Conferences and society of mutual adoration

I have not posted here for a whole year. And there are few reasons for it:
big focus on Mobissimo and the release of New UI with personnalisation, Content and Context elements, foreign version releases ( UK, France, India, Poland, Spain), more travel suppliers added ( Hotwire, Priceline, Skoosh, HotelClub, Ehotel, Agoda, AsiaRooms, Tablet Hotels, Splendia in Hotel search, Lessno, Vayama, Centralwings, TravelPlanet, Terminal A, Corsair,  etc etc)

I also focused more on my personal balance - making sure I get a time to spend with my friends and family.

Finally, I use Twitter and Facebook to communicate my thoughts, moods, questions to my friends and acquaintances. Twitter allows a "FAST Food" mode of communication- it is quick and efficient- and this is what drew me to it while I was very busy last year. But Twitter does not allow to communicate easily in depth thoughts that formulate in one's brain.

I go to conferences - as a speaker and as a participant. The conferences are diverse: travel, design, technology, CEOs meetings and finally web2.0

I usually enjoy meeting diversity of people there - learn new things - check new ideas others come up with have conversations and brainstorm- it helps me stay on the edge myself.

Lately, however, specifically with anything related to web2.0 the bloggers and media  - not the creators or people with ideas - are center of attention and I am not sure how this help pushing and getting more and more cool products done for benefit of US- THE USERS.

People hook up together no longer to discuss the ideas- exchange opinions but more and more so only to "CLIMB"  in the web2.0 social ranks.

And so the society of mutual adoration within web2.0 slowly is taking shape. Mutual adoration, because some of these folks are there to praise each other for INFLUENCE, the competition to be the top "WIND" is fierce, unrelentness and unforgettable. Attacks on each other, criticisms etc -seems like a form took over the CONTENT.

And irritably for me - more and more of this sough after  "influence" has nothing to do with a new revolutionary product, feature or idea ....

You can be amazed by social ascention of some of these folks who come to  events  - without true contribution to the advancement on internet and its services for users- but on long term - it is no inspiration.

I do not give up though - it takes just one or two meetings to make entire conference totally meaningful.

And it is true that far away from Silicon Valley - where everyone runs too fast - the conferences allow people to establish closer ties and links and form relationships over time that one can call upon when the right time comes.

Being optimist - I hope  that we will focus again on making cool things rather than on making power trips about who is going to bash and smash the hardest.

Comments

[NetEx]

just agree with you.

NetEx

Ps: You deserve a much better image (flash in the eye) in your profile ;)

[Beatrice]

I will do my best - surely my eyes are blue and not red- but well :)