After five days in Austin for South By Southwest, there’s no way to really describe in a blog post what the conference was like. But there were a few things I noticed—over and over—that may indicate trends to watch for in the communications and social media worlds.

1. Group texting. This was easily the most widespread phenomenon among attendees. Nearly every person I ran into mentioned that they were part of a smaller group sharing info via text. I was part of several, and I can say it made things much easier when meeting up for meals or parties. GroupMe and Beluga were the prominent apps for group messaging. In this environment, where geography wasn’t a factor, group messaging primarily served the function of coordinating meet-ups. Outside this environment, I can see apps like these becoming standard as business collaboration tools and a replacement for e-mail and Facebook groups in many cases.

2. Hashable. Tons of people were using this app for networking purposes. The company calls it a way to “exchange business cards, make easy intros, and 'check in' with people to track meetings and calls.” I’m not convinced it’s a real step forward in terms of contact information management or even determining relevance of connections, but I can tell you there were a lot of people excited about it at SXSW.

3. Name your price deals. There was some significant buzz about Zaarly. The company’s website describes it as “a proximity based, real-time buyer-powered market. Buyers make an offer for an immediate need, and sellers cash in on an infinite marketplace for items and services they never knew were for sale.” In conversations with company reps, I learned it’s essentially a place where a “buyer” lists what they’re willing to pay for something and the “sellers” seek out the business.

4. Smaller is better. Overall, there was resistance to the “big” stuff: the huge sponsored parties, the massive crowds in keynote sessions, and so on. Almost everyone with whom I spoke seemed more excited about the “core conversation” setup of panels and the smaller parties or meet-ups limited to RSVP lists of attendees. I was also part of several conversations about community, and I found the trend is shifting away from focusing on growing communities to boast large numbers and toward keeping them niche-focused and active.

In years past, SXSW has been a launching pad for major platforms that have changed social media (for example, Twitter and Foursquare), but with the exception of group texting apps, I didn’t get a sense there was a major game-changer in the works.

Feel free to check out some of my favorite photos. Or head over to Flickr for the full photo set.

Becky Johns is a PR professional in Chicago. A version of this story first appeared on her blog.