The following is a recap by Jessica Korman of TheMarker’s COM.vention which took place earlier today. Jessica Korman is a graphic designer, blogger and new immigrant. 

“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet” – William Gibson

I just got back from The Marker COM.vention held at Airport City. It was a great opportunity to see “Twitter” friends whom I may or may not have met before. While social media is not a dying trend, it is still important to connect to people on a personal level. That was my main purpose in attending the convention; as a new immigrant in Israel I find myself in the midst of a networking frenzy. In that respect, social media is a tool, a means to an end and not the end itself. 

The convention itself had 2 tracks, ‘The New New Thing – NGN’ sponsored by Bezeq, and ‘Beyond the web 2.0.’ I attended two panels within the ‘Beyond the web 2.0′ track. The first panel I attended, “Beyond Web 2.0,” was moderated by Israel’s Hi-Tech guru, Yossi Vardi and included Anil Hansjee, Head of Corporate Development EMEA, Google (UK, London); Allen Hurff, SVP MySpace; Jane Thompson, Managing Director, International, IAC and Greg Cohn, Director of Strategy and Business Development Yahoo!  as panelists.

Yossi Vardi, LeWeb 2008

They discussed how the Internet is moving from our PCs (or in my case, Mac) onto a smaller screen, such as the Android or iPhone and other trends, such as social networking, semantic web and cloud computing, and that search engines are evolving with those trends. The discussion also brought up that there will also be more engagement with entertainment, for example more interaction between the consumer and the advertiser. They concluded that social networking needs to evolve by indexing our relationships, and we must trust our networks to make our privacy decisions for us. From an entrepeneaurial perspective, the economic downturn is actually a great opportunity for start-ups.

The second panel I attended was “Microblogging, Substance or hype.” It was moderated by Gadi Lahav, Director of Internet Content at Haaretz Media and the panelists included Deborah Schultz, Consultant, Advisor and Strategist to Start-Ups and Large Organizations; Yosi Taguri, VP R&D and Social Thinker at Nuconomy and Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons. The panel was basically about Twitter, and, in fact, one of the panelists tweeted that this might be the only time it is socially acceptable to tweet when part of a panel.

Deborah Schultz, October 2008

They said that the idea of microblogging is socially connecting on the fly and that it broke the “real-time” barrier. While Facebook is a database of social connections, Twitter is a constant flow of content and ideas. Actual blogging is much slower but that is not to say that Twitter will be the death of blogging. It might mean less frequent updates or less people creating new blogs, but blogging will still remain part of the conversation.

At this point in time, it is imperative that corporations learn how to participate and use social networking with their branding and marketing. Companies need to learn to use the tools to listen to customers, and let the users know they are being listened to. What still needs to be determined is how to monetize microblogging sites such as Twitter and we have yet to see a business model. The question was raised by one of the panelists, that at this point, does Twitter even need a business model?

What was clearly a sign of the times was the scaling back of emenities commonly found at conventions such as these. Instead of coming home with an armful of gifts, I came home nearly empty handed. Most of the stands were giving away chocolate coins instead of shwag.

I meant to write about WorkLight last month but got caught up with things. As what happens every few weeks though, my attention has quickly been drawn back to the company again. In Jon Brodkin’s post on Network World earlier today, he listed the “Secure Web 2.0 for Business” Enterprise 2.0 company as one of 10 startups to watch in 2009. I couldn’t agree more.

WorkLight, Inc. seemed to have a stellar year in 2008, and as Web 2.0 in the enterprise continues to grow  in 2009 despite the economic downturn, there’s no reason not to think that it won’t repeat it, and more. Since the company first showed up on my radar as one of two Israeli demonstrators at the 2007 DemoGermany conference in Munich, the company has raised an impressive round of funding, been chosen as one of the top 10 web startups in Israel’s version of the TechCrunch and Demo conferences and just last month, and partnered with NetVibes to develop secure widgets for the enterprise among other news about the company.

The company’s software is customized for specific industries and, as such, has helped simplify and accelerate the embracing and integration of Web 2.0 in the enterprise. On its website, the company explains itself and its offerings as follows: 

“WorkLight® Inc. develops server software products that help businesses reach customers, channels, employees, and partners securely in the places they frequent online, such as iGoogle, Windows Live, desktop widgets, RSS readers, Facebook, even the Apple iPhone. Through WorkLight, people effortlessly get valuable information they desire, such as account status, product availability, or updates about their latest transactions. They can then take actions, for example order products or services, respond to promotions or offers, and consult with colleagues, without having to log into a portal or corporate web site. As such, WorkLight transforms consumer interfaces into enterprise-grade business tools that directly increase revenue.”

Here is an image from the site of how its products work.

Additionally, I’ve created a timeline of some of the WorkLight news that caught my attention in 2008

Company Facts

Founded in 2006.

Based in New York and Yakum, Israel.

Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and Co-Founder.

Doron Somer, Vice President of R&D.

Products: WorkBook, WorkLight for SAP, WorkLight for Technology Companies and WorkLight for Business Services.

Competitors include: Awareness Inc. and NewsGator Technologies Inc.

Customer industries: financial services, retail banking, manufacturing, book publishing, technology and IT services and utilities

Website: myworklight.com