THE KIDS ARE IT’S COMPLICATED

“We put the brakes on text-based chat. We realized there’s a real exciting opportunity to actualize our vision of connecting student bodies.”

RandomDorm creator Josh Weinstein, explaining his collegiate ChatRoulette knockoff’s goal a bit too accurately, Bits, 18 March 2010

SELF-AWARENESS, WITHOUT THE AWARENESS

“I am part of the mid-to-high-profile blogger/media crowd; I’m entitled, but I know how shitty I sound saying that I’m entitled.”

AOL blogger Nick Douglas, inadvertently explaining to himself why he doesn’t get invited to parties, All Shook Down, 17 March 2010

THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S KEYNOTE

“In short, the Twitterati in the audience thought our hour-long chat was about as interesting as watching a pair of grandmothers play Canasta.”

Havas Media Lab director Umair Haque, managing to insult grandmothers everywhere while apologizing to SXSW attendees for his disappoint interview with Twitter CEO Evan Williams, Harvard Business Review, 17 March 2010

LOCAL ZERO

“While there are companies in the local space, AOL has the technology to digitize the local space at scale. We believe it’s an untapped market for the most part and one of the largest commercial opportunities online that has yet to be won.”

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who already sold AOL a local startup, Patch.com, and now wants it to pour more megabucks into microcontent, MarketWatch, 17 March 2010