This is just my second OMMA but I love seeing so many media and marketing industry people gathered together to learn from each other. I also enjoy being with Laurie Petersen again. I followed her as editor of "Marketing Daily," which she created. Right now I'm enjoying a presentation around "obsession" and I can hear a little giggle behind me as Laurie connects with the topic. Laurie, who has moved on to Minyanville.com, is here and she is blogging. She is obsessive about our industry and it shows! Glad to share this space with you, Laur.

Fear of the financial climate could cause you Mr. or Ms. Marketer to retreat for awhile. But remember, says Geoff Ramsey, the people who spend on marketing in bad times always come out better on the other end. Be complacent or come out fighting. Ramsey forecasts online spending will come out OK through all this. And hey, did you know that 27% of Internet users are now watching full-length TV shows online? I've been doing that for years now, because I only have one TV set in the house! Keeps peace in the family.

Interesting thing just happened. Geoff Ramsey from eMarketer is rattling through stats on social networking. For instance, 29% of Facebook users earn more than $100K/year. Suddenly got this overwhelming urge to go check my Facebook page. Meanwhile, only 13% of social network users say the ads on the sites match their interests. And Joe Marchese from Social Vibe says use of social networks has now surpassed pornography for the first time. The fattie ads drive me nuts sometimes on Facebook, but Ramsey's creeped out by the ones involving hair loss. Ramsey's advice to marketers who want …

All three opening commentators - MediaPost's Ken Fadner, Social Vibe's Joe Marchese and eMarketer's Geoff Ramsey - referenced the "fear" and panic surrounding financial markets, and the implications for the online industry.

Recently, Marketing Daily posted a story too early on accident. So our techies went to Google and asked Google to remove the link from any Google search.

That's right, that's the "breaking news" story about our industry, according to OMMA Expo emcee and host Joe Marchese. By "our" industry, Marchese actually meant the social media component, which is what his Social Vibe operation is trying to bring some marketing order to. After meeting yesterday with Coca-Cola Co.'s Mike Donnnelly, Marchese learned a startling, but milestone statistic: that "social media traffic has tooped porn as the No. 1 traffice on the Internet."

MediaPost Founder and Chief Ken Fadner got OMMA Expo New York off to a "tasty," but shaky start this a.m. To a standing-room-lonely crowd, Fadner got things off promptly at the 8:15 start, but quipped, "I guess an 8:15 start looks a little bit early for the 400 or so people we have coming today," Fadner quipped to the spotty early risers - though the house looked pretty full by the end of Fadner's warm-up act.

So Ken Fadner and the OMMA organizers have an uncanny knack of timing their conferences to days when the financial markets are in upheaval. Everytime I guest-blog the show I feel a civic duty to recommend Minyanville.com as THE place to follow and understand what is happening. Founder Todd Harrison has been calling this day for years. It's always fun to be back among the media people. I'll be presenting an OMMA Award tonight for Best Integrated Online campaign. (You'll have to come to the party or check back here later to see who won!) Coffee is top …