Jeff Pulver Launches SocComm

Jeff Pulver knows the conference business and especially the business of business networking like no one else. Jeff also has a superb nose for “monetizable” trends. Jeff is one of the pioneers of the VoIP telephony and the SocComm conference is his new reduction tool trying to harvest the explosive energy of the Twitter buzz in a physical place. Jeff invited me to the conference held yesterday three blocks south of the Ground Zero.

There is this feeling in the air (alarmingly reminiscent of the 10 year old dotcom infatuation) that the new communication tools like Twitter and Facebook are upending the traditional marketing and there are spoils and treasures for people who can position themselves at the controlling end of the new distribution spigot. The revolutionary fervor of the new movement was represented by Fred Wilson from the Union Square Ventures who declared that “in 50 years, there won’t be a Harvard University or Public Schools” and Gary Vaynerchuk of the Wine Library TV who chimed in saying that “WSJ, Fox, CNN will eventually be dead, gatekeepers are dead, they are “fax machines”. And naturally The King is dead, Long Live the King!: “Content creators are king” (translation Gary is the new King ;-).

There was also a refreshing dose of skepticism by Shelly Palmer Media. Shelly’s comments were particularly convincing, coming from a person who has respectable accomplishments both in the old and new media. Shelly spoke about “walled gardens” and the ability of the old media to take advantage of the new trends. Shelly basically said that the old media can be late to the game and even make mistakes but they still have enough muscle to re-channel the new tools to their advantage. Shelly aptly mentioned that while @garyvee preaches content from one end he sells wine from another.

Shelly Palmer talking Gratefull Dead

The caliber of the presenters was somewhat uneven and I wish there would have been more involvement and dialogue with the audience. For example the Advertising panel was disappointing. How lame can you be talking about cookies and tracking in 2009? I remember the identical chatter at the CMGI’s Engage (RIP) headquarters exactly ten years ago, common people, get with the program! On the other hand the legal panel about policy and the Social Space was very interesting. I also found it rather amusing that many in attendance had a card on hand that said they were “a CEO or a Founder” and if you actually click on the web site you discover that it was a three week old blog. What a country, only in America!

But overall a terrific start for Jeff Pulver’s new social media conference.

Chris Brogan

Housekeeping notes: As is the case with many similar conferences, participants overwhelmed the network with multiple electronic devices, the Internet was slow or unavailable most of the time (except during the lunch hour ;-) It was rather stuffy in the full to capacity room, especially on the wonderful and balmy day in Manhattan.