#bbcsms: Launching the liner

We live in a time when the words 'Facebook' or 'Twitter' can propel a news story up a programme's running order, or onto a front page, not always with good reason.

But behind the hype real, structural change is taking place in personal and public communications. In particular, there's a new and shifting border between the private and the public, mediated by social media businesses.

So, for journalists, social media is producing change on several fronts. Where initially it was seen as a way of tapping into new sources of information, it is now at the centre of new kinds of relationship between journalists and audiences in which gathering information is just one facet. The BBC's Social Media Summit is an ambitious attempt to see the big picture - by bringing together top names in the field and encouraging debate, both at the London conference and with a global conversation on our website that will continue, we hope, long after everyone's gone home. On a quick practical note - here's a map of where we are holding the Summit. It is at the BBC's campus in White City, but don't head for Television Centre; instead it's in the building at the end of Wood Lane nearest the A40.





View larger map on Google



We are sold out - so I'm afraid if you haven't got a ticket already you'll have to follow it online. If you have got a ticket and can't make it, please tweet us and let us know. I hope that the event will stimulate specific and concrete developments - guidelines, networks or even specific academic research proposals. As far as following or contributing to the discussion is concerned, we have created a bespoke homepage for the summit where we will be posting a series of blogs, boos and videos in the run up to #bbcsms on Friday. We'll also be posting summaries of a smaller meeting that we are holding on Thursday that we hope will provide a stimulating starting point for Friday's conversations. And on the day itself we will be using this page to post videos of all the sessions and to blog summaries so you can follow all the discussions if you haven't been able to get to the event in person. We'd invite you to post your comments on the blog, as it will give you more than 140 characters to express yourself, though of course we hope everyone will be tweeting comments and questions throughout the day on #bbcsms. To comment on the blog you'll need to register first - it only takes a few seconds. If you are posting on your own blog, please let us know @BBCCollege so we can link to it and share it with everyone else. We'll be trying to pull the whole subject together at a final session in which we will include the best online comments - so please be assured that your thoughts will be part of the debate. I hope you are looking forward to the day as much as I am. Matthew Eltringham is Editor of the BBC College of Journalism Events and Website.