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Press Release from 10/22/2009

The Power of We: Networking at its finest at mobile.futuretalk 09

Co-founder of Facebook Chris Hughes and neuroscientist Susan Greenfield gave exciting talks about the pros and cons of digital relationships - Hannes Ametsreiter welcomed more than 800 guests to the ninth mobile.futuretalk hosted by mobilkom austria

Are digital relationships the resources of the future? This was the question put forward by mobilkom austria yesterday, as part of the mobile.futuretalk 09 event. mobilkom austria had invited Chris Hughes and Susan Greenfield – one of the strongest supporters and one of the most vehement critics of digital social networks – to discuss this issue. Chris Hughes – co-founder of Facebook and election campaigner on behalf of Barack Obama – highlighted the democratising power of Web 2.0, while the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield warned against the changes the Internet and computer games may cause to the human brain. Among those following the exciting discussion were prominent guests such as Niki Lauda, the event guru Hannes Jagerhofer, Woman editor-in-chief Euke Frank and media professionals Rudi Klausnitzer and Hans Mahr.

“Social networks have enormous relevance. They can move billions of people and billions of dollars,” said Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO mobilkom austria and Telekom Austria and the host of the evening, so outlining the theme of mobile.futuretalk 09. “The Power of We has arrived in our society and as with every far-reaching phenomenon, developments are provoking both euphoria and anxiety.” Right at the beginning, he brought up the results of an Austria-wide survey, which found that modern Facebook friendships have no negative impact whatsoever on real contacts. On the contrary: Those who are good at networking do just as much of it online as offline.

Brain Researcher versus Obama’s Online Mastermind
The online coordinator of Obama’s election campaign, Chris Hughes, entered the stage with the words, “I'm a nerd through and through, and I believe more people should be.” The 25-year-old, who founded Facebook five years ago together with Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, conjured up the pioneering spirit: You believe in an idea and – with the right friends – you implement it consistently. As a co-founder of today’s leading social networking platform, he had no problem making this assertion. And for all those who are still laughing about Facebook and Twitter without understanding the consequences for their company, for example, he gave a crash course in “Facebooking”: It is all about staying in touch with people even if – for private or business reasons – they are living on another continent at the moment. He believes that the strength of social networks in the digital age lies in their transparency: There are no longer any barriers to gain accurate information.

The British neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield whirled across the stage and gave a lecture about dopamine and brain multitasking. In her pointed speech, she warned against an overdose of “feel-good hormones” caused by constant reward scenarios in video games – today’s 11-year-olds already spend two times as many hours in front of the monitor as they do at school, “a problem that should be taken at least as seriously as global warming.”

The evening offered many opportunities to “see things differently”, or as Hannes Ametsreiter put it: “Food for the brain.” The renowned journalist and presenter Sandra Maischberger led the audience through the presentations and the final discussion.

mobilkom austria award 09 goes to “Frauen beraten Frauen”
The mobilkom austria award 09 – worth some €12,000 to the winners – went to the organisation Frauen beraten Frauen (Counselling for Women by Women): the project frauenberatenfrauen-ONLINE uses "the power of digital relationships" to offer women in difficult situations comprehensive advice and support over the Internet. mobilkom austria, in cooperation with the NPO Institute, invited organisations to submit projects in which information technology was used to encourage communication between people, and strengthen the social fabric.

Connected: visitors to mobile.futuretalk 09
Quite apart from the theme of the event, the location chosen also got people talking: the dispatch hall of the old Anker factory was built in 1898 and at the time, at 2000m2, it was the largest free-standing hall in Europe. Peter Kogler, one of Austria’s most outstanding artists, produced the design and artwork for mobile.futuretalk 09, to express networking and collective intelligence.

Over 800 guests accepted the invitation from Hannes Ametsreiter to the Old Anker Factory, in the Favoriten district of Vienna.  The people who spent the evening discussing the useful and crazy aspects of social networks, while doing some networking of their own, included Formula-1-legend Niki Lauda, media managers Hans Mahr and Rudi Klausnitzer, event guru Hannes Jagerhofer, CEO of 3 Berthold Thoma and T-Mobile boss Robert Chvatal, “Woman” editor-in-chief Euke Frank and the beach volleyball players Nik Berger and Clemens Doppler.

Website: mobile.futuretalk 09

Werner Reiter, Press Spokesperson, w.reiter@mobilkom.at. Tel. +43 664 331 2720