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The "D: All things Digital" conference was buzzing with interest in mobile applications, social media, digital distribution and casual gaming.
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The seventh annual "D: All Things Digital" conference, which is hosted by the Wall Street Journal, kicked off with a brief introduction from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and a Q&A with Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone. They didn't reveal much about their business model, other than the fact that they're in a growing, experimental phase, and that they're open to suggestions.
Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, who run the "All Things Digital" Web site and conference were brimming with optimism about what they say is the start of "Web 3.0."
They point to the Apple iPhone and its accompanying apps as the poster child for this new generation, which they define as "the thin client, running clean, simple software, against cloud-based data and services."
The audience was certainly interested in all the buzz about Twitter. The turnout for the keynote interview was impressive: everyone from current Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and former Yahoo President Sue Decker, to the Chairman of the Washington Post Donald Graham, to Adam Dell and a slew of other venture capitalists.
So what about all that Twitter buzz? Will this company play a key role in Web 3.0? Williams and Stone were determined to clarify that this isn't a social network or a Web search engine, but rather that Twitter "enables Web discovery."
Mossberg and Swisher threw out some stats illustrating how few of Twitter's users actually use the site every day and that loyal Twitter users are open to seeing ads. The co-founders were nonplussed; they think their numbers are pretty good and they figure they have plenty of time to monetize the site.
Bottom line: Twitter will implement some ads, plus some sort of tiered subscription service for commercial users, plus a bunch of other things they haven't thought of yet. And Williams and Stone insist that they aren't looking to flip the site and sell to the highest bidder. They say five years from now they'll still be running they company. Just like Facebook CEO Marc Zuckerberg, they say they want to build a big, interesting company like Microsoft or Google.
The audience questions were less interrogative than they were suggestions of how the company could make some money. VC veteran Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners raved about how much he loves the site and begged the co-founders not to have any more mid-day, mid-week site outages. He also implored the company to quickly scale-up the company from its current 45-person staff.
Another audience member suggested that Twitter organize an Apple-like app store, so the company could sort and authenticate apps. The same attendee begged the company not to exploit all the copious information it can gather about people.
There's no question that Williams and Stone are enjoying their moment.
They're in quite impressive here at "D," and getting a ton of attention from some very impressive people, beyond the keynote's question/suggestion period.
Williams and Stone stopped by the chair where I've been blogging, asking me for directions, brimming with excitement about their speech. Former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel walked by, telling them they did a "very good job" with the interview. They haven't been mobbed by potential investors yet, and a lot of people would like to hear some more answers about Twitter's monetization plan, but they're certainly this year's "It" boys.
The dozens of people I've chatted with so far tell me this promises to be a great conference. In addition to an impressive range of attendees, the mood is upbeat. One startup CEO said that if this conference were just three months ago the mood would have been quite grim. But it's clear that investments are available -- Facebook secured $200 million just today. The market is looking up, and perhaps, as Walt Mossberg said in his explanation of the new Web 3.0, the recession will prompt great innovation.
Tune in Wednesday: I'm interviewing the Twitter guys and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone. Thursday I've got Arianna Huffington and Jeff Zucker on tap. And check back in here for more buzz.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes