Mobile technology was decidedly the number one topic of conversation at the ACORD LOMA conferencelast month with social media a close second. Much like the TripleCrown horse races, it's hard to sweep the field and at last week'sIASA conference social media was a clear winner in the area ofbuzz.

With Erik Qualman's closingkeynote and several breakout sessions, including one ledby Nationwide's Cathy Ellwood, anyone who attended and didn'tchange their Facebook status or post something to their Twitteraccount wasn't paying attention.

The IT Town Hall session that closed the conference could have gone90 minutes on the subject had moderator Rod Travers allowed it. Thetown hall panelists kept the discussion lively for 15 minutes asthe attendees tried to get a handle on their own feelings on socialmedia as well as the value they see in it.

Gartner's Kimberly Harris-Ferrante may have gotten some grieffor saying the issue of social media is over-hyped in insurance,but she makes a good point. Some carriers and agents are usingsocial media, but it is hard to see just exactly what they'veaccomplished thus far.

There are many who believe it's not what you gain from socialmedia it's what you stand to lose if you fail to take part.Whichever of these viewpoints proves to be true remains to beseen.

Like many people I sometimes struggle to see the value of socialmedia in business, but I can't afford to ignore the possibilitiesof what this connection can do for my readers and thePropertyCasualty360.com Website. So I'm going to keep blogging awayand finding interesting things to Tweet about.

Insurers are in the same boat. One insurer I heard speakexplained she saw no value at all for her company at this point intime. With so many other important things to do at work it may seemto some people like a colossal waste of time to be tweeting andblogging about your company or your products.

Of course, many insurance people were saying the same thingabout their company Web sites not too many years ago. I'd recommenderring on the side of caution, so update that Facebook profile anddevelop a strategy to better communicate with your businesspartners and your customers.