Mashtag

A "blawg" by Antone Johnson, a technology business lawyer and Web 2.0 executive, observing social media, entrepreneurship, and all things at the intersection of people, capital, technology, and creativity. And what a busy intersection it has become! The blog name itself is a mashup of the words “mashup” and “hashtag” — neologisms that symbolize the new and complex web of relationships among users of social media. By now, it’s no secret that as disintermediation accelerates in a Web 2.0 world, traditional notions of intellectual property, methods of distributing content, and centralized editorial control are facing unprecedented challenges. I plan to touch upon these themes while addressing subjects and events of interest within the general realm of social media, Web 2.0, digital media and similar consumer-facing, IP-intensive businesses, from the viewpoint of a business lawyer and executive who managed the global legal affairs of a major consumer Internet company during the ascendance of online social ne