Right now, social media power users are either going to (and jawboning about) conferences about social media all the time, or bashing said conferences. Sometimes sorta both. “Just use the tool and quit talking about it,” you’ll hear.

Now, I don’t go to many of the conferences, but I probably side more with the conference crowd than the conference critics. I find value in social, and value in talking about social. I like it that Twitter is Hollywood for Wordy People.

See, e-mail is still way bigger than social (you’ll be stunned by how many new blog posts are still popping up on e-mail tips), but you don’t see big e-mail conferences in LA and Vegas. And that’s because there’s something magical about open conversation and wordsmithing.

Elites from every niche imaginable are jumping into Twitter and other top social media sites, but even if they pull a million or two followers with them, the playing field has still been inexorably changed. In these mediums, gadflies are suddenly bigger than politicians. Watchdogs are bigger than cons. And on and on.

Are you a conference-goer or a conference hater? How have you seen social media shaking up traditional hierarchies?

~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and host of Gov 2.0 Radio.

Posted via web from Adriel’s posterous