Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

The blogosphere debate underway–Who needs A-Listers after all?–centers on “social networking” as the new communications sphere of influence:

“Along comes stuff like Twitter and Facebook. Suddenly, social networks start being successfully created withouth the “A-Listers” having to act like “Hubs.” The need for A-Listers to arbitrate “Who the cool kids are” (and who they aren’t) is rapidly and thankfully diminshed,” Hugh MacLeod.

REALLY? Robert Scoble counters to MacLeod, in his own defense:

“death to the a list. Well in two weeks I have gotten 2000 friends on facebook and 600 on pownce.”

YAY! And soon to be 2600 of Robert’s closest “friends”? As the virtual social networking “friendship” race to claim more “friends” than the next Web guy (or gal) intensifies, the real value of REAL social networking is obscured amidst the online popularity game.

Should face TIME not rule over face BOOK? SAVVY (ex) Facebookers are having a real world change of social networking heart. Joel Keralis, Texas A&M class of 2009:

As some of you might have known, I recently took myself off of the popular social netwroking site facebook. This was, first and foremost, a move to free up some of the time that I was basically wasting on that site.

I have to say it was pretty hard to do for the first few days…It was almost like trying to break an addiction. But I prevailed, I have been “facebook-free” for a couple weeks now, and doubt thta I will pick it back up anytime soon. And more amazingly, I am stil alive and socially active.

Twittering your virtual time away with idle self-absorbed gossip? OR, publicly “unloading” incessantly?

Are the lives of Scoble’s 4464 Twitter “friends” really enriched by Scobleizer'’ “sharing” (venting), sponsored by “Ads by Google” for PayPerPost!:

PayPerPost: Make Money
Get paid to blog about the things you love with payperpost.

Irony of ironies in the not quite consistent A-Lister sponsored by Google AdSense blogger world: A Scobleizer post on “Why I won’t use PayPerPost is FINANCED by PayPerPost!

In lieu of online self-indulgence, a novel social networking strategy of spending real TIME with real people TALKING about real things beyond one’s own inconsequential daily routine just might be the “A-List” ticket for the “Bs” and “Cs” of the blogosphere.

ONLINE-OFFLINE connections can (easily) be had via Meetup.com. REAL social networking in NYC is off to a roaring post July 4ht holiday start next week:

NY Video 2.0 Meetup on “What’s Next for Online Video Advertising,” according to those who are helping determine just that: NBCU, OMD, DoubleClick, ScanScout.

NY Tech Meetup, hosted by Meetup’s own Scott Heiferman, with demos of six (potentially) next big things.

I will be joining the hundreds of REAL LIVE social networkers expected at the NYC meetups AND blogging about them and their ventures (but not Twittering!) here at InsiderChatter.com.

STAY TUNED! In the meantime, some recent Insider Chatter real world first-hand social networking reports: Social Networks: We are ALL Accidental Influentials and NBC: Millions in Upfront Video Ad Sales

ALSO: Facebook Grows Old: Goodbye Trendy Demographics

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN