The first annual BlogPhiladelphia has come to a close and overall I thought it went well. As I noted in my first day wrap-up (and session postings), this felt like a meetup rather than a conference. I don't care for the term "unconference" as it just feels made up to be different. I also noticed that only about half of the attendees from day 1 made it back to day 2.

The Viddler guys have lots of videos, check them out and you can feel like you were here.

Hats off to Alex Hillman and Annie Heckenberger for their great organization and very positive attitudes. I know Alex was a bit nervous but the word I heard is that he is a good faciliator.

I met a bunch of very smart and interesting folks. One suggestion to all bloggers: get a business card made. Doesn't have to be fancy but when you hand it to someone it helps to keep your blog top of mind. Here are a couple of people I met whose blogs are worth checking out:

• Chris Conley – Startup or Bust – writes about his efforts to create a startup
• Valeria Maltoni – Conversation Agent – writes about marketing and communications
• Whitney Hoffman – LD Podcasts – podcasts for parents of kids with learning disabilities

 Lastly, here are my suggestions for improvement for the next BlogPhiladelphia:

• Initial panel discussion should feel more like a panel rather than 5 individual interviews
• More panel discussions, perhaps one each morning and after lunch
• More than just name on badge; company name, blog url, etc could have easily been added
• Let people sign up for open grid sections ahead of time so they can prepare

In summary, I think BlogPhiladelphia is a needed event here and will certainly grow as the locals start to talk to each other more. I look forward to covering the event in the future.

Local food note: The picture below appears to be the pizza of Philadelphia. It looks like the ugly stepchild of NY and Chicago. Weird.

eBuddy has launched an alpha version of their app for the iPhone. The new Alpha enables instant messaging on the iPhone for MSN, Yahoo and AIM.

Some of the features include:

• Automatic detection – point your iPhone to http://www.ebuddy.com/ and it automatically recognizes you are using an iPhone.
• Scalable screen – whether you hold the iPhone horizontal or vertically, the eBuddy application automatically adjusts for a clear overview.
• iPhone friendly interface – we’re working hard to provide a simple and user friendly interface that makes instant messaging on the iPhone fun and easy.
• Multi network client – sign into MSN messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AIM with one buddylist.
• Send and receive emoticons – insert emoticons into your text messages.
• Custom fonts and colors – customize the font and color of your text messages.
• Robust Back-end – the client connects to our 150+ server back-end for a robust and secure chat experience.
• Parallel development – the alpha version is a special flavor of our new eBuddy beta web version. So there will be plenty of new features coming soon as well as support for more IM networks.
• AJAX framework – the alpha uses the same AJAX foundation as the beta web version, delivering the same A-grade experience.

Here are some screenshots (click for larger version):

Day 1 at BlogPhiladelphia is now complete. This was my first "unconference" I have been to and so far its pretty good. I am not sure why everyone feels such a need on labeling things as all it does is make people create comparisons. In my opinion BP is basically a multi-threaded meetup (nothing wrong with that). I wouldn't call it a conference or an unconference. Actually I don't care for the term unconference, it bugs me.

I give high marks to the conference coordinators as everything seemed to go off without a hitch. Lunch, snacks, semi-decent Wifi were better than most other meetups of this type.

CenterNetworks coverage:

• Virtual Worlds and Second Life
• Earthlink, Blip.tv, Fastlane
• State of Social Media Panel

Other sites to check out BlogPhiladelphia coverage:

• Viddler – they are videotaping most of the segments
• Flickr
• Technorati for other posts

Don Bain from the electic sheep company led a discussion about virtual communities and Second Life. I noticed that Don does not show a lot of emotion.

Some stats in his presentation: Eight million items are created every day on Second Life, 12 gigabits per second aggregate bandwidth, 40% of users in Europe.

• Says we are in the first inning for virtual worlds.
• Shows us Second Life and the Ben and Jerry's area. Why not call your friend and physically GO to Ben and Jerry's.
• Lots of cross-cultural interaction recently, especially between continents.
• I enjoyed the discussion as many of the attendees clearly have been online for a longtime. We discussed MUDs, AOL, etc. and compared them to Second Life.
• Honestly, I don't get it. I really don't get it. I might be lame, but Second Life is like irc in 3d with advertisement areas. It's a cute game but with all of their stats, how long before people leave the real world completely?

Also, Jillian from Phillyist liveblogged today so you can get a full play-by-play from her.

The first breakout sessions of the morning are:

• Separating blogging and your online social life – Alicia Dorset
• Creating and leveraging digital video online – Dina Kaplan
• Blogging and business – Dave Coustan

I spent 33% in each session for maximum velocity and here are my comments:

Alicia – Her session was 2nd in terms of attendees and there was a good number of people asking questions and sharing their thoughts. In general, keeping both separate is hard when you attach your name to your blog and to your social networks. It's the same thing when working for a large company. Companies are searching for current employees and prospective employees on the social networks and almost using them as part of resume/review process.

Dina – her session felt like a blip.tv infomercial. In 30 minutes, she said Ze, Amanda, and Rocketboom each over 10 times. I would have preferred to hear her speak about the general industry (which to her defense, she may have started with that). It's clear by the number of attendees and the spirited discussion, that video is hot.

Dave – the largest number of attendees here. A good discussion about blogging from the corporate perspective. This is really an area that will expand over the next year. More companies are realizing the power of blogging and the direct discussion between company and consumer.

Nice job by all and I tell ya the a/c here is awesome!

Alright, so I am here at blogphiladelphia and so far the wifi is strong (yay!). Name tags only have name (boo!). Pretty cool bag of goodies including a Phillies hat (ok fine).

Josh Hallett from hyku was named as the "father of the unconference." This is my first time at an unconference which appears to mean no tools are used. Of course my demo will be using a powerpoint. Oh well, let's see what happens :) Josh notes that there are no generalizations allowed. The leaders are called "session leaders" not "moderators".

The first panel: The State of Social Media and Thoughts on the Future
Featuring: Caroline Marks (Ziddio), Vincent Veneziani (CrunchGear.com), AJ Daulerio (Philadelphia Magazine and Deadspin.com), Neal Stewart (Flying Dog Brewery), Emily King (Intelligent Travel blog from National Geographic Traveler). Moderated by Joey Sweeney, Philebrity.com

What are you looking for currently?
Caroline: Interopability between social networks – she is waiting for the trillian
Neal: Looking for it to appear a little less clunky

Emily discusses that they are using typepad while they try to decide what software the National Geographic group will go with. Hmm. She explains the struggle between maintaining trust with the brand and the want to move fast.

Vincent from CrunchGear explains how he and John Biggs joined CrunchGear and they are trying to keep their standards high by checking sources and have a good sense of humor as well. He explains the ups and downs of a blognetwork. You get a budget, get to go to trade shows for free. Crunchgear does not take comment flaming seriously and believes you will always have people who hate your site.

Caroline discusses the background of Ziddio (which is part of comcast). It seems to be a video sharing site with contests.

Overall, I think the discussion was average because it was basically Joey asking direct questions to each blogger vs. an open discussion. I would have preferred that. The short open discussion with the attendees was strong.

I don't have many details yet, but ReviewMe has launched an advertorial service. Finally. Thanks Patrick (ReviewMe Founder). I have been saying over and over that an advertorial service is very much needed and there is no reason why this shouldn't be a huge success. Some blogs won't run this type of advertising but I think most will. Basically a company is buying a full-page ad.

The issues many of us have with Payperpost, the old ReviewMe and other services where you "buy" a review are removed with this advertorial service. No more concerns about the blogger posting a positive review because they are receiving payment. I am assuming the post will be provided by the advertiser and the blogger will have a chance to approve or decline. I can't wait to see the pricing on these full-page ads.

Here is an offline example: Today I was offered a NY Daily News newspaper for free. The only catch? The front page and the back cover were ads. The entire paper was exactly the same. Same thing with an online advertorial.

I have an email into Patrick to get more information on the new service as the web site doesn't have many details and he wouldn't share any pre-launch details with me even though I threatened to make him eat hot dogs from a NYC cart for a week.

I spoke with Patrick and here is what he sent along (my emphasis):

We feel with the launch of our Advertorial product we have a product that rises above the controversy of sponsored blog posts. Our Advertorials feature:
– by default a "SPONSOR POST:" tag in the post title.
– all links within Advertorials are redirected so the Advertiser gets click and impression tracking.

Check out our previous coverage on ReviewMe and Payperpost. And disclaimer: this was not a paid post, an advertorial, just my thoughts!