Navigating The SXSWi Waters: Hey Big Fish Identifies The Conversations And People That Matter Most To You

PORTLAND, Ore., March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As thousands of people convene in Austin, Texas, this week for SXSW Interactive Festival (SXSWi), online conversations and social chatter will peak. This year there is a solution to filter out the noise. Three Portland-based companies have teamed up to bring you Hey Big Fish (http://www.heybigfish.com) to tap into the information deluge and determine who and what you need to know at large events such as SXSWi.

Influencer discovery platform Little Bird, digital solutions company Tater Tot Designs and multiservice communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) introduce Hey Big Fish, a Web app that measures the people and topics that carry the most influence at a large event, such as SXSWi, and serves up what is most relevant to you. Participants can also use Hey Big Fish to track their own influence and networking success with personalized event scorecards.

"Hey Big Fish evaluates the landscape of a large event like SXSWi and does the legwork in identifying the most relevant information so you can network and stay up to speed on conversations, powerfully and efficiently," said Marshall Kirkpatrick, Little Bird CEO.

Hey Big Fish will help SXSWi attendees and spectators discover what the hottest topics are, what news is trending, who is an expert in their fields, who is the most talked about and how they rank within the conversation. The Web app does this by analyzing Twitter activity, measuring influence based on peer engagement around topics, and showcasing a ranking of people, topics and content in a simple dashboard.

"In this day of integrated communications, collaboration can often be the key to solving our clients' business problems," said Scott McLaughlin, senior vice president of corporate communications for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "Hey Big Fish illustrates how WE can use its communications expertise as well as its connections to bring powerful and innovative mobile solutions to our key audiences."

Tater Tot Designs created a usable and responsive experience for the Web app to be used on a wide variety of devices.

"We dove into this project with one goal in mind: to measure in a smart and usable way the most influential people and topics at a large event like SXSWi," said Frank D'Andrea, vice president of software development at Tater Tot Designs. "The result is a usable, intuitive digital experience that attendees can have at their fingertips."

This is how to put Hey Big Fish to use:

1. Access the mobile Web app at http://www.heybigfish.com.
2. Discover the most buzzed-about news in general or on specific topics of interest to SXSWi attendees, such as Web design or big data. 
3. Learn who is the most influential on specific topics.
4. Start a dialogue with someone new.
5. See where you rank in the SXSWi pond and track your rise as you engage.

More information on Little Bird can be found at http://getlittlebird.com.

More information on Tater Tot Designs can be found at http://tatertotdesigns.com.

More information on WE is available at http://www.waggeneredstrom.com.

About Little Bird
Cofounded in 2011 by former RWW and TechCrunch journalist Marshall Kirkpatrick with Tyler Gillies and Mikalina Kirkpatrick in Portland, Oregon, Little Bird is the way for businesses of all sizes to discover true topical influencers and quality content online.

After a successful pilot with two dozen enterprise customers, the product is being made available to a broader market of individuals and business customers on a self-service subscription and enterprise basis, both as a web application and for integration via API.

Learn more about Little Bird online at http://getlittlebird.com/.  

About Tater Tot Designs
Tater Tot Designs provides digital marketing, software development, and product design services from our office in downtown Portland, Oregon. We are a diverse team of award-winning technology professionals serving clients from the Fortune 500 to local startups. Visit the Tater Tot Designs website at http://tatertotdesigns.com/.

About Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) is a global, integrated communications agency. For nearly 30 years the independently owned firm has developed strategic communications programs for innovative and world-changing clients, working to influence markets, inspire people and improve lives.

In the last few years, the agency was honored with countless awards for our creative and strategic work; among them WE was recognized as Global Technology Agency of the Year, Best Large Agency to Work For, Communications Agency of the Year and Technology Agency of the Decade.

The agency has more than 850 employees in 19 offices around the world, and its Global Alliance partners expand the agency's reach to more than 80 additional international markets. WE has five global practices: Brand Strategy and Marketing, Healthcare, Public Affairs, Technology and Social Innovation. To learn more, visit http://www.WaggenerEdstrom.com.

The Waggener Edstrom® mark, the Innovation Communications® mark, the WE Studio D® mark and other marks used herein are registered or unregistered trademarks of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the registered or unregistered trademarks of their respective owners. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. 

SOURCE Waggener Edstrom Worldwide