culture where it has become commonplace to establish and maintain relationships without speaking with or seeing other people.
Stephen Gates will also lead a symposium on the future of online branding at Future Trends 2010!
Click here to listen to the podcast
For more about Stephen Gates, please visit his blog at www.stephengates.com/blog
October 18-20, 2010
Eden Roc – Miami
See you in Miami!
Cheers,
Future Trends
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