Mike Davidson of MSNBC/Newsvine, who is 33, says the generation younger than him is not going to traditional sources for its news, rather they say if something important happens they will know about because one of their friends will tell them. It will show up somewhere on their radar. Kevin Wassong of Minyanville doesn't buy into that "medialess" worldview. Ultimately, he says, people are going to find a home where they want to be entertained and educated and use it as a launch pad for a broader dialogue and discussion with the members of that community. Build a big enough …

So what does social media mean in the context of publishing and content distribution?  There's a panel going on right now, and it includes my boss, Kevin Wassong, president of Minyanville Publishing and Multimedia. Here are some of the comments: Participation is the product. Content is designed to spur debate. Create feedback mechanisms, but also get out to where the conversations are happening. Don't impose your brand. If you can't get people talking about your stuff in natural ways on Facebook or Twitter, it's not worth doing it at all.

Just had a nice corridor chat with Steve Smith, one of the smartest people I know. We were talking through some of the interesting points from this AM's presentations about the affluent and their use of Facebook and social media. Steve says a new Mendelsson (sp?) study of the affluent showed there is virtually no difference in technology penetration and use between the most affluent and teen-agers, particularly where mobile is concerned. Hmm. Wonder how many of the "most affluent" will still fall in that category once the market has finished going through its current conniptions. The VC guys upstairs …

Six times more people saw the Charlie Gibson interview with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on YouTube than they did on ABC, according to numbers cited by panelist Dennis Miller, General Partner, Spark Capital. And, apparently, the cost of CMPs were 21 times higher on ABC than they were to buy six times the audience on YouTube. Said Miller in response: “We have to find a way to change that.”

Which venture capital funded companies are toast? "Anyone who isn't making any money," Porter Bibb of Mediatech Capital Partners said at the OMMA Global show in New York. He added that too many venture capitalists are chasing too few good deals. Brian Wieser, director of industry analysis, MAGNA Global, agreed, adding that most of these companies rely on online advertising. He said that Google's genius was to bring small-medium sized businesses into the fold and allow them to do something they never did before. Instead of adding another salesperson, small firms could now put money into search engine advertising. …

Spark Capital's Dennis Miller on firm's Twitter investment: : "There are very few companies that have the potential to become a verb and at the end of the day, those are multi-million dollar companies." Miller admitted that business model for Twitter still isn't clear but expressed confidence that it's explosive growth can only lead to something good in terms of return on investment.

“Personally, I can’t think of a sector that's more ripe to be decimated than ad networks,” Henry Blodget said during the second panel of the day. Blodget, Co-Founder, CEO, Editor in Chief, Silicon Alley Insider, has always had a way with words. He went on to ague that the whole ad network industry is just a “low market business selling crappy inventory.” Significant overhead one way to determine whether or not an ad network will survive, said one panelist. Also, a network’s “stickiness” with advertisers and publishers, and its ability to talk and build relationships with publishers and advertisers.