BlackBook

Just as Mercedes Fashion Week wraps up, Social Media Week will come to a close as well. With the final round of events happening today, keynote speaker Alec Ross from the Office of Hillary Clinton will present followed by a panel discussion called "Team Obama Talks Digital," in addition to presentations by Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and venture capitalist Jalak Jobanputra.

For the past few days, BlackBook has been attending events for Social Media Week 2012. Yesterday's panels included "The Future of Sharing," "How Street Style Blogs Affect Retail and Design," and keynote presentations from Scott Belsky, CEO of Behance, and Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork Media. It wasn't until last night that we finally had a chance to wet our feet in some SMW nightlife. With a full roster of after-parties set to end this year's event on a high, or at least drunk note, these next few days will entail boozing and schmoozing of the networking type.

As the second day of Social Media Week began, digital savants gathered in venues across the city for presentations centered around what host firm Crowdcentric considers to be social media's role "as a catalyst in driving cultural, economic, political, and social change in developed and emerging markets." Keynote speakers of the day included gamification expert Gabe Zichermann, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services founder Rachel Lloyd, and entrepreneur/raconteur Kevin Slavin.

In lieu of New York Fashion Week and the notorious trendies it brings to the streets of Manhattan, a different ilk of entrepreneurs has taken residency for Social Media Week 2012. Entering its fourth run in the city, SMW returns to New York with the focus of "Empowering Change Through Collaboration." In just under three years, Social Media Week has expanded its audience to over 60,000 attendees in 21 countries, not to mention the reach their Livestream channel attracts.