Life imitates Art - and the mainstream media imitates social media, as evidenced by The Simpsons parodying Noah Kalina’s photo-a-day YouTube phenomenon.

Here’s is Noah’s video - a masterpiece with over 7 million views, 32 thousand comments and 44 thousand ‘favorites’:

And here is The Simpsons version - played out as Homer’s life flashing before his eyes:

More and more we are seeing the power of compelling social media content connecting with people in innovative ways. A simple idea, such as Noah’s, properly executed in social venues can move far beyond online boundaries to the very core of popular culture. As brands push to cut through the clutter of today’s fragmented media universe it’s important to consider the creative power of social media to not just support, but lead, integrated marketing campaigns.

This morning Converseon sponsored New York’s first Social Media Breakfast alongside Text 100. Reuters Second Life reporter Eric Krangel (aka Eric Reuters) spoke about virtual worlds, the changing media landscape and his role as a Second Life journalist. You can see all our photos in the Converseon Flickr account.

We’d really like to see the New York social media scene come together and we think events like this are important for the community - not that virtual relationships moving into the real world is anything new, as this 1997 Wired quote about The Well shows:

In addition to electronic dialog, there should be a strong face-to-face element to The Well. (It was while on EIES that Brand had learned the value of online confrères having physical contact - a group of EIES regulars made a point of meeting offline as well.) He sensed that the most interesting possibility to arise from knitting electronic dialog into the fabric of everyday life would lie not in championing either the virtual or the human-contact model but rather in finding the place where they overlapped. “Brand had an awareness that you had to have that sense of the physical environment and the local culture and flavor for the community to work,” says John Perry Barlow, who joined The Well in 1986.

Thank you to all the friends of Converseon (new and old) who joined us for breakfast this morning; it was great to be able to sponsor a meeting of New York’s finest social media minds.

On a day to day basis our work at Converseon touches on a number of marketing disciplines and draws from widely different areas of expertise. This diversity is on show this week as our team speaks at three events with varying backgrounds and audiences

Search Engine Strategies - Chicago

Constantin Basturea will appear on a panel ‘Meet the Bloggers Who Can Make Your Cash Register Ring!’

There is a significant difference between popularity and influence. And it is important to find out which bloggers generate editorial coverage, influence your existing and potential customers, and drive traffic to your ecommerce or merchant site. While building relationships with these influential bloggers can be very time-consuming and resource-intensive, this session will help you to get started.

PRSA event: Social Media 101: What Every PR Practitioner Should Know - Pittsburgh

Social networks and online communities are transforming traditional PR strategies. The old broadcast system is on its way out. In this interactive session with nationally renowned digital marketing expert, Rob Key, learn how the social media phenomenon is rapidly changing the practice of public relations. In this session you’ll learn about the latest digital tools available to today’s PR practitioner as well as strategies for incorporating social media tactics into your organization’s marketing mix

SNCR Research Symposium

Constantin Basturea will appear on a panel on online communities and virtual worlds discussing our multiple award winning Second Chance Trees project.

The SNCR Symposium & Awards Gala will feature the latest research and winning case studies from around the globe. Learn, discuss and have fun with your peers, industry experts and the most notable thinkers and practitioners in the world of new media and communications.