We went walking yesterday on the south downs, near to where we live and found a balloon.

It had travelled from Birmingham, all the way unaided to land in a National Nature Reserve called ‘Castle Hill‘. (If I was a balloon, that’s the sort of place I would want to land in).

A school girl called Raju, had sent this up into the sky in the Midlands not knowing of whether she would hear from her balloon again,

It was this interaction if she had not done it, that would not have affected us either way, but because we did it lifted our spirits on a cold winters day and got us thinking about the smile on her face when she learns about the adventures of her balloon.

It has travelled approximately 180 miles. Some made it across the channel to France, how ever her’s decided to land on the footpath we were walking down a day or two later.

We wrote to the school to tell them that we had found the balloon, along with the two photos below of Fiona and the landing site.

Interaction with users in real life, much like social networks where people who wouldn’t normally connect have the chance to share experiences and captivate their lives as well as others around them.

This is the good side of social networking.

Map showing distance ballon travelled

Fiona holding the balloon tag

Landing site – Castle Hill nature reserve

So heres a quick list of what you need to know about SxSw, or ‘What I wish I’d known before I arrived’, suitable for Newcomers and even ‘old timers’:

• Say Hello and speak to everyone, there may be some important people to meet, standing right next to you. Ask them ‘where are they from’ then you will be well on your way to exchanging contact details.
• Ditch the freebies, from your welcome bag – if you are lucky enough to get a platinum pass you will collect three bags, don’t worry there are recycling points in the conference centre for plastic paper and aluminium.
• Go to all the parties – Its a lot of fun, soak up the Texan atmosphere, make new contacts and drink the free beer
• Be Polite – You may just be sitting next to your all time web hero, or your next big client.

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Microsoft has released it’s own version of online maps. Offering a different way of getting the information you require. Try this example of marine parade in Brighton.

The service is free to use, and it has a mix of web 2.0 and Ajax on the site, making it quick to load and easy to navigate around.

We’re sure some companies will find it useful as well as for visitors and tourists to new areas.