Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla to speak at Australian Radio Conference in October

Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Australian Radio Conference, to be held in Melbourne on October 15.

The American was one of the team, led by Jack Dorsey, that originally created Twitter in 2006, and has written the definitive style guide for Twitter and short form communications  – “140 Characters, A Style Guide for the Short Form” on how best to tweet. His three top tweeting tips: first is brevity; second is describe (you are telling a story) and thirdly, make it simple. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has more than 100 million users worldwide.

Sagolla is also the founder of DollarApp, which focuses on producing specialised iPhone applications for a common price. He started his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom.

He will talk about the uses and impact of Twitter in the media, twitteretiquette and also look at future implications for social networkingand communications.

The 2010 Australian Radio Conference will be held at Crown in Melbourneon October 15. The annual conference is a highlight for the Australianradio industry and has featured legendary keynote speakers over thepast few years including last year, Sir Michael Parkinson, and inprevious years, Sir Bob Geldof; G. Gordon Liddy; Clive James; BarryHumphries, Imran Khan and Nigel Lythgoe as well as the voice of TheSimpsons, Harry Shearer and one of the world’s funniest men, JohnCleese.

Also speaking at this year’s conference are radio legends, John Laws(broadcaster), Rod Muir (pioneer of FM radio), Paul Thompson (pioneerof FM broadcasting) and Greg Smith (programming pioneer for allformats) who will combine in a special panel session discussing the keyprinciples of good radio. All four speakers are members of theindustry’s Hall of Fame and combined, provide many years of radioexperience. The session will be chaired by Triple M’s Paul Murray.

This year’s conference also includes a panel featuring 3AW’s DerrynHinch, ARN’s Amanda Keller, Nova’s Merrick Watts and Director of theJournalism and Media Research Centre at UNSW, Professor CatharineLumby, looking at the sometimes controversial question of what isacceptable on-air content today; where we are heading; and how moreregulation impacts on on-air staff and their creativity.

There is also a special Gruen-style session where advertising agenciesand industry experts will pitch their ideas on how to position radio inthe changing digital media landscape.

The Federal Minister for Communications, Senator Conroy will open theConference and provide the Government’s view on the future of radio andthe media in general. The full conference program will be releasedshortly.