With all the hype about social media, there is still only a limited microwave audience on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Let’s change that this year and expand the small but growing group of Twitter users involved in the MTT-S IMS show.

At last year’s symposium, a handful of companies shared their experiences Twittering about their latest product releases, news, social events and happenings on the show floor. Some of the companies that can be found on Twitter include Agilent, Anritsu, AWR, R&S, Reactel, Skyworks, EM Research, Z-Communications, RFMD, Freescale, Resnet Microwave, ADI, Phase Matrix, TriQuint, CST, Tektronix and NXP. Last year, a search feed displayed all Symposium related Tweets on our Online Show Daily website (the official IMS Cyber Café homepage), and IMS attendees could follow these companies from our website or on their mobile phones. We will be doing the same thing this year.


Try using Twitter to note interesting sessions, new products, social events, good giveaways, interesting demos on the show floor, good restaurants and bars. If everyone does a couple of Tweets a day about their favorite (or not so favorite) things that they find around town, everyone will know where the good restaurants and watering holes are located. It will also allow everyone to know in real time the exciting activities that are going on at the show or after hours. There has been some Twittering about the show already so keep the pre-show, during the show and post-show Tweets going.

Taking Twitter a step further and finding your friends and others locally, try Foursquare. This app allows you to “check in” at various locations so your group of friends knows exactly where you are and can meet up with you if they are in the area.

The next big thing could be group messaging. There are many new apps being produced that solve the problem of having private conversations with a small group of friends. While many people use SMS, it is very difficult to message more than one person at a time, making group discussions almost impossible. Using group messaging, the timeline of discussions is visible to only those in the discussion. If someone is added, they immediately receive the discussion string. While e-mail can be used, it is not as immediate and threading not as clean.

Some new apps that address this issue are Beluga, Yobongo, GroupMe, Fast Society and Disco, which was bought by Google. These apps avoid text messaging fees for the most part as the string is only considered a single message and not individual messages from each person.

The social media market is fast moving and there are new apps releasing all the time, so it is difficult to keep up with everything that is going on. Just try some of the different apps from time to time and see how they work for you and your friends. Talk about them and share experiences – you will learn quickly which ones work for you.

Join in the real time social media scene by using the Hashtag #IMS2011 in your Tweets so everyone can follow the action [# indicates the word is a Hashtag (developed by Hashtags.org) and allows people to follow that keyword easily].

Visit the Microwave Journal website for the Twitter feed on the MTT-S IMS show page at www.mwjournal.com/IMS2011 and trace the MWJ staff on Twitter by following David Vye @mwjournal, Pat Hindle @pathindle and Kristen Anderson @KAatMWJ.