Toronto's Social Media Week Explores Our "Complicated" Relationship with Social Media

As Social Media Week events take place around the world, Toronto's #SMWTO will hear from top influencers, media and digital gurus to examine 2018's top stories and trends.

TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2018 /CNW/ - In its third year since returning to Toronto, Social Media Week will once again take place the week of November 12, 2018, joining cities around the world like London, Zurich and others. In line with the global SMW theme, Closer, Toronto's #SMWTO will explore our complicated relationship with social media – as consumers, media and marketers – as we take a look back at our city's top social media stories of 2018 and gain a glimpse into what lies ahead in the year to come.

The industry's best and brightest are slated to speak this year. Programming highlights include:

• An SMW exclusive tour of Happy Place, a massive pop-up experience filled with larger-than-life highly instagrammable installations and multi-sensory immersive rooms 
• Matt Gray, Founder and CEO of HERB (herb.co) - the leading voice of Cannabis Culture in Canada 
• Award-Nominated "Meme Qeeuns" @MyTherapistSays (Nicole Argiris and Lola Tash)
• Twitter Canada's Head of Business Marketing, Michelle Slater and Matt Sutton, Global Brand Marketing Manager at Facebook
• "Swish" Manu Goswami: Canada's Top 20 Under 20 & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, UN Youth Ambassador, TEDx Speaker and Founder/CEO of Trufan
• Video Creator & LinkedIn Influencer, LA's Goldie Chan (aka "The Oprah of LinkedIn")
• YouTube Stars: The Sorry Girls, Amanada Rach Lee and The Icing Artist
• Digital Media expert Ramona Pringle (Ryerson faculty + Regular CBC Contributor) 
• Media personalities and experts from CBC Toronto, the Globe & Mail and VICE Canada

2018 was a turbulent year for social media as companies like Facebook faced numerous scandals including data breaches, fake news and growing concerns around the impact of social media on our physical and mental health. However, this was also the year of the hashtag movement in social media – from #MeToo to #TorontoStrong, we saw social media spread social good. We also saw continued adoption of Instagram stories, vertical video and live online content. Here in Toronto, the trend of "immersive art" continued as images of #InfinityMirrors filled our feeds, and the #legalization of cannabis garnered attention from around the world.

"This year's conference program aims to answer the question – is social media bringing us closer together, or is it driving us apart? And how can brands and marketing agencies better leverage social media to reach increasingly disillusioned and hard-to-reach consumers?" says Michelle Pinchev, Executive Director of Toronto's Social Media Week, independently organized by Pinch Social Inc. "This is particularly challenging when it comes to Millennials and Generation Z. Brands can't afford to be perceived as tone deaf."

Social Media Week Toronto will unpack 2018's biggest stories in social media, and explore the emerging trends that businesses need to be aware of. #SMWTO will also delve into issues around social media and mental health, and how consumers and industry professionals alike can achieve a healthier relationship with social media.

The program for Social Media Week Toronto has been announced and tickets are now available at: https://www.socialmediaweektoronto.com/

Toronto-based social media agency, Pinch Social, is organizing Social Media Week Toronto with support from Twitter, CBC Toronto, the Globe and Mail, Hoame, Trufan, HeyOrca! and others.

SMW Toronto – Canada's only Social Media Week
www.SocialMediaWeekToronto.com
Hosted by Pinch Social Inc.

SOURCE Social Media Week Toronto

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