Back in 2008, on the first night of the first 80/35 Music Festival, Des Moines Music Coalition cofounder Justin Schoen was learning about Twitter.
“There wasn’t near the kind of reach that there is now,” Schoen recalled. “[A friend] had told me about this new thing, Twitter, and I was like, ‘I’ll try it out and send a tweet at 80/35.’”
As 80/35 grew up, organizers with a range in years of experience were rapidly adjusting to advertise and promote the event on social media. It was one of the most visible changes for audiences watching the festival scene in Des Moines explode over the last few years.