We recently hosted our annual Web 2.0 Summit Premiere Dinner, to invite and gather Bay Area technology leaders, entrepreneurs and more – to help tell us which trends and innovations we should be paying attention to on this Points of Control landscape. As a preview of what to anticipate in November, we offer these conversations from the Foreign Cinema Cafe in San Francisco:

Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp, confirmed to speak at Web 2.0 Summit 2010:

Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners:

Matt Galligan of SimpleGeo, confirmed to speak this year:

Sy Choudhury of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies:

Tiffany Shlain, Founder of the Webby Awards:

Harry McCracken, Editor, Technologizer:

We hope that you can join us in November for Web 2.0 Summit. Attendance is by invitation only. Be sure to request yours today.

In preparing to this year’s Web 2.0 Summit program, we have cast a good sized net to bring in the industry leaders that are pioneering some of the most important innovations — at the chokepoints on the Internet economy landscape. Featured conversations in this year’s program center around some of these key points of control:

Day One – November 15, 2010

• Commerce – A conversation between Scott Thompson (PayPal), Jack Dorsey (Square), and Michael Rubin (GSI Commerce)
• Consumer Platforms – Discussing the convergence of operations, marketing, product and audience development, a diverse panel featuring Nikesh Arora (Google), John Hayes (American Express), and Yusuf Mehdi (Microsoft)

Day Two – November 16, 2010

• Managing Hypergrowth – Susan Lyne (Gilt Group), Tony Hseih (Zappos.com), and Richard Rosenblatt (Demand Media), Inc. give an insider’s look at the innovative touches needed to manage hypergrowth on a global scale.

Here is some bonus footage of Rosenblatt, as part of a panel discussion at last year’s Web 2.0 Summit, discussing the future of content delivery with John Battelle, Dan Rosensweig, and Peter Guber:



We’ll provide more of these at-a-glance spotlights on the Web 2.0 Summit program between now and when the conference kicks off on November 15. We hope that you can join us. Attendance is by invitation only. Be sure to request yours today.

With more than half a billion people actively using its service, Facebook clearly owns the dominant position in the crucial point of control we’ve come to call The Social Graph. Regardless of controversy, the company’s Open Graph protocol has been widely adopted, solidifying Facebook’s lead in social, and positioning the company to challenge Google’s dominance in both ad networks and search.

Google is certainly aware of the threat, and is both bolstering its Buzz offering and, according to many, preparing an all out response to Facebook code-named Google Me. Meanwhile, Twitter has consolidated its grip on what it calls the “Interest Graph,” a public version of the social graph based on what people are doing (and where). Twitter’s advertising platform, Promoted Tweets and Trends, is showing early promise, and will be rolled out to third party developers shortly.

Web giants Microsoft and Yahoo are taking different paths. Though in an advertising partnership with Facebook, Microsoft has yet to declare its social graph strategy — some believe its Xbox Live and IM platforms will play central roles. Yahoo has gone all in with Facebook, integrating the Open Graph deep into its massive site.

Insurgents and upstarts are eager to join the fray, with location based social networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla hoping to become the next big thing in social. And don’t forget the international players — TenCent, Baidu, and DST hold dominant positions outside the US.

At Web 2.0 Summit this year, we’ll discuss the social graph as a strategic territory. We’ll also cover related points of control such as mobile platforms, distribution, identity services and payment systems, location services, data transport, and advertising. Join the leaders of the Network economy in a three day conversation that promises to once again set the agenda for our ever-changing and fascinating industry. Request an invitation today and secure your seat.

Our Best,
John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly and the Web 2.0 Summit Team

We’re excited to announce the most recent batch of speakers confirmed for Web 2.0 Summit this year, including Mark Zuckerberg (Founder & CEO, Facebook), Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (CEO, Nokia), Vinod Khosla (Founder and Partner, Khosla Ventures), Peter Chernin (Founder, Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group), John Doerr (Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), and Michael Rubin (Founder and CEO, GSI Commerce).

This in addition to a schedule already packed with today’s leaders of business, entertainment and more, including:

• Ari Emanuel (Co-CEO: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment)
• will.i.am (Musician/Producer: Black Eyed Peas)
• Carol Bartz (CEO: Yahoo!)
• Evan Williams (CEO: Twitter, Inc.)
• Frank Quattrone (CEO: Qatalyst Partners)
• Jack Dorsey (Creator, Chairman and co-founder: Twitter)
• Mary Meeker (Managing Director: Morgan Stanley)
• Reed Hastings (CEO: Netflix)
• Richard Rosenblatt (Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO: Demand Media Inc.)
• Robin Li (Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO: Baidu, Inc.)
• Susan Lyne (CEO: Gilt Groupe)
• Nikesh Arora (President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development: Google)

Click to view the full list of industry leaders and innovators speaking at this year’ Web 2.0 Summit.

Space at The Palace is limited and Web 2.0 Summit is a sold out event every year. Reserve your seat today and request an invitation.

Recently we posted about mobile as one of those strategic industry chokepoints that have the big companies and newcomers vying for control. At Web 2.0 Summit 2010, we’re bringing some of the foremost industry experts in to talk about the future control of the mobile space – including Ev Williams, Mary Meeker, Shantanu Narayen, and Mark Pincus, each of whom lit up the stage in 2009:

In addition to Mobile, we’re also tackling other major industry Points of Control including distribution, the social graph, identity services and payment systems, location services, data transport, and advertising ecosystems.

We hope you can join the conversation in November. Request an invite to Web 2.0 Summit 2010 today.

Perhaps the most heated battle in today’s Internet economy is the fight for mobile platforms. Mobile device shipments will surpass PC units by 2012*, U.S. ad revenues on mobile devices are streaking toward the billion dollar mark, and e-commerce purchases via mobile devices are booming (mobile e-commerce in Japan, for instance, brought in $200 million last year).

The battle in the mobile arena will inform the strategies of hundreds of companies and billions of dollars in market share. Will it be based on open or closed ecosystems? How will identity and security be managed? And how might mobile inform the current debate on privacy? At Web 2.0 Summit this year, we’ll examine these questions and look ahead to how the big players and newcomers are battling for both niches and vast new territories in mobile. Speakers that will be delving into the discussion around mobile points of control include:

• Jack Dorsey, Square
• Even Williams, Twitter
• Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley
• Shantanu Narayen, Adobe
• Susan Wojcicki, Google
• Jeremy Stoppleman, Yelp

Looking beyond mobile, other hot topics for this year’s Web 2.0 Summit include distribution, the social graph, identity services and payment systems, location services, data transport, and advertising ecosystems. See the list of confirmed speakers, which we are constantly updating.

Web 2.0 Summit is returning to the Palace Hotel in San Francisco this year. Space is limited and attendance is by invitation only, so submit your request for an invitation today.

* Projections by Mary Meeker, alumni speaker and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Research, June 7, 2010

Greetings! We hope Web 2.0 Summit was a thoroughly enriching and entertaining event for you last week. We had a lot of requests via Twitter and on site last week to post the playlist of the music spun throughout the Web 2.0 Summit, so here you go:

• Over and Over – Hot Chip
• Stork & Owl – TV On the Radio
• Midnight Runner – Cut Copy
• Two Medicines – The Dodos
• Reckoner – Radiohead
• Stay Positive – The Hold Steady
• I’ll Fight – Wilco
• Rebellion (Lies) – Arcade Fire
• Oliver James – Fleet Foxes
• Paper Planes – M.I.A.
• Closer – Kings of Leon
• The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song – Flaming Lips
• Time to Pretend – MGMT Oracular
• Keep the Car Running – Arcade Fire
• Ode to LRC – Band of Horses
• Cellphone’s Dead – Beck
• Dancing Shoes – Arctic Monkeys
• Girl and the Sea – The Presets
• Let the Drummer Kick – Citizen Cope
• L.E.S. Artistes – Santigold
• I’m So Gone – Jackie Greene

Enjoy – and a BIG thank you again to you for helping make Web 2.0 Summit such a success this year!

Just a few days to go until Web 2.0 Summit 2009. In addition to the amazing program that John has assembled; the biggest industry names and a host of networking events to help you deepen the conversation with other Web 2.0 Summit goers.

The spark of inspiration that led to this year’s Web 2.0 Summit theme — Web Squared — has made it clear that we must embrace not only disruptive change, but also have a ‘pay it forward’ attitude if we are to realize change on a global scale. We’re excited to put inspiration into action by giving our attendees the opportunity to be a partner in creating change.

We asked for your help in choosing three charities or non-profits that embody the themes of Web Squared. After dozens of nominations, we’re excited to announce that a portion of Web 2.0 Summit registration fees will be donated to the following three charities:

The Girl Effect

Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. Girls are the most likely agents of change, but they are often invisible to their societies and to our media.

The Girl Effect is rooted in the work of the Nike Foundation, which has been joined by the NoVo Foundation in a shared mission to create opportunities for girls, and for the world.

Charity:Water

One billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one in six of us. charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.

Kiva

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. By partnering with existing expert microfinance institutions, Kiva gains access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform, making the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way.

Help us pay it forward by designating that a portion of your registration go to one of these amazing organizations. Each organization has been tagged with a different registration code, which can be found below next to each one’s name. When you register, please enter into the discount code field the code of the charity to which you would like us to donate a portion of your registration fees.

• Girl Effect donation code: wb9char1
• Charity:Water donation code: wb9char2
• Kiva donation code: wb9char3

Recycle Your Cell Phone and Make a Difference!

You can also make a difference by recycling your own cell phone at Web 2.0 Summit. We’ve teamed up with the non-profit organization Hope Phones to provide a unique service both to Web 2.0 Summit participants and to healthcare workers around the world. If you have an old mobile phone you would like to get rid of – but haven’t yet had time to take to an electronic waste site – we’d love to take it off your hands. Hope Phones receives hardware credits from their recycling partner, The Wireless Source, for every phone brought it. They use these credits to purchase cell phones for healthcare workers around the globe.

One hundred percent of the value of your donated phone is used to acquire appropriate and cost-effective phones for medical clinics. If you would like to participate, we will have a Hope Phones bin at our check-in area to collect old mobile phones.

Web 2.0 Summit Program Chair John Battelle has put out the call to action in recent blogs  -  he wants your help interviewing some of the industry magnates confirmed to take the Web 2.0 Summit stage later this month.

You can help John ask some of our speakers the tough questions you want answered, and possibly win a pass to Web 2.0 Summit in the process! It’s easy to play:

1. Come up with a Twitter-friendly (140 character) question you want to hear us ask any of these Web 2.0 Summit speakers:

• Jeff Immelt
• Carol Bartz
• Sheryl Sandberg
• Jon Miller
• Brian Roberts
• Ev Williams
• Qi Lu
• Aneesh Chopra
• Austan Goolsbee
• Paul Otellini
• Shantanu Narayen
• Tim Armstrong
• Tim Berners Lee

2. Tweet your question (creative abbreviations encouraged!) and tag with the official Web 2.0 Summit tag – #w2s. Just make it clear which speaker your question is directed to.

3. That’s it! We’ll be pooling and reviewing your suggestions. The three questions we like the best will net their submitters a free pass to Web 2.0 Summit ($4200 value). So make sure we can get a hold of you via Twitter!

Questions? Send us a public reply or DM us at @web2summit. Feel free to submit as many times as you like and make your mark on the Web 2.0 Summit program.

P.S. If you’re interested in attending, there is still time to request an invitation to Web 2.0 Summit