This is a subject that would have played to an empty house two years ago; many of the designers didn’t even have websites then.  Michael Bruno, the attractive genius who started 1^st Dibs explained how he had to talk the vendors at the Paris Flea Market into letting him show their goods and how the rest is history.  The difference between Bruno and the rest of the speakers – Brad Ford, James Andrew and Jonathan Adler and Heather Clawson – is that Bruno makes his living from his site whereas the others are working designers and blog and take care of their Facebook and Twitter pages on the run.  The question of whether it’s worthwhile was best-addressed by Brad Ford who felt that it’s a long range commitment to becoming known and creating a following.  Do they make money from their blogs?  None of them have yet.  Although I was very impressed with Jonathan Adler’s claim that his most successful “store” is his website, which makes it a very major hunk of real estate.  All the speakers felt that the design business is evolving and the Internet is going to be a major part of that growth.