Shel Israel took the stage to a packed house. Most folks at the event knew what RSS was, they understand basic precepts. His keynote was dubbed, “Starting the Conversation.”
Israel’s speech features visuals from the Gaping Void. He talked a lot about how the conversation evolves locally, and then globally. THis was a 5 minute summary of Shel’s BlogOrlando comments.
The reality is that most bloggers in the U.S. are not citizen bloggers, they are oped artists waxing poetic. Citizen journalism is critical in other countries, particularly those that are under suppression. They need bloggers to reveal some of the news. Some asks Shel if Austin’s high blogger ratio indicated a totalitarian Texan regime (Livingston exits to take conference call).
Shel’s take aways for Communications Pros:
- Transformative times
- Get good at the new tools. All of them
- Choose tools to meet your culture
- Coming soon: Social networking & video
- Watch the kids. They’re going to take over