Tony Hawk, a legendary skateboarder who recently became the first person to skate the halls of the White House, talked to building43 about how he uses new technology.
Hawk’s background made him a good fit for a panel discussion called “Twitter and celebrity: A match made in heaven?” at the recent 140 | The Twitter Conference LA in Los Angeles, Calif. Hawk’s panel was the concluding session of the first day of the conference organized by The Parnassus Group in Los Angeles, Calif.
The two-day conference with two dozen panel discussions brought together the worlds of business and celebrity to focus on getting the most out of the real-time Web and the how-tos of Twitter and its business development tools.
Hawk uses Twitter to let his fans know what he’s doing, he says in this interview, but also to do some good for the world.
He formed the Tony Hawk Foundation to help finance public skateparks in low-income areas, and lets his followers on Twitter know about those projects and how to donate to the fund. According to his Web site, the foundation has distributed more than $2.3 million to nonprofit groups building skateparks in the United States.
Twitter gives Hawk “instant feedback” on his ideas and plans, he says, adding, “What do we have, if we’re not creative?”
Hawk also talks about his upcoming video game, where players will control their moves by standing on a skateboard.
And, he proves, live on camera, that he does his own Twittering!
Michael Sean Wright, who is the founder of nicefishfilms and is a live documentary filmmaker, writer and tech nut, interviewed Hawk for building43 at the Twitter conference.
Links relevant to this video include:
- Tony Hawk’s Web site — http://www.tonyhawk.com/
- Tony Hawk Foundation – http://www.tonyhawkfoundation.org/
- Tony Hawk’s Twitter — @tonyhawk
- 140 | The Twitter Conference — http://parnassusgroup.com/twitterconference/
- The Parnassus Group — http://parnassusgroup.com/
