Hill+Knowlton Strategies

SAN FRANCISCO — The annual Web 2 Summit starts today. Described as ‘hyperexclusive and highly influential’ this conference launched in 2004 to celebrate the ‘Web as Platform’ and ushered the phrase Web 2.0 into mainstream usage.

The theme for the 2010 event is ‘Points of Control’. Now, this is not the tired agency-centric enigma “Who Owns Social Media?” or the advertisers dilemma “Who Owns The Brand?“. No this is The Battle for the Network Economy. A much bigger bun fight.

While we ponder that, Facebook is already winning the PR war. It held a press event a few hours before the Summit kickoff. Long expected to launch Facebook email, the official word is a “modern messaging system” that incorporate e-mail, instant messages and text messaging. Zuckerberg speaks on Tuesday and thanks to live streaming the whole world can watch.