Last week, my friends at eBay once again brought Jeff Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC (http://www.digitalcenter.org) to Toronto, to present the latest in their continuing study of our online habits and their impact. The stuff is fascinating - especially to a data junkie like me - so I would encouage you to read the highlights at the link above if you are interested in where it is all headed. His findings around young people and community are truly intriguing.

Also, Edelman presented the latest in their annual Trust Barometer survey results. NGOs score highest as organizations, but "people like me" are still King. Is it any wonder that Social Media is all the rage? Thanks to the 'net, it has never been easier to find those "people like me" and see what they're thinking. Marketers: ignore this at your peril.

Finally, I was one on a panel for the Canadian Public Relations Society, discussing Social Media - and blogging, specifically. A podcast of the whole thing is up on the InsidePr site (http://www.insidepr.ca) so you can catch it there. It was pretty fun to do - with 2 of my mesh Partners also on the panel, together with a lovely food blogger named Jasmine.

My key message: don't forget to put the "public" in these relations, you PR types. Blogs are written by passionate folks who are doing it for free. Don't expect that your standard media pitch will be necessarily well received.

Thanks to David "Blog Boy" Jones of Fleishman-Hillard for moderating.

That's it for now. I am trying to post more frequently - sorry for the lack of links and any typos - I'm doing this on my 'berry while on the go, after I lost the better version of this post a little while ago. And yes - I did type this with my thumbs, on the subway :)