Come on, you have to laugh: a title like this from a gal named Seana Mulcahy from Boston. I just had to do it. It's funny; people call or email me, bellowing, "Happy St. Patrick's Day" like it's my birthday or something. Well believe it or not, in retail it is something to celebrate.

I spent a great deal of time over the past few years pondering what engagement meant in the advertising world. And I wasn't alone. Everyone seemed to be caught up in debating its definition, and how it should be applied to complement or overtake existing models of advertising planning and accountability. Everyone knew that traditional mass-marketing models based on reach, frequency and impressions were losing traction, and this new dimension of engagement seemed a promising evolution.

I'm currently attending the Online Publishers Association's Forum for the Future in London. This is the second year for the Forum, which is living up to its well-earned reputation from last year as a unique event focused on high-level issues and networking for top digital executives from many of the world's most important media and content companies. The event only started yesterday afternoon, but I've already heard and participated in some fascinating discussions.

Is what you're doing advertising or marketing -- and what's the difference, in this age of consumer control and hyper-speed multitasking?

To answer the question "What is the future of social networks?" we first have to answer the question "What is a social network?" In reality, the Internet itself is THE social network, and what we call social networks today are simply a new interface for gathering and displaying social information; albeit incorporating various layers of additional functionality.

I won't bore you with all the details of my online banking horrors. I'll give you the quick synopsis of what happened and explain how I'm still dealing with it on a daily basis.

One of the things that surprised me most about the much-hyped consumer-generated ads during the past Super Bowl was just how subtle they were and how naturally they fit into the entire mix of 30-second television spots. To be sure, the consumer-generated ads were not purely consumer-generated, nor organically or independently spawned. But the truth remains: For most viewers, the ads, whose creation was heavily driven by consumers, were pretty darned easy to mistake for the purely professional ones.

At the Jefferies & Company's Internet Conference, the company released its latest report on the online advertising industry, estimating that it was going to grow to over $60 billion worldwide by 2010. While that number may seem big, it wasn't too shocking for most watching the industry, since only days earlier, Piper Jaffray had released a 424-page report estimating that global online ad spending will exceed $80 billion by 2011. These are big numbers for sure, and it's natural to ask yourself, how is this possible?

Mobile social networking -- I have to admit that this one takes me a little by surprise, but only because I hadn't thought of the implications and the ways that it could be used.

Looking for ROI on your online marketing campaign? There is a 50% chance you are looking for the wrong thing. That's because ROI is out -- the new thing for increasing sales and building brands in social media is ROI. What I am saying is that before you can really discern return on investment, you need to understand how you are going to achieve influence for investment and return on influence.