Attended Graphing Social Pattern's 2008

Earlier this week, I played a little hooky from school and attended O'Reilly's Graphing Social Patterns West 2008 conference. O'Reilly is the premier brand for technology conferences and GSP is a conference dedicated to examining trends in the social networking space.
One of the big perks of living out on the west coast is the number of opportunities to interact with other Tech-Obsessed people. There was a great energy at the conference. Networking was made difficult as most people had their heads down into their laptops or cell phones during the breaks. Nonetheless, I still met a number of very interesting people.
The sessions ranged from incredibly interesting to ho hum. One of the big themes that I got from the conference is that we should be demanding social networks built around individuals, not built around a platform. For example, I should bring my data with me whereever I go on the web (it stays with me), not leave it in a platform like facebook. That means I only have to update my address once and all my internet accounts get updated (that would be awesome!). There is definitely a move to change this - from one of my favorites, MyBlogLog to the Diso-Project. Will it happen? I am not sure, but as long as people keep pushing for it, the more likely it will happen.
One of the coolest things I heard was that MyBlogLog a social networking service that tracks what blogs you visit (and more) wants to try to track your physical location using bluetooth technology. Still very early, but I like that they are pushing the edge.
In the end. Fun, thought provoking, and great people.