I was not at Plugg today. That kinda sucks.
Belgium is still a bit of a backward country when it comes to web 2.0 and the realization that indeed we do not “go online” anymore, we live there. And that companies who ignore that, will die like little despot nations ruled as a solitary island-state.
There’s a Scoble quote about that, which I forget, but comes down to “participate or perish”. Another one I love is one by VC Fred Wilson: “I don’t want to consume media that I can’t interact with”.
In any case, Plugg showed there is a place for web 2.0 here, and that’s a good thing.
Me, I was at another event, mainly about entrepreneurship, but with a lot of focus on tech and IT.
But what disappointed me was the lack of… how to call it? Schwung? Pazazz? Well, there was little vigor or energy to it. In fact, the whole thing was decidedly lackluster. The only company that added some flair to it all, were Google.
They had the coolest booth, great schwag and some interesting presentations. I talked to a Googlette (you know, the cute blond-haired, blue-eyed female Google employee) and had an interesting discussion about whether plurals of keywords in non-English queries were to be considered variations or derivatives.
Then we held a private ceremony invoking the spirit of Matt Cutts.
But not really of course. I did wish them good luck on the Belgian market. And tomorrow, I’ll be in a meeting with some Microsoft people. They want to roll out more Windows Live services (such as Office Live) among the population here.
I’m gonna wish them good luck too.
