I had a great opportunity to listen to Larry Weber, author of Marketing to the Social Web, who gave a keynote address at the SMP Conference last Thursday. He talked about a lot of great things including his insights on the history of the Internet, starting with different phases and technologies that have impacted its growth. The latest phase he identified, which is gearing up today, is what he calls the “emotive web,” which provides a visual, rich media experience. It was fun to listen to him discuss the progress we’ve made as well as certain things that have impeded progress.

Larry talked about how blogs are becoming more visual, shorter and more interactive. He noted that some bloggers are closing off their blogs to comments or limiting comments to only those that provide a positive response to what the author is writing. He emphatically recommended that we (the bloggers of the world) open up and let people say what they want to say on our blogs. If people have an opinion about what we are doing they will talk. If we let them talk on our own blogs we can converse with them and let the world know how we feel about what they are writing. He compared it to raising teenagers: they (teenagers) are going to do things with their friends; it’s better to have them at your own house than to have them somewhere else where you can’t keep an eye on them.

My blog’s always open, so leave me a comment and let me know what you think.