It’s not enough for me  just to employ younger smarter staff with youthful Internet genius for our corporate customers, I also need to personally keep my thumb on the cultural pulse of all things Web and new. That’s probably why I endured the trek to NYC with Daniel Klotz and his friend Dave singing rap songs for the 6-hour round trip and eating McDonald’s in my clean car. I’ll mention the $100 in tolls and parking here as well. It was a calculated risk that I’d bring home some new strategies and insights for the organizations that depend on me.

Entering the room, there was an almost peaceful, futuristic quietness, with white noise of collective finger tapping on glowing laptops, and iPhones in the darkened room, as I joined the hive of attendees who seemed more consumed with texting their experience than having it. Not wishing to stand out, I ditched my tie at the first polite moment but nothing could be done about my conservative leather shoes in an auditorium of 300 to 500 hundred people with cool t-shirts and amazing new sneaker fashions.

To further make sure I didn’t fit in, I took notes using a legal pad with a pen and I tried to make new friends during the break instead of writing about the social media event and desperately seeking to charge my communications devices. But my legal pad soon became filled with stories not strategies and my mind was racing with guilt for not using recycled paper. I even tried to be cool by making a home-made video during break – but it seemed to make everyone nervous so we soon gave up. Looking back, it might have actually been Daniel, Dave and me that made people nervous.

While my “take home list of helpful strategies” for social media marketing was short, my experience was rich, having observed inspirational story after story of individuals and organizations using social media to re-energize “slacktivists” (my new term of the month) into motivated, involved and contributing members of a cause.

And I learned that I could easily choose any cause and instantly do something about it using the Internet because “making the world a better place is all about me.” (I am still trying to get my head around that one).  I also learned that responsible stewardship, accountability and transparency of the asking entity were not important enough to emphasize. We’re all good people, let’s not talk about that. I’m probably the only person in the room that asked, how do I know that Drew Olanoff (blamedrewscancer.com) really has cancer? He looks fine to me. What is Lance Armstrong doing with that money? How did Bernie Madoff win everyone’s confidence?

So here is the gleaned wisdom:

• We are officially entering the cyclic social era of cause again.
• Inspiration is the most important ingredient to build momentum for a cause.
• Factual, scientific and financial accountability are not terribly important for developing a large and/or devoted following for a cause.
• New unprecedented success stories in how people are influenced using social media must cause us to rethink how businesses could manage their brands and promote their services.