Y&R Turns SXSW Tweets into Music

Y&R is launching Social Soundscape (will work on mobiles and tablets), the first interactive heat map (or “beat map”) for mobile devices that turns social data into a real-time audio-visual experience. This new digital data experience platform is the first piece of indeterminate music that uses real-time Twitter data as a source and a whole section of a city as an orchestra.

Launched on Friday and running through March 16, Social Soundscape will show the ‘buzz’ of SXSW through organically composed music and visuals pertaining to the location and intensity of Twitter activity throughout Austin. Visually, a large swath of Austin will become a giant audio-graphic equalizer, evolving with the pulse of the festival, live and in real time. Users can zoom in on the map, and click on specific tweets to find out what the social chatter is about. For SXSW attendees, they can then decide whether or not to check out the events drumming up all the tweets. Meanwhile, non-attendees can use the Social Soundscape to get a unique perspective on that this year’s most talked about news and events at SXSW from afar.

Here is how it will work: During SXSW, geotagged tweets will be represented visually as green and blue pins plotted across a digital map of the main section of Austin where SXSW takes place. As the volume and intensity of Twitter activity heat up, the pins will grow taller and deeper in hue, and the musical sounds attributed to those areas on the map will play louder and faster. The more areas of SXW that light up from tweets, the more types of musical sounds you will hear playing at once, creating a more intense musical experience. The music is created in a non-linear way whereby Twitter users actually become the musical conductors.

Rather than construct Social Soundscape as an app, Y&R and its production partner on this project, Stinkdigital, opted for a responsive site that will work well on tablets and phones. Social Soundscape is optimized for the following tablet devices -- iPad2, iPad, iPad Mini, Galaxy Tab; and the following mobile devices -- iPhone5, iPhone4s, Samsung S3 and Samsung S4. Google Chrome is recommended as a browser.

Social Soundscape is a joint Y&R New York/Y&R Moonshop project, powered by interactive production shop Stinkdigital and sound producers Dinahmoe. Creative credits are below.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Jim Elliott

Creative Directors, Y&R NY: Eric Jannon and Chris Northam 

Creative Director, Y&R Moonshop: Matt Colangelo

Creatives: Lise Skovsted-Larsen, Carl von der Lancken

Designer: Jason Borzouyeh

Executive Director of Content Production: Letitia Jacobs

Executive Producer: Sosia Bert 

Agency Producer: Katie Miller

Production partner: Stinkdigital

Music Production partner: Dinahmoe