I’m back from the SXSW Interactive Festival, swimming in a sea of tchotchkes and business cards (I PROMISE I’ll be emailing you soon!), and trying to distill a few themes from the hot steaming mash of awesome people, presentations, and new technologies on display at the event. Here’s 5 things that are even more on my radar after my week in Austin:

1. Location, location, location.
Foursquare launched at last year’s SXSW, but this year location-aware social and mobile apps really seemed to gain traction. Both Foursquare and Gowalla launched updated apps with SXSW-specific games, and there was a critical mass of people using both apps (Foursquare even  had to replace their coveted “swarm” badge with a “super swarm” badge because of the sheer volume of people checking in single locations). And because everyone was using them, their utility was expanded exponentially; even though I’m an avid Foursquare user in Atlanta, it was the first time I’d really used Foursquare to find out where people were at and where to go next. The potential for location-based social apps as a communal storytelling medium “clicked” for me.

2. Augmented reality. But not the way you think.
Most panels at SXSW seemed pretty dubious about Augmented Reality (AR), when it was mentioned at all. I’ve always felt like “overlay AR” — both in terms of 3D graphic overlays over webcams and information overlays over iPhone apps — is a technology looking for a purpose, a gimmick looking for a utility. At some point, that may change, but as a platform, it doesn’t really excite me. But what does excite me, especially for its storytelling potential, is the other form of Augmented Reality in full display at SXSW: QR codes and other QR code-like technologies designed to attach digital content to the physical world around us. QR codes were the most prominent technology in use — from QR codes on people’s badges that, when scanned, connected your digital profiles, to QR code stickers promoting films at the festival by allowing people to download a video when scanned. There were other tag technologies on display (like Qyoo, Stickybits, and Microsoft Tag), all with their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. But regardless, they all allow the physical world to be augmented with media that can be passively consumed by audiences as they move through it. As transmedial storytellers, that’s a very interesting prospect.

3. Putting the “media” back in social media.
Brian Solis’s second-day presentation pulled heavily from his new book Engage! and was filled with salient points for how brands should be approaching social media. We especially agree, obviously, when he says that “brands need to become media.” And he wasn’t the only voice calling for brands to get into the content generation business — it was a repeated theme in panel after panel. And it’s a drumbeat refrain that’s right in beat with our belief that there’s a huge opportunity for brands to create entertainment for the social space.

4. 3D is still a gimmick. But a really cool one.
There were lines all week outside the Panasonic 3D demonstration truck that was parked along one corner of the trade show. Inside, rows of people donned battery-operated glasses and stared at eye-popping 3D visuals on a huge 100″ TV screen. I was skeptical about ESPN’s 3D channel launching this summer during the World Cup (“Sports in 3D? Big deal!”), but after seeing sports footage in 3D, I’m totally sold — it was as real as being there. However, there’s some serious barriers to 3D technology being adopted as more than a niche market, not-in-the-least the fact that everyone needs an active pair of glasses to enjoy what’s on the screen and those run over $100 each (on top of the TV’s cost). (The pitchman joked it off, saying “make sure your parties are BYOG,” but that’s a serious business model problem that Panasonic is going to have to address soon.) I have a feeling that gaming will be the real driver of 3D adoption, but that’s just a guess. Right now, it’s technology that definitely feels Prime Time, but that also feels like it just isn’t quite ready for it.

5. The future will not be televised. But it will be blogged, podcasted, and tweeted like mad. At least until the batteries run out.
I have never been to any event that is more hypermediated than SXSW. It was absolutely amazing seeing the sheer volume of people documenting the event at all times: blogging, recording podcasts with a Flipcams, filming with HD cameras in 2 man crews. There were more SLRs per capita than a Super Bowl endzone, and probably an 80% iPhone penetration, all actively tweeting and checking in constantly. The side-effect of all this electric use was the post afternoon wallflowers — person after person tethered to the walls in panels and along hallways, desperately trying to charge up their devices before an evening filled with parties and more tweeting and documenting. It’s become clear that if the world is ever to catch up to the way technology is used at SXSW, serious advances in battery life are going to be needed.

And speaking of podcasts, I was interviewed at SXSW by Darryl Ohrt, creator of one of my favorite ad blogs “Brand Flakes For Breakfast.” We sat down at the Pepsi Podcast Booth to shoot the breeze about branded entertainment: