I’m in St. Louis today for Webster University’s 2nd annual PR Institute. The focus of this year’s event, attended by corporate communications professionals in the St. Louis area, was understanding current trends in social networking.

David Lowey, SVP and Senior Partner at Fleishman-Hillard, started the morning off by giving a historical overview of social trends over the last few years. Then, I zoomed in on the current state of affairs, detailing products and cultures within Facebook, MySpace, and a dozen other social services. In addition, I summarized new experimental communications programs taking place in these environments, detailing both how they must be different from traditional campaigns to work and the challenges of measuring their effectiveness.

I enjoyed meeting everyone who attended this morning. Thanks to Nancy Higgins, Gary Ford, and Debra Carpenter for organizing today’s successful event!