South by Southwest (SXSW).
It’s is kind of like the geek Woodstock, bringing together all things interactive, music and film. And it’s happening right now in Austin, TX. Programmers, musicians, online celebrities, and random fanboys from around the world have gathered under the warm Texas sun to discuss what’s hot and what’s not on the tech horizon.
And, as one journalist found out, the attendees aren’t too easily pleased.
On Sunday afternoon, Sarah Lacy (Tech writer; Business Week) sat down for a public, keynote interview with Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. In front of a packed room, the two chatted it up for almost an hour about the social network’s past, present and future…
until the audience began to revolt.
About 50 minutes into the interview, one audience member shouted out, “Talk about something interesting!” to which the crowd responded with a rousing round of applause.
Lacy quickly followed this outburst with the following response: “Try doing what I do for a living.” Let’s just say that this little suggestion didn’t go over too well among a congregation of programmers who spend their days hopelessly troubleshooting endless pages of complex code.
Armed with fully-charged laptops and Twitter accounts, the audience instantly spread word of the painfully awkward spectacle to everyone who would listen. And the bloggers were ready, willing and able to amplify their micro-voices.
Today, it was virtually impossible to find a tech blog or social voting site that wasn’t buzzing about the disaster. With hundreds upon hundreds of Twitters pouring in from the event, online journalists were armed with enough ammo to take down a small army.
And, unfortunately for Ms. Lacy, this negative buzz will undoubtedly continue through the end of this week (or at least until someone else screws up).
Zuckerberg quickly responded to the botched interview by hosting his own Q and A session with the conference’s attendees. I’ll have more to say about this as conference attendees continue to spread the conference love….
But for now, feel free to enjoy the entire 60-minute Zuckerberg/Lacy interview in its full, embarrassing glory:
