The BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit kicked off this morning at the Copacabana in New York with author/entrepreneur Seth Godin sharing his views on the blogosphere and unveiling a new company.

Godin first talked about the three categories he believes blogs fall into, “Cat blogs” blogs people write for themselves and their immediate circle of friends only; “Boss blogs," blogs written for a specific (sometimes captive) audience; and “Viral blogs,” blogs which create their own audience and spread.

He then segued somewhat smoothly to the way people use the Internet. He argued that people no longer surf, they poke. He used a simple Google search as an example of how the typical search engine doesn’t necessarily deliver the pertinent information. Which brought him to his new company, Squidoo, and the unveiling of its beta Web site. Godin demonstrated how Squidoo allows users to create and design lenses on any topic. Each lens is customized by its creator and designed to be a focus on a specific topic for a Web surfer. The company will use an algorithm to sort these lenses and a search will deliver the most successful lenses for each topic. I will be reporting live from the Copa for the next two days, check out the BlogOn Web site and the event blog. — Brian Ward

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