• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 29, 2010

Noting how consumer lifestyles have changed, and especially how "hectic and full" they've gotten, and most importantly, how they are displacing conventional forms of communicating, Fred Wilson just made an astute observation that they are shifting to online forums where brands can actually insinuate themselves into the conversation.

His example is that old school "knitting circles" have gone the way of the horse and buggy and are now are happening online in places like iVillage's forums.

iVillage, NBC U's Lauren Zalasnick, pointed out currently averages about 20,000 "brand mentions" a month.

"Think about it," Wilson noted, pointing out in the past that brands never could have spoken directly in those knitting circle conversations, but now they can online.

"A brand could never show up in the knitting circle and say, "'m here now.' It's native to the conversation," Wilson observed.