Entering its 10th year, the Aspen Ideas Festival has once again gathered some of the most interesting thinkers and leaders from around the world to share their ideas, innovations, and inspirations. This year, the uniting theme for the Festival is to look forward and imagine 2024. The opening reception and first full day of sessions delivered a dynamic view of the potential advancements of our world in the decade to come. Among the ideas circulating from today’s sessions, here are the most engaging Festival takeaways on social media.
The Mayoral Perspective
The New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas tweeted his takeaway from the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival opening ceremony, quoting New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Landrieu announced progress on his city’s recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and introduced his “big idea” for 2024: ending violence on the streets of America — two days prior to the shocking shooting in the French Quarter back home. Mayor Landrieu’s message clearly resonated, as this tweet from Giridharadas saw seven times as many retweets as his average tweet.
"We're building the city we always should have been" — @MitchLandrieu on New Orleans at #AspenIdeas pic.twitter.com/0IQwn4AvJw
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) June 27, 2014
Landrieu later shared the stage with Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed, along with former New York City Department Of Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, Bruce Katz of the Brooking Institution, and “Walkable City” author Jeff Speck on a panel moderated by The Atlantic Cities’ editor Sommer Mathis.
Prompted by a question from the audience, the panel addressed the potential outcome of sharing economy ventures such as Uber in our modern cities. This tweet quoting Reed’s response must have been welcome news to the Twiitervers as it was retweeted widely from the Aspen Ideas Festival twitter account.
.@Uber & taxicabs are going to fight a 15-round fight. I think Uber will win. Mayors will be in the middle of it. – @KasimReed #AspenIdeas
— Aspen Ideas Festival (@aspenideas) June 28, 2014
Anticipation Brewing for Clinton and Couric
Anticipation is already high for the upcoming AIF sessions featuring Katie Couric and Hillary Clinton (separately). This Facebook post from the Aspen Ideas Festival Facebook Page announcing Clinton’s conversation at the Festival was well-“Liked,” while this tweet from the AIF account has garnered 8.5 times more retweets than the average AIF tweet to date.
.@katiecouric discussing hot button issues in 2013. More to come this year at #AspenIdeas! pic.twitter.com/JaSHJWaHrr
— Aspen Ideas Festival (@aspenideas) June 24, 2014
Rainbow over #AspenIdeas
Beyond the ideas and innovations being shared on campus, many AIF Speakers and attendees have found inspiration from the picturesque setting of Aspen, CO, itself.
At the reception following the opening ceremony, the landscape joined in the fanfare of the moment, casting a stunning rainbow over the mountainside. The Aspen Institute captured and shared the moment on Instagram. To date, the photo has received more interactions than any other on the Institute’s Instagram account.
The Institute’s Artist In Residence, Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, embraced the outdoors as well, and incorporated some of his signature jookin. This Instagram photo of him mid-air on an Aspen mountaintop has seen 930 total interactions, 146 percent greater than his average engagement on Instagram.
Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Pete McBride also premiered a photo from his upcoming AIF session, Chasing Water: The Sacred and the Scarce. McBride’s Instagram photo, a preview from his National Geographic expedition to the Ganges River, has received an outpouring of shares, as well.
Stay tuned for more trending insights and ideas from the Festival 1 track to come!
Data and analytics provided by TrackMaven.
