I’ve not blogged the second day of the IMC conference partly because so much has been done over at Fast Company. What struck me most strongly was the contrast between two panels. The first was on theme of user-generated content featuring Craig Newmark John Hiller and Chris Tolles. The second was on The Changing Face of Advertsing, with an array of agency hands.
What really struck me was not the content but the energy. The panel of people with real experience of building social networks were thoughtful, amusing, mostly humble and well… nice. I felt uplifed. On the ad panel, well several of them seemed a bit unhappy and I felt a bit depressed. I didn’t get much sense that they were really enthusiastic about their work.
The first panel referred to changing the direction of their business in response to member feedback and behaviour; in fact to letting the members determine what their businesses were doing. Some of the ad panellists seemed more interested in asserting that nothing much was changing really.
I like the notion that Web 2.0 is about allowing us to organise around what we are passionate about, and creating stuff together, changing each other in the process. I may be an idealist, but the contrast between the two panels rather fits in with my prejudice.
