Social media consultant Laura "Pistachio" Fitton explains, "South By Southwest, all the years I've gone, has been a huge point of acceleration, so there's something also very interesting about, not only social media that leads to face to face, but face to face that persists more effectively and more connectedly because of a social media connection." Meeting at SXSW often leads to following people on Twitter or reading their blogs, further cementing social ties.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 198