From TechCrunch50 , Monday in San Francisco: I have been here for five hours and I have not seen a single person using a spreadsheet or word processor. The main computer tool being used here is a browser, and this conference is pretty much all about one thing...using the web socially. This is Helpstream’s second TechCrunch event in as many months so I am used to the idea that the average age of the founder CEO types is twenty-something, but beyond that, it’s clear that this conference is about the way they want the web to work. Not because it can or because new technology breakthroughs have enabled it to. It's simply because they want it to.

This is a group of software startups that beyond all else want to be connected on the Internet to interact in all types of ways. In general the business model is providing a service that either connects people with other people or with specialized content in areas of mutual interest. And these new businesses depend on the web. No web… no business. Most of these applications serve a lifestyle interest like finding a dog sitter connected to someone in your personal network, such as myJambi does, or publishing your own web magazine such as Openzine enables.

There are some with business services like Expensify ’s really cool expense management system that collects your reciepts with an Iphone camera and submits your expense account and pays your bill all automatically, to Zuora that handles online quoting and bill paying integrated to SalesForce.com. But business process is taking a back seat to social connectedness. This is an interesting trend and may be a leading indicator as to where a large percentage of future bandwidth will be used.

You don't need to look hard to see that building a robust community is a core feature of these applications as well. It's not clear if community is a byproduct or a requirement for these applications to work. But, if and when they do take off, they will have tens or hundreds of thousands of community members. This is going to drive another interesting business problem. How do these new companies answer the high demand for customer service and support without putting themselves out of business? Especially for those with monetization models ranging as low as “free” and the need to convert any service request to a positive customer experience, this will be a formidable challenge. If your’ curios and hanging out at TechCrunch50 this week, stop by the Helpstream booth and let us know what you think.