Today is Liz Smith‘s last column at the New York Post. Even if you are not the most regular reader is does seem like just one more sign that newspapers as we know them are not long for this world. Also, somewhat amazing is the fact that she received the news from editor Col Allan (in a letter!) more than two weeks ago, and it was only made public this week. Apparently, the woman knows how to keep a secret when need be! Anyway, Smith is over at The Daily Beast talking with fellow former gossiper extraordinaire Lloyd Grove about her abrupt departure — oh to have been a fly on the wall for this conversation! Here’s a taste:

Lloyd: Now Col sent you a letter. Did he ever tell you anything in person about this?

Liz: No, no one has spoken to me. At the end of January I wrote a letter to Rupert because Col Allan hasn’t spoken to me in a year, so I said I was anxious to re-sign and wanted to go on working and hoped to die with my boots on at my desk and all that stuff. And Rupert didn’t answer. And then Col sent me a very nice letter saying he was sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, and they had economic difficulties, et cetera, and they were not renewing my contract. So I’ve never talked to anybody there.

But I will go bravely on, move on more fully to the wowowow.com and keep up writing the column every day to the Tribune Syndicate, and keep writing for Variety twice a week.

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It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for the mobile advertising market to explode. It’s been poised to take off for years now, yet prediction upon prediction have fallen short. Not anymore, if a new report from The Kelsey Group (which tracks these things) can be believed.

The analyst firm believes that mobile advertising revenue will grow at an astonishing 81.2 percent annually, turning the current $160 million market into a $3.1 billion industry. Local media search will skyrocket to $1.3 billion up from just $20 million this year.

The new cause for optimism stems from the proliferation of smart phones (hey, iPhone) into the U.S. market. With people willing and able to do more on their phones (email, surf the net, watch movies, listen to music), the opportunities for advertisers to spend their dollars will only grow. Good thing someone saw this coming.

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The Daily Beast: The “Smart Power” List

NYMag.com: Fashion Week Ticket Fracas: Meet Your Scammers

Politico: Joe the Plumber Laughs at Obama’s Speech

Fortune: Murdoch’s Daughter Snubs Dad

Guest of a Guest: The NYC Social Media Elite Yearbook ’09

Freelancer Beth Roehrig From left: Parents executive editor Chandra Turner, and Meredith Corp. human resources manager Jill Peters discussed their experiences with media industry layoffs at last night’s ASME Next panel.

Last night’s ASME Next’s event, “The New Rules for Success: How to Get or Keep a Job in Today’s Economy,” couldn’t have been more personal, or more timely. The panel discussion featured three journalists who’ve been laid off at some point in their careers, as well as a corporate HR manager who’s seen countless layoffs from the other side of the table, addressing an audience of junior-level editors clinging to every bit of advice on holding on to their jobs. ASME Next co-chair Dara Pettinelli (who was let go from her media job last week and is now freelancing) moderated the talk, which featured Parents executive editor and Ed2010 founder and president Chandra Turner, Meredith Corp. manager of human resources Jill Peters, and freelancer Beth Roehrig (who was laid off from her first, as well as her most recent, media job).

The panelists kicked off the candid conversation by recounting their personal layoff stories. “My biggest setback was when [Cosmogirl!] folded,” said Turner. “It was devastating, and you never see it coming when it’s you.” Turner, who was nine months pregnant at the time of her dismissal, was determined to bounce back right away. Turner said she set out to find new work immediately, recalling that her attitude toward new employment was, “I’ll come in and work like the day after I have the baby — I just need a job!” After being let go, Turner said she emailed her entire address book with her resume attached. “Even though nobody was hiring, everybody agreed to meet with me,” she said, advocating that approach even in these challenging times. “Then you find out what they’re looking for.”

Roehrig, who was laid off from her first full-time job at Good Housekeeping and from her more recent position at Home when the magazine folded, agreed with Turner: “The best thing to do is reach out to your contacts and your network.”

Turner also emphasized the need to hustle for new work immediately when you get laid off, while industry peers are still talking and thinking about your magazine, before the next publication goes under. “Work on the sympathy factor, and work fast,” she said. “Ask for assignments — $50 here, $100 there. Anything I could get my hands on, I took.”

According to Peters, 75 percent of the people she’s interviewing these days are out of work, but she urged job-seekers not to slow down, even in the face of a bad market. “If you’ve been unemployed for more than a month and you haven’t been doing anything, make sure you’re showing that you’re actively pursuing employment.”

“You can’t coast right now,” said Turner. “Have a blog. Be doing freelance. Diversify.” As Peters put it, it’s time to “put on your game face.”

But, what about the nitty-gritty on what to do if you get laid off, and Peters’ top three tips for hanging on to your journalism job in this “unprecedented environment?

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— DIANE CLEHANE

As I’ve been reporting for weeks, it was SRO at Michael’s today as the movers and shakers, undeterred by the unsettling economic news, were out in full force plotting their next big move — or looking for a safe place to land. On the menu today: plenty of talk about President Barack Obama‘s speech last night and the Oscars. There was a strong consensus that one was a big winner, while the other got surprisingly mixed reviews. While everyone in the audience on Oscar night thought Hugh Jackman killed, plenty of folks here were less than impressed. “Movie people don’t like Broadway,” sniped one Hollywood insider. “And it was too Broadway.” Okay then…

Everyone I talked to about President Obama’s speech felt his oratory skills are nothing short of amazing and that he struck just the right tone where he basically told us its time to pay the piper and think of our children’s future. Personally, I was impressed at his unflappable ability to mix his formal and seemingly off-the-cuff remarks with ease — and he didn’t even blink when he forgot to follow protocol and let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduce him. She had to stop him mid-sentence, but he never faltered. Talk about cool under pressure. But here’s what wowed the women in the dining room — his affectionate introduction of the First Lady Michelle Obama and her mouthing, ‘I love you’ back to her smitten husband. “They’re marriage is obviously hot,” one divorcee told me. I’m telling you, no one wants to admit it, but that’s what people are really talking about.

As for the president’s remarks, “Inspirational but realistic,” is how one media summed things up. Others were scratching their heads asking why Wall Street wasn’t feeling the same way. More than one person said, “With everyone feeling a little bit hopeful, I don’t get why the market is down.” (It had dropped by more than 100 points by lunch). A question for the ages, no doubt.

On a much lighter note, I asked the always dapper Dr. Gerald Imber what he thought of the Botox-ed beauties on Oscar’s red carpet. But this plastic surgeon to the stars never cuts and tells — “I didn’t watch,” he confessed. He laughed when I asked him why he’d pass up the chance to admire his handiwork and did offer his assessment on why movie stars make better plastic surgery patients than mere mortals: “They come in with headshots saying, ‘I’ve changed a little here, I want to fix this here.’ They know what they want. There’s no whining.”

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. The ‘Imber Gang’: Dr. Gerald Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Andy Bergman. Here’s a fun fact: A little birdie told me that Andy wrote the screenplay for Blazing Saddles. Now you know…

2. Hallmark honcho Henry Schleiff with two other well-dressed fellows

3. No one puts a lunch together like ‘The Mayor’: Joe Armstrong, Glamour editrix Cindi Leive, George Stevens and Kerry Kennedy. I was thrilled to meet George (who was sporting a very patriotic red, white and blue shirt and tie ensemble). He’s the man behind the television broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors and the amazing broadcast of the concert on the Mall in celebration of President Obama’s inauguration. Kerry and I met once before at a lunch given by Henry Schleiff in this very dining room, where we talked about her then yet-to-published book, Being Catholic Now. I was so fascinated by her interviews with the likes of Bill Maher and Gabriel Byrne (who spoke about being abused by a priest) that I got through the terrific tome twice. Today the conversation was all about how stirring and inspirational the group found the president’s speech last night. “It made me proud to be an American,” Kerry told me. And we both totally melted over the young school girl who was seated next to the First Lady having written to the White House looking for aid for her school, which is in a serious state of disrepair. “I had tears in my eyes,” said Kerry. She wasn’t the only one…

4. An early-arriving Matt Blank who chatted with Joe and I before The New Yorker‘s David Remnick and Lisa Hughes joined Showtime’s head honcho for lunch. I was happy to reconnect with Lisa. Way back when, she was my sales rep at Self when I was the marketing honcho for a fashion company. I knew then that Lisa was destined for big things at Conde Nast, and she’s risen through the ranks like the pro she is. Well done and congrats!

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More revolving door news at Vogue. Per the release: Diego Scotti has been named Executive Director, Marketing of Vogue. The announcement was made today by Thomas A. Florio, Senior Vice President-Group Publisher of Vogue. Mr. Scotti’s appointment is effective immediately. He will report to Mr. Florio as a member of Vogue‘s management team.

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Despite tough times, or perhaps because of them, last night’s Mashable ‘State of the New York Blogosphere’ event at the Tribeca 92StY was a packed affair. And as is wont to happen when you fill a room with social networking internty types, most of what happens finds its socially networked way on to the Internet in one form or another. Something that is particularly fortuitous for latecomers such as ourselves. See also here, here, and here.

Despite our tardiness we did manage to catch The Daily Beast‘s Bryan Keefer (we hear all the panelists were great, by the way) talk a bit about the question on all our minds these days: how do we get paid? In this clip (after the jump) he discusses the ways in which online advertisers need to change their approach (why can’t online ads look like Super Bowl ads?!), which he says is something they are working on at the Daily Beast. But also! Why micropayments and packaged content won’t work! “People are willing to pay for entertainment in a way they are not willing to pay for text,” says Keefer. We shall see!

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Some people are still expanding! Breaking Media, the folks responsible for Fashionista, Above the Law, and Dealbreaker have just recently launched Edificial “a brutal (but constructive) architecture and design blog.” To be penned by Eva Hagberg and Ian Volner.

According to the site “Edificial fills the gap in narratively-focused gossip-friendly architecture coverage. We’re interested in the players, the stories, the deals, the history, the present, the future…We’ll be criticizing the criticizers.” Also, design! “We’re going to get involved in the play-by-play and pan out to take the long view. There will be roundups and linkdumps. There will also be longer essays and contributions from people we love.”

Not only that, Breaking Media managing editor David Lat tells us there is more to come: “We expect this to be the first of several launches for us in 2009. Despite the economy, Breaking Media is in expansion mode.”

The New York Observer has a nice long, very smart, multi-bylined piece today about the future of newspapers. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but for those of you in a rush the short version is that newspapers should look more like Facebook! Kidding…but only sort of. Says the NYO:

The media of the 21st century is one that is blogged — not a negative thing, see later in the piece! — and merged with the users’ own experiences and viewpoints synthesized with the original. If postmodernism came to literature in the ’80s, it’s got to come to journalism now.

In the meantime here’s a quick takeaway from some of the major players the NYO spoke with:

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