Yesterday I had the opportunity to have many great conversations about Web 2.0 tools, techniques, and business strategies. Here are a few points that stand out to me:
1. I need business cards! I need a reference flier that describes my services. Old media / traditional networking is still modus operandi for the business professionals I met with. They weren’t interested in my handout that had my social networking information on it AND they told me so! 
2. Social Media is now synonymous with WORK! Social network fatigue was discussed often. People are really not interested in another service or rating system. In the evolving expectations of customers, people want their tools to bring more value to them than is required for them to maintain in their profile.
3. Most people I spoke with are more interested in building on existing social networks and adding to communities than inventing new communities. I believe this is short sighted. Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, and High 5 will not be the significant social platforms that stick over time! Remember when there were 15 search engines, and then 3 major ones, and people thought the space was dead? Then remember how Google made the space relevant through magic and marketing? My bet is the same thing is going to happen in the social networking space. Those companies that figure out how to “embed” social networking in background functions are ultimately going to win. Maybe its Tumblr, or better yet, why not Firefox / Flex / Flack and the like? This horse race has just begun in this space. People want portable data. If you are going to target a platform, I believe the smart money is figuring out a way to bolt on to the emerging social media middle utilities - Twitter or Flickr or Unnamed company X - or become that middle ware yourself. Customers will demand to eventually demand to “not enter data all”. They will just want it to be collected in the background, access as it suits them, and MOVE it anywhere they choose.
4. Monetization angles were very very very weak across the board. The motivation behind many of the services I spoke with (aside from the source technology suppliers) was crowd entertainment. The mantra was “build a crowd” and figure out ads later. Just because all boats rise with the rising tide (ad money shifting from old to new media) does not mean they are fit for an ocean voyage. A micro bubble is going to pop with these “pop-entertainment” companies. If you take a fashion designer prospective with the products you build, I guess you deserve to be cast aside in the following fashion season.
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