Evan Williams tries to do-over SXSW interview via Twitter
Although Twitter co-founder and and chief executive Evan Williams made a couple of interesting points during his keynote interview, the consensus was that it did not go well — as a number of Twitter users noted, it seemed like interviewer Umair Haque spent as much time talking about his own ideas as Williams did. I sat near the front of the packed keynote auditorium, and by halfway through I noticed that the seats around me were starting to empty. Someone told me afterward that they fell asleep.
Following the tradition of journalist Sarah Lacy’s similarly-criticized interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW in 2008, where Zuckerberg staged a second interview where he engaged more directly with the audience, Williams offered to answer more questions over Twitter:
I heard on the backchannel that people want me to answer tougher questions,” he tweeted. “What’ya want to know? Will answer 10. Go.”
A lot of the questions and especially answers have been pretty vague, but sometimes Williams wasn’t afraid to get specific. For example: “What am I thinking right now?” Williams: “Lady Gaga.”
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About the Author, Anthony Ha
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.












