What we learned this week

• You should not wait until social media happens to you. 

"39% of people surveyed said they would feel no impact if their local newspapers shut down. 30% said it would have a minor impact, but only 28% said the impact would be major, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. About three-quarters of respondents to the survey of 2,251 U.S. adults said they wouldn’t be willing to pay anything for online news if their newspapers failed to survive."

• It seems that beyond all the discussions of buzzy “branded journalism,” adding “game layers” to everything and replacing ironic air quotes with ironic air hashtags, the main reason to attend this year's SXSWi was to be able to get a brand new iPad 2 on the day of release at Apple’s SXSW pop-up store with a minimal amount of waiting in line. SXSWi is growing too big, too fast, for its own good.

Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.