The law of two feet...

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The law of two feet, originally uploaded by debs.

The law of two feet, originally uploaded by debs.

From the board at Mashup Camp. For those of you who may not be in the midst of this current trend. The impact of social networking on creativity and business has manifested itself in something called "participatory conferences" or 'unconferences'. The San Jose Mercury news even covered the event. These gatherings take their cues from Open Space meetings, and are real world representations of the power of communities and the 'network'.

You may be asking - why do I care if a bunch of geeks get together in a room to create more geek stuff? It is not the what but the how that is so important. As businesses try to understand this new world of social networks and community marketing, I would suggest they take some cues from the practices of these communities to build loyalty and passionate customer's.

Technorati tags: Social Media, Social Networks,Community Marketing, Social Software, Marketing, Unconference, Participatory Conference,Web 2.0