The South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival wrapped up Sunday. SXSW is quite possibly the hippest event on college students’ radar. New media/Web 2.0 plays a big part in covering this event.

Entertainment gossip blogger Perez Hilton got a warm reception from a crowd of attendees. He and his site are very popular.

Another blogger covering the event was Whitney Matheson, who authors the Pop Candy blog for USA Today. I wonder how she rates with the SXSW crowd. I’m guessing that USA Today isn’t on many of their “A” lists.

Just a guess, but I get the feeling that young people have a built-in distrust for anything corporate. Matheson seems to be a credible reporter and has that Gen Y “look”, but the fact that she is employed by Gannett might hurt her “street cred.” Or “cyber cred”, if you prefer.