
It’s impossible to capture all of the ideas, experiences, people, products, pitches, events of such a huge, intense event in one blog post. A few thoughts and resources to cut through the chatter:

It’s impossible to capture all of the ideas, experiences, people, products, pitches, events of such a huge, intense event in one blog post. A few thoughts and resources to cut through the chatter:

This week, industry leaders, pundits, journalists and assorted hangers-on are gathering in San Francisco for the annual Web 2.0 Summit, one of the online industry’s most influential events. John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly moderate conversations with a long list of Web luminaries, including Eric Schmidt, Carol Bartz, Marc Benioff, Reed Hastings, Peter Chernin, Tony Hsieh, Evan Williams, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Pincus, Ron Conway, John Doerr, and Fred Wilson.

My particular interest in Angelgate relates to the role of anonymity in social media, its facilitation of information flow in a way never seen before, and the fragility — under some circumstances — of that anonymity. Allowing users to log in via Facebook Connect, Twitter OAuth or Google Apps makes it easier than ever to unmask anonymous posters when a site owner is required to comply with a subpoena or search warrant.

Social media is real-time, spontaneous and casual, making it easy for people to think that “anything goes” online, says Antone Johnson, founding principal of Bottom Line Law Group, a San Francisco-based firm. Johnson has worked as an attorney at MySpace and eHarmony. He says many laws that apply to businesses offline also apply online.
Following is the new, improved, Top 15 List of free online resources addressing key recurring themes and questions that founders raise in our initial meetings: Assembling a founding team, choosing and forming a legal entity, deciding on how to compensate co-founders and employees, gauging market conditions for VC and angel funding, deciphering legal jargon and documents used in VC and angel financing rounds, identifying and retaining the best professional advisors, and so forth.
Social media startup Social Rewards went live this week with an ambitious new service that aims to reshape the landscape of loyalty programs such as airline miles and hotel points, leveraging the power of social media to amplify marketers’ messages in a clever and cost-effective manner.