The 12th annual Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit addressed how digital, social and media trends impact music and the arts. The main event, held on Oct. 27, was a panel discussion featuring four professionals.

The media and arts professionals ranged from a musical composer to a TV anchor. The Summit tried to include every branch of the school of communication, media and the arts.

Sean McAllister, the panel’s moderator and the host at KVVU-TV in Las Vegas, said this is the first year the Media Summit is addressing all areas of the school of communication, media and the arts.

Mya Brown, a visiting assistant professor at Oswego State, spoke from her directing, acting and playwriting experience. The other panelists were alumni of Oswego State. George Gianopoulos ‘07 is a composer for the Symbiosis Ensemble. Diana Priesler ‘96 is an actor, singer and voiceover artist. She is also the star of the Lifetime TV series “Pitch Slapped.” The fourth panelist, Michael Yoon, is a communications manager at Princeton University.

Brown said she sees the importance of media and theater coming together. She said people in theater should have an understanding of media so they have opportunities to find work as they brand themselves as artists and get their name in the public eye.

Brown admitted that when she sees a cell phone light up and distract her from a live theater performance she is frustrated, but she has found ways to embrace cell phones even in these productions. In a play she directed, Brown found a creative way to use mobile phones to her advantage. She allowed live tweeting during the play and characters in the play tweeted back at audience members throughout the performance.

“It was a way of incorporating the technology and not trying to fight against it,” Brown said. “I think we have to do more of that in live theater.”

Gianopoulos said incorporating cell phones and social media is important in the world of classical music as well. Though he said classical music has a reputation of being “stuffy” and “elitist,” he said live tweeting concerts is an option he utilizes.

“I feel that social media has definitely affected the classical music scene to the point where the major organizations that would normally discourage the use of cell phones in productions are actually encouraging it now,” Gianopoulos said.

In an interview with The Oswegonian, Gianopoulos said social media is important for networking and is crucial in the music industry.

“Every ensemble that I have been a part of has their own Facebook page, Instagram and their own website,” Gianopoulos said. “Every musician that I have worked with regularly, they have a presence on social media and it helps when we work together.”

Social media can be misleading at times, Yoon told The Oswegonian in an interview. He said that because social media is instantaneous, consumers should be careful with what they believe.

“It creates an expectation that once you see something it is automatically true,” Yoon said. “There are a lot of things out there and I take it with a grain of salt. I go to a lot of different news sites to verify that ‘okay, this is actually happening.’”

Media can be detrimental to musicians too, Preisler said. She particularly has an issue with YouTube, which she said is very bad for musicians. She noted there are advantages as well, like how social media allows musicians to talk to fans around the world.

When asked about using social media professionally versus personally, Yoon recommended getting a professional email address to give to potential employers. He said he has seen resumes with unprofessional emails that are a red flag in the hiring process.

Preisler said balancing her private life with her professional life can be difficult because “fans want to be connected to you personally.” While she posts photos of her daughter on social media, she is careful to avoid posting details like her name or where she goes to school. She said to be careful with what is posted on social media, because it is hard to completely erase.

“There are things I’ve taken down,” Preisler said. “You don’t know how many fans [say] ten minutes later, ‘Oh it’s okay, I took a screenshot of it.’”

The panelists said the main social media platforms they use are Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Gianopoulos said he also has created Los Angeles centered pages for people to post their classical music events and create a community. He stressed the importance of building that community through social media.

“Working together with different mediums and different artists helps maximize your social media,” Gianopoulos said.

Yoon said he takes advantage of social media in a few ways, like complaining to businesses about a bad product or poor community service he received. He said this provides a quicker response and resolution to his problem. He also recommended putting public challenges on social media to reach a certain number of followers.

But the panelists agreed there are drawbacks to the growing popularity of social media. They said there needs to be a limit to media so personal connections are not lost.

“We’re losing a sense of community to a degree,” Brown said. “I think we have to be careful about substituting reality for virtual reality.”

Emphasizing the power of social media, #OzMediaSummit was trending on Twitter Thursday afternoon.