As announced on their blog, last night was the inaugural event, Dream Big - the future of Women in Media, for the NYC Women in Media & Technology (aka Wimlink).

I spoke on a panel with Dina Kaplan (Co-Founder and COO of Blip.tv) and Nicole Tecco Reece (Principal at Tipping Point Partners). Juliette Powell (co-founder of The Gathering Think Tank) did an excellent job moderating a lively discussion and kicked off the evening on a positive note with the question,“What are we optimistic about over the next few years?”

Dina felt optimistic about the creative video content Internet users are creating from their living rooms. Her company, Blip.tv, focuses on enabling this creativity by providing tools and services for hosting, software, advertising and distribution.

I agreed with Dina. The explosion of creativity spurred by online tools, whether it’s video, content or otherwise, is phenomenal. Users are spending more time engaging with The Long Tail. And to take this topic one step further, I added, “there needs to be good monetization strategies to sustain the creativity.” To this point, I stated that I’m optimistic about another key trend: the significant increase of dollars in online display advertising that will support the growth in creativity. I was excited to share that ADSDAQ enables advertisers to connect seamlessly with users on The Long Tail by acting as the inside sales team for small, niche publishers.

Audience member Cynthia Glasbrenner of Digitas, underscored this thought by stating that one of her top clients, Kraft, was very interested in social media & The Long Tail, but they wanted measurable results for advertising in the space. I was glad to tell her ADSDAQ can provide such results.

Nicole Reece, who provides funding, advice & strategy for social media companies via Tipping Point Partners (she asked Malcolm personally to use the name), stated that she was also very optimistic and has seen a lot of innovation in the social network arena. She felt that platforms like open social will enable many “niche” social networks to thrive, while maintaining an ease-of-use for Internet users to maintain one profile.

Of course, yesterday’s news about the purchase of social network Bebo by AOL for $850 million in cash contributed to the optimistic attitude of growth in social media and The Long Tail.

I was glad to participate in an event that brought together so many intelligent women, all who possessed an entrepreneurial spirit. Thanks to Tania Yuki and Rebecca Shaw for putting together a fantastic event!

View the photos of the event here.

Tags: adsdaq, contextweb

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