Instagram Infographic Courtesy of Gerardo Obieta

Another of the interesting BlogHer ’11 panels I attended last month was the “Your Blog Can Make You A Social Marketer” panel. The focus of the panel was about integrating your personal and professional brand, and pitching and making yourself valuable.

During the Q&A, one question was raised asking the panelists for their opinions on Google+. This question was perhaps the most interesting for me based on two of the responses:

  • One panelist acknowledged how they thought Google+ would change blogs forever given the long form posting capabilities.
  • And one panelist encouraged conference attendees to think of it from the broader lens of identifying which one or two tools are going to change the game every year. From their perspective, Instagram and turntable.fm are the game changers in 2011.

I was particularly intrigued by the comments about Instagram and turntable.fm and wanted to gather opinions from others. So, I took the question to two of my colleagues in Minneapolis, who I consider to be resident experts on each of the platforms:

  • Matt Glatzel, a digital project manager and advocate for turntable.fm. Once upon a time, Matt was in the band I’m Not a Pilot with his brother (the largest local band in Milwaukee), and he was the first person to introduce me to turntable.fm. You can find him blogging about music here, too.
  • Gerardo Obieta, a senior graphic designer and Instagram extraordinare. Gerardo’s photos frequently grace Instagram’s most popular page and he’s my go-to for all things Instagram. G’s been on Instragram for almost a year, and you can check out some of his photos in his portfolio here.

I sat down with Matt and Gerardo for a few minutes and gathered their thoughts on why they think each respective platform could be considered a game changer. Here’s a recap of their thinking:

Matt: turntable.fm is a game-changer in that it’s compelling. When it’s your turn to be DJ, you get instant feedback from the room. No other music service does that. If someone likes your song, they click ‘awesome’ and their head starts bobbing, so at a glance, you know what people think. It kills you with the desire to be liked, especially if music you like is playing. The buzzword right now is gamification – turntable.fm makes your experience into a game. You get points and can change your avatar. Another unique thing about turntable.fm is its ability to tap into your emotions so easily: you finally get to be DJ, you’re really excited and then you’re super nervous. There’s something to a website being able to do that. You can find more from Matt about turntable.fm in his recent blog post.

Gerardo: the immediacy of sharing images as part of a community is the key differentiator for Instagram. It’s like Twitter but with images. You have the ability to share what you’re seeing, and it increases your curiosity and creativity. It pushes you to be creative and is an opportunity to see what’s around you. Language isn’t a barrier. It doesn’t matter if you speak the same language as your Instagram friends, you don’t need that for images. You also have the ability to gain popularity. Through perseverance – being there and sharing your images, trying to make each picture as attractive as you can – you’ll find that it’s easier to get noticed. You start out taking pictures for yourself, but transition to taking photos for your community of followers. It’s easy to get hooked on Instagram.

So, there you have it, two great perspectives on these potential game-changers of 2011.

What do you think?