PSFK Conference New York Speaker Marc Schiller

Marc Schiller, founder and CEO of electricArtists, will be discussing the importance of social media and emerging technologies to brands and businesses on our Social Media panel at PSFK Conference New York. We asked Marc, who also co-founded one of PSFK’s favorite sites, Wooster Collective, to tell us a little bit about himself and where he finds inspiration.

First, who are you and what do you do?

My name is Marc Schiller and I am the Founder and CEO of the New York based digital brand management and strategy agency, electricArtists. I lead a team that helps companies such as American Express, Starwood Hotels, Kenneth Cole, and seven cable and broadcast channels develop digital business strategies and breakthrough creative marketing campaigns that leverage the “social web.” With a focus on innovation and creativity, we help companies create transformative businesses the leverage digital technologies and emerging platforms. I am a recent father of my six month old daughter, Samantha, and in addition to running my business, am an avid contemporary art collector and curator.

You’ll be speaking on our Social Media panel – can you sum up your views on how social media will change in 2008 and how brands can leverage this digital phenomenon in the most rewarding way?

The tools and infrastructure are finally in place to allow the Internet to do what it does best….connect people together. More and more, we are becoming comfortable sharing our lives online and making information public and searchable. The Internet is now a social transformer, the consequences of which are impacting every business the world over.

In the last 18 months the concept of “community” has evolved rapidly online. Community used to be message boards and chat rooms. Now its Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube. And it’s going to continue to evolve from there.

The web itself has evolved from a collection of “browse and read” web pages into a series of writable web where we can create, publish, and contribute content very easily. For the first time we can actually interact with content online, not just consume it. Once content is published to the internet it can then be connected with others. It is this aspect of the web that is currently driving community.

The writable web is allowing products and brands to launch their small own web services to extend their product offerings and brand loyalty. The services are a mixture of content, applications, and social networking.

The “connected web” is revolutionizing not only how we use the internet, but how we perceive it.

Five websites that provide you with inspiration:

www.core77.com/blog

iheartphotograph.blogspot.com

www.presentationzen.com

www.springwise.com

c-monster.net

Thanks, Marc!