Every Brand Manager and Marketer should have a handful of go-to people who are guaranteed to stretch your thinking.  I am talking about people that live and breath a topic and will put your mind into overdrive with their words and writing.

For me, John Battelle is one of those guys, especially when it comes to the future of the Social Web and Online Marketing.  As Chairman of Federated Media and co-founder of the Web 2.0 Summit, John is someone whose opinion I definitely trust about this space.

At the most recent Federated CM Summit, John kicked off the event with a great opener where he gave an overview of the state of online marketing from his perspective.  Start about 6 minutes in on the below video to see his take on key themes that included: 1.) People Don’t Join Ad Networks, and 2.) Publishers Are Communities of Mind.

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