Matthias Lüfkens

Matthias Lüfkens, Associate Director-Media and Head of Social Networks at the World Economic Forum, aspires to inspire. Trained as a journalist in France, he went East in 1991 becoming correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, Libération, Agence France Presse and Radio France in the newly independent Baltic States.

While in Lithuania he launched Vilnius In Your Pocket, a monthly English language city guide which has grown into one of Europe s biggest print and on-line city guide series (www.inyourpocket.com). The In Your Pocket city
guides have been described as an Eastern European publishing phenomenon by the New York Times spanning Europe from Tallinn to Tirana, St. Petersburg to Sofia and Dublin to Athens.

After his stint in the Baltic States Matthias became deputy editor-in-chief at EuroNews TV in Lyon, France (1996-2004). He has been working at the World Economic Forum since 2004 and has developed and implemented the Forum's social media strategy. He has launched the Forum's presence on the major social networking platforms namely Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter where the Forum has over 1.4 million followers.

He has been quintessential in setting up the Davos Debates (www.youtube.com/davos) which have been watched by millions on the video sharing site. Matthias is writing a regular column on mastering social networks in Bilan,Switzerland s top bi-monthly business magazine.

Over the past years he has been advising a range of Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profit organizations on their social media strategy. He has been moderating and keynoting at major tech events such as LeWeb in Paris, Lift in Geneva, the Next Conference in Berlin and SIME in Stockholm to name but a few.