“I’m trying to imagine how it happened. The point at which, perhaps three weeks ago, Jeff Pulver convened a meeting of the greatest minds in social media to thrash out the details of ‘140 Characters’ – his conference on Twitter and the “state of now” which kicked off yesterday in New York. Specifically I’m trying to imagine the moment Pulver stood up, cleared his throat, and proposed that a conference on the leading edge of the mobile web revolution should be held … underground. Three storeys underground in fact, in the basement of Manhattan’s concrete-lined “New World Stages” building.

Perhaps one of the others in the room raised their hand, timidly. “Er, Jeff …” they might have said. “Isn’t that a completely boneheaded decision? To host a Twitter conference in an underground bunker, impenetrable to cellphone signals.”

“Not at all,” Jeff may possibly have replied…”

This week’s column is online.