Over 115 Member delegates - more than double the anticipated numbers - attended the first ever Eurovision Social Media Trends Summit.

The event was hosted at the London School of Economics, who also partner with the EBU for the annual Polis Journalism Conference.

With speakers from Twitter, Instagram, HootSuite and some of the EBU's most socially active broadcasters, the conference focused on the opportunities that social media offer public broadcasters to better serve their audiences.

In her keynote speech, EBU Exectuive Board Member and Director General of Swedish Radio Cilla Benkö pointed to 8 key reasons why traditional public service media should engage and use social media.

She explained, "The most obvious reason is the audience. Both smartphone penetration and use of social media makes it clear that if we want to be where the audience is, we need to be on social media platforms. To be relevant and trusted in the future, we also have to work closely with our audience and create content together. This is why social media is an excellent way of interacting with our audiences."

Going social

More than 1,200 posts were made using #EVNsocial, where participants and experts shared social media best practices and tips for daily workflows, as well as the challenges and opportunites for integrating social media into programming. 

The Eurovision Media Online team, responsible for the event, also announced a range of new projects aimed at helping Members 'go social'. These include:

• the Social Media Database
• a monthly magazine Social Newsroom
• the Eurovision Social Media Trends group on Facebook (where you can connect with other EBU Members)

EBU Head of Media Online Mike Mullane said, “We’re now at a stage where sophisticated social media strategies are needed in order to keep up with audiences and communities. Some of our broadcasters have already integrated effective social practices into their daily workflow. We aim to help all our broadcasters adapt to fast changing digital platforms and become leaders in connecting with the public."