O’Reilly hosted the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco for three days, with April Fool’s Day in the middle.  It seemed to be twitter-centric, as Facebook and MySpace vie to become more like Twitter.  Soren Stamer from CoreMedia gave a fascinating talk on Social Darwinism on the Web, urging websites that stimulate conversation and work as a feedback loop.  He encouraged the web builders in the audience to be more emotional and more personal in websites, to strive to resonate with people the way iPhone applications have. He even suggested easing up on control, the way Twitter and Facebook have, part of the reason they have grown exponentially.

He also recommended multiple touchpoints for websites. That is, make your business website easy to find, not only through search engines, but also through Linked In and Twitter. Create a “branded” twittername like @anetgain. Use that name only for business info flow, such as news on the conficker virus. Use a separate, personal account to let your friends know where you are having lunch.

Of course, he pointed out that the strongest word in commerce is “free” and predicted the future will continue to favor those who offer great application free of charge, like Google and Twitter. What kind of feedback loop do you like to see on business websites? Product ratings? Polls? Leave a comment!