Never been to Vegas, but I have to admit it sounds like a surreal setting for an intellectual conference. Will be curious to hear your impressions.

Twply may well be a good service, but this kind of spamming is evil and sets a terrible precedent. Not only was it not clear that “support us” meant spam all of my followers, but I explicitly unchecked it! Besides, why would I endorse a tool before even having a chance to use it? More ranting on my blog: http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/01/01/faux-viral-maketing/

Nice post. But you don't talk about the communicative aspect of recommendations, which ultimately requires transparency (i.e., that the recommendation come with a human-readable explanation). My comments on the subject: http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/21/the-napoleon-dynamite-problem/