The World Economic Forum has launched a number of new several social media tools and is inviting web users to discuss key issues on the economy, US politics, business ethics and the environment in advance of its annual meeting in Davos-Klosters next month. WEF will be coordinating discussion on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and an OpenForum wiki, as well as a photo group on Flickr and videos on the WEF website. Press conferences are being broadcast live through Mogulus and Qik. The forum has also opened a YouTube channel for the second year and will pick some of the most popular comments to be broadcast during sessions at next year's event, from 28 January to 1 February. WEF's social media initiative builds on the YouTube channel run last year, which recorded more than 5m video views in the six weeks leading up to the 2007 WEF forum, and drew responses from Israeli president Shimon Peres and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who responded to questions at the Google-owned video-sharing website's stand in Davos. This year WEF will also pick one contributor to attend the forum in person, judging videos by the numbers of views they draw, their originality and creativity, and by how well they answer one of four key questions. The successful contributor will be invited to attend the WEF forum early next year with all expenses paid and will cover the event as a citizen reporter, posting coverage on the YouTube Davos channel. WEF's social media project is the latest in a series of initiatives by YouTube as it focuses on more heavyweight political events
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/wef_launches_social_media_initiative/
