As much fun as I had at Blog World & New Media Expo last weekend, I came away thinking I was talking to the wrong audience. Not that the people who took the time to attend the panels on which I spoke didn’t energize me, or that I didn’t serve as a valid speaker for what they were hoping to explore or learn, but blogging (read: “Social Media”) conferences, to a degree, are a bit of an echo chamber. A bunch of social media folks got together to yuck it up about how social media is cool and, “here’s how I do it … how do you do it?” Yes, some new to the game learn a good bit. Yes, we challenge each other with some critical thinking and feedback, but we’re essentially selling snake oil to the snake oil industry.