Paul has been active in the local+social space for the last five years, which has included creating a pioneering video website introducing city neighbourhoods. Now a digital strategist at Imagination, his recent #sixweeks project used social media tools to challenge basic assumptions about consumer behaviour and saw a number of companies pay him for being their customer.

You can find him on:

• His blog: http://www.paulmccrudden.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/crudden
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paul-mccrudden/0/7b/935

Local Social Summit Speaker Biography Footnote: As set out in this post, our policy is to publish Speaker Biographies as is.

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Local Gets Social – The Impact of User Generated Content and the Promise of Real-Time Search

With the increase of local sites that feature user generated content and in particular reviews plus the real-time nature of platforms such as Twitter, consumers now have access to unprecedented amounts of local information. In this panel we will explore many  questions.  Do we risk information overload for consumers? What is the promise of real time search? How is the power of word of mouth being used by consumers? What are the challenges for publishers, advertisers and in particular local business owners? We will also explore new business models and opportunities that have been generated by UGC.
Moderator: Greg Sterling, Internet/Mobile Analyst – Screenwerk
Panel:

• Seb Provencher, Co-Founder Praized Media
• David Ingram, CEO Brownbook
• Sokratis Papafloratos, CEO TrustedPlaces
• Andrew Hunter, General Manager Qype