Let them eat cake?

I almost wrote two postings last week. Steve Dunsky asked if I would report back from a conference called subtitled "Deploying Social Media for Business Advantage." I say almost, because I couldn't remember my password and my tries to retrieve the password failed. So I gave up and tried again this morning, while back safely in my cubicle. (This time it worked.)

The conference was fabulously informative and stretched my mind. Speakers were all CEOs or presidents or founders of companies doing cutting edge things in social media. Taking the Los Angeles subway (yes, they have one) was a sharp reminder of the haves and have nots -- a theme I would recall throughout the workshop.

I learned, first, that social media is way more cutting edge than I thought. So maybe I'm not so far behind.
I learned how influential bloggers are.
I learned about Second Life and those who spend hours being an avitar in a virtual world.
I learned that I really should use RSS feeds -- they can greatly simplify my web life.
I l learned that great blogging gets many more comments than postings.
I was reminded to think about objectives first and media second.
I learned that we are the people formerly known as the audience.

And, I was reminded that:
56 percent of Americans don't engage in electronic communication.
The Forest Service is about the Great Outdoors. How can social media simplify our lives, rather than enforce a pasty-faced existence in front of a computer screen?
How can we make sure the technology we use is really simple -- so if I forget my password, or want to add an item to a wiki, that the doing is easy. Otherwise, we'll find folks not engaging.
I have to put blogs and RSS feeds and wikis and podcasts in context -- let them eat cake?