Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood Wednesday, May 7th 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM Track III: Social Media as a Content, Advertising and Commerce Platform Within the world of the Broadband, Social Networks and Mobile and experience, searching for content, making accessible the content and at the same time, offering an advertising and marketing experience is our challenge. Everything from blogging and Podcasting to texting is altering the user experience completely. The industry is finding a ready audience with an ever growing demand for better content and a better and a completely personalized experience. With the massive amount of content and technology being thrown at the consumer, navigating through that experience is not only difficult, it can be off-putting. We have entered the world of integrated user experience – the post-TiVo generation of consumers and viewers who are watching and interacting to new forms of communication on new platforms of technology. Joel York, Vice President of Marketing, Conduit Jim McConnel, Executive IT Architect, Digital Media, IBM Kent Steffen, Vice President of Content Direct, CSG Systems John McCrea, VP of Marketing, Plaxo Greg Watkins, CEO, AllHipHop Malcolm Cowley, President, buy at, Inc. Joel Smernoff, COO, Paltalk Josh Crandall, Managing Director, Media-Screen LLC, Moderator For Further Speaker Infomation - Click on highlighed Names to see their LinkedIn Profile Kent Steffen, Vice President of Content Direct, CSG Systems: As VP of CSG Interactive, Kent is responsible for overseeing CSG System's interactive strategy, sales and operations. CSG provides customer and operational management systems to 45% of North American cable TV and satellite markets for customers like Comcast, Echostar, Time Warner and Charter. Under Kent's direction, the CSG Interactive team has created CSG's Content Direct, a product specifically designed to manage customers and monetize digital content. Kent's solid leadership experience combined with strong technical acumen and a relentless entrepreneurial drive made him the obvious choice to lead CSG Interactive. Prior to CSG, Kent co-founded Telution, a customer management and billing company providing solutions to the communications industry, which was acquired by CSG Systems in 2006. Before Telution, Kent spent 10 years spearheading enterprise-level programs in the communications, health care, and financial services industries at Anderson Consulting. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois. John McCrea, VP of Marketing, Plaxo: His responsibilities include marketing, product design and management and public relations. He has also embraced Marketing 2.0 with a personal blog where he tracks the company and the industry, as well as using Web 2.0 tools to help maintain a brand and relationship with industry influencers. John is a seasoned marketing executive and a web pioneer, who has had a significant impact on the evolution of the web as a new medium and as a platform for communication. While at Silicon Graphics (SGI), he struck the very first website sponsorship deal, and coined the term “Powered by…” as the de facto standard for such promotions. He was the driving force behind SGI’s WebFORCE, the first turnkey web server, launched in January ’95, with the tagline “To Author and To Serve.” Immediately prior to joining Plaxo, John held the position of senior vice president of marketing at Radiance Technologies, developer of a breakthrough “digital FedEx” software solution. Before Radiance, John co-founded Affinia, a pioneer in contextual web advertising, which developed a predecessor to Google's AdSense. John earned an M.B.A. from Stanford University and an S.B. Humanities from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Greg Watkins, CEO, AllHipHop: AllHipHop.com is the world's most visited Hip-Hop/urban website and attracts an average of 5 million visitors per month. AllHipHop.com is the brainchild of "Grouchy" Greg Watkins and Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur. The website was launched in 1998 and has become the premier Hip-Hop/urban news provider on the web. The site features daily updates, interviews, reviews and a fast growing community, sharing news and views of their own. Sources as varied as CNN, The Associated Press, The O'Reilly Factor, XXL Magazine, VIBE and the New York Daily News all regularly use AllHipHop.com's pages. Since 1998, the site has also been an innovator in the mobile field, delivering daily news alerts to over 300,000 music industry taste makers and Hip-Hop lovers' phones and emails. Watkins registered AllHipHop.com in 1997 and initially used it as a vehicle to promote artists that were recording for his fledgling imprint, Oblique Recordings. In late 1997, Charles "Jigsaw" Creekmur was working on another Internet venture and the two combined forces and created the first version of AllHipHop.com. Since then, the independently owned site has grown organically and has grown to rival several of the top sites on the Internet, including Bet.com, VH1.com and others. Grouchy Greg Watkins, 34, holds an Associates Degree in Music Business from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Josh Crandall, Managing Director, Media-Screen LLC: Josh has worked in the interactive media and technology industries for over 15 years, serving in numerous senior business and product development roles. Since 2000, he has been guiding Media-Screen LLC to capitalize on the strength of market intelligence in the development of successful, cost effective products and businesses. Media-Screen is a new breed of research firm that combines research products and services that deepen our domain expertise and create industry accepted metrics for understanding the modern consumer market. He has designed and managed qualitative and quantitative studies for numerous clients including Google, RedEnvelope, Protrade Fantasy Sports, Inc., Bar Association of San Francisco, Plaxo, and DHL. Prior to Media-Screen, he served as Director of Online Media and Applications for Electronic Arts. Between 1994 and 1998, he held numerous positions at DIRECTV in the New Media and Interactive Department developing new platforms for emerging DIRECTV data and interactive services and directing the company’s Internet strategy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Motion Picture Producing from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis in Economics and Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.