As We See It

Notes from BlogWorld

The BlogWorld social media conference rolled in and out of Vegas, leaving behind it a digital trail longer than the Hoover Dam bypass. I attended Survivor creator Mark Burnett’s keynote lecture, in which he discussed what makes his CBS show so damn successful. He talked about the symbolism of fire, about Lord of the Flies, about Joseph Campbell and about other things that don’t exactly scream “new” media. Then again, when it comes to creating compelling content, some things never change. Which is the whole point of Campbell’s work.

Mid-lecture, I turned around and counted 13 nearby attendees taking notes on their laptops. Eleven of these laptops were Macs. Ex-CNNer Rick Sanchez got it wrong: Jews don’t control the media; MacBook Pro users do. And who are these MacBook Pro users? Some were geeky guys, some were pudgy guys, some were Wall Street-looking guys and many were very attractive women.

I followed said women to the Haze afterparty. At any given moment, half the BlogWorld club attendees were on their cell phones, their iPhones and their BlackBerrys, tweeting and updating the night away. So basically it was no different from any other night at any other club.

Around 11, I met a stereotype named Raju. His accent was thick, his dress shirt tucked in, and he worked as a programmer. I told him that I planned to abort our stilted conversation—I didn’t use the word “stilted”—to chat up this blonde waitress across the room. And I’ll be damned if Raju didn’t make a beeline for her first! Didn’t see that one coming. Oh, Raju struck out after 30 seconds, but still, it goes to show you: The new media is full of surprises.

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