I’m an internet guy, but the web has nothing on physical interaction. Doesn’t even come close (well… it comes close but not close enough). Last night I attended “darrenCamp” on the Upper East Side section of Manhattan.

Darren Herman, founder of IGA Worldwide, did an excellent job putting some of the smartest, innovative, and savviest marketing, internet, and finance people in one room. It was a great networking experience and I left with a handful of contacts.

Darren said something that really struck a cord with me last night: “The web really isn’t that social.” He went on to explain that you can view a person’s IP address and see how they got to your site, but you can only go so far in getting to really know that person.

He sees the rise of avatars as something that is going to break the social barriers on the net. You know, like actually seeing someone’s face on your blog or perhaps their Second Life profile on their website/blog.

To a larger degree, I agree with Darren and I think that we have a long way to go before the net truly does become social. Sure, we have communities such as facebook, MySpace, flickr, blog networks, etc.etc. but all of them have barriers that don’t allow people to make intimate connections with others besides reading their content, viewing their profiles, commenting, and tracking their IP addresses.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that blog commenting, profiles, and reading peoples’ content are excellent ways to get to know someone online – those are the best tools that we currently have online right now and through them we are reaching out to millions of people everyday.

However, like everything else in the world, there’s room for improvement.

Here are some thoughts:

• What about sharing voice profiles with people. Imagine being able to listen to a mini voice introduction of your facebook or MySpace buddies, that would be great.
• As Darren suggested, it would be cool for Second Life to build wikis for people to share their avatars across their sites/blogs.
• Or, what about online scrapbooks that we could share with people. A digital book of videos, recording, images, sites that I visited, favorite music, etc.. I think that if someone was able to build a service that organized these eclectic elements of someone’s life in an easy to view (and cross-social network) way, then it would go a long way in penetrating the social barriers online.

But as I stated in the beginning of this article, real world interaction will always trump online interaction. Just like how print publication will never die because people love the feeling of holding a book and reading it. Just can’t beat that!

There’s something magical about sitting alongside of someone and holding an intelligent, engaging, and insightful conversation with that person. Being able to share your ideas, brainstorm, and think about the future with someone is an experience that humans will never get tired of.

As young entrepreneurs we should constantly be seeking interaction with people in our sector and related sectors. As a founder of a company, you should always strive to put a bunch of smart and insightful people in one room.

As the organizer, you’ll benefit from getting to know virtually everyone attending the event – people that can become great assets to your organization. As someone attending the gathering, you’ll be able to network like a madman and get to know a panoply of people from various sectors, people that can offer you priceless information that can help your company grow in new directions.

Here are some pics from last night’s gathering at darrenCamp:

What do you think: is the net really that social? Do you attend events and gathering to network?