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" For anyone who devours the web on a daily basis, the biggest problem is too much of a good thing. There's so much extraordinary content - from articles to images, videos and Tweets - that it's almost impossible to keep track of it. "

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" Working with lots of old media clients, I've had a front-row seat on the ascension of new social players and the decline of traditional news outlets. And it's clear to me that old media has an awful lot to learn from social media, in particular in five key areas: relevance, distribution, velocity, monetization, and user experience. "

Ryan Holmes

Social Media

Experience

Key

" Social media is the most disruptive form of communication humankind has seen since the last disruptive form of communications, email. "

" For resourceful tech founders, finding capital is rarely a problem; making the best use of it is another story. A few years slinging pepperoni pies and chicken wings - on tiny margins and with minimal investment - might not be the worst fiscal training. "

" Tech companies have a finite lifespan: For the successful ones, an IPO or exit is never more than a few years off. But by recruiting locally and developing homegrown talent, companies can build something that remains after they're gone. People, skills and a culture of innovation persist. "

" Payfirma has revolutionized the payment process, consolidating mobile, e-commerce and in-store payments under a single solution, much like HootSuite did for social media. "

" At the most basic level, prioritizing design also represents a practical consideration. It's far easier to design first and engineer later. "

" Silicon Valley isn't the only game in town. Tech is increasingly decentralized. Around the world, new tech centers with younger companies are able to embrace a different approach to talent: recruit locally, identify homegrown prospects and, in a phrase, bring them along for the ride. "

" For some people, staying grounded means doing yoga. For others, it's spending time with family. Social media, too, can be a lifesaver. "

" Social media, for all of its limitations, is rarely irrelevant. The stream of updates on your Facebook page, for instance, is algorithmically engineered to be darn-near irresistible. "

" I don't know how many times I've turned to Twitter and Facebook to commiserate and celebrate, bounce ideas off of friends, colleagues and other entrepreneurs, and just connect with the wider world outside my office. "

" Amongst high unemployment rates, a competitive job market and a shrinking global economy, the emerging social media industry only continues to grow. "

" Social media has shaken up the world of sales, with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offering new ways to hound leads and unprecedented insights into clients. "

" Tech companies don't exist in a bubble; they draw from and feed into a larger community. Ideally, the relationship is symbiotic. "

" One thing I would like to see in Vancouver and Canada is something similar to the PayPal mafia. They were all early employees of PayPal. They all had monster exits with PayPal, and they were able to take their winnings and form a syndicate that co-invests. "

" I'd love to build a brand, a legacy. "

" By allowing multiple partners to contribute, an open platform can nurture an entire ecosystem of developers and apps. Good products integrate and become great products. Users get a one-stop solution for social needs. "

" Social media listening tools make it easy to track brand references and mentions, and these functions can still be handled ably by a small, dedicated team. "

" As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest challenges you will face will be building your brand. The ultimate goal is to set your company and your brand apart from the crowd. If you form a strategy without doing the research, your brand will barely float - and at the speed industries move at today, brands sink fast. "

" Workflow and usability are not afterthoughts; they impact the core of any project and dictate how it should be engineered. "

" Although social media is a relatively new form of communication, it has become the primary way retailers and customers are interfacing. "

" Social media is the future, with employers recognizing they need to start hiring people with the right skills. "

" One of the ironies of a conference dedicated to all things digital and virtual is that the best ways to connect with people are surprisingly old-school. Social media tools can improve the odds of a serendipitous encounter at SXSW, but old-fashioned hustle, palm-pressing and - above all - creativity go a long way. "

" From its humble origins in college dorm rooms, social media has quietly crept into the boardroom. "

" Ultimately, I'd love to see a legacy company that has alumni that come out of it and go on to create other big things. A maple-syrup mafia, a HootSuite mafia. "

Ryan Holmes

Create

See

" Understanding and respecting your roots is critical not only to winning the tech talent wars but leaving a legacy that transcends bottom lines. "

" The reality is that SXSW is packed with brilliant entrepreneurs, investors and partners. They're everywhere, zipping back and forth like thousands of atoms. Your chances of colliding with one actually improve just by standing still. "

Ryan Holmes

Reality

Standing

" When you think of technology that gets people excited - long lines at stores, enthusiastic reviews in the blogosphere, passionate evangelists - the first thing to come to mind probably isn't thermostats. Then, along came Nest. "

" I grew up off the grid in Vernon, and I saw my parents work hard every day, as teachers but also while farming and building a log home. So from a young age I knew the value of hard work. "

" Early in my career, I was involved with engineer-led projects, where designers came in late in the game and were expected to put lipstick on an existing code base. This almost never works. "

" Hammer down product fundamentals first. Make sure you've got something that works before doubling down on promotion and marketing. Create a groundswell of organic support, and only then leverage PR and advertising to spread the word. "