What a difference a year makes in social media

Or maybe its just the crowd. A year ago I was at the Venetian, speaking at the New Comms Forum in Las Vegas, whining about how it was a conference on authenticity in the capital of fake. I truly hated the place, I'm not a gambler and the endless noise, lights and smoky rooms makes me nuts, never mind the carbon footprint of a russian coal fired power plant . People in attendance wanted to know how to "do social media" -- i.e, pitch bloggers, manipulate the conversation, and control their reputations on line.
NOw I'm at Red Rock speaking at Community 2.0. Red Rock is some miles out side of the strip in a gorgeous valley, Just went for a fabulous run thru the desert. More important the conversation is all about the community. How to do better by the customer, how to listen better to the customer. Its about stories, and people and doing better by listening better. 
Maybe its the location, maybe, I hope, its the fact that social media is a year older and people are giving up on that old "pitch, command, control" mentality. Or am I just having hallucinations in the desert?

Comments

[Steve Shannon]

I think you are spot on Katie - I've seen similar changes in the conferences I have attended as of late. The changes yet to come will be fascinating, as well as fun and rewarding to measure.