Open up your mind and say, ahh...

At face value, identity feels so simple. I’m just me, and you’re just you. But, enter the world of the web and everything becomes exponentially more difficult.

Will we ever have the equivalent of a “driver’s license” (i.e., a ubiquitous ID that everyone seems to have)? And, how much control do we, as users, want over how much of our identity is shared to third-party sites when we connect with our Facebook, Google or Twitter accounts?

I’m joined by esteemed panelists Tim Dierks (SVP of Engineering at the Huffington Post Media Group), Patrick Harding (CTO of Ping Identity), and Andy Mitchell (Strategic Partner Development at Facebook).

Join our live blog below to follow the action with Mashable editors!

Just days after AOL completed its acquisition of The Huffington Post, the Internet company announced layoffs of hundreds of employees in an effort to reorganize its editorial operation.

The struggling tech giant has slashed the jobs of 900 employees, including around 200 U.S. editorial staff. Sites such as Gadling, DailyFinance and Stylelist were hit with major layoffs. Among those who lost their jobs were PoliticsDaily editor in chief Melinda Henneberger and Stylelist editorial director Colleen Curtis.

In a memo to the AOL team, CEO Tim Armstrong outlined some of the details of the reorganization. Most of the layoffs will occur at the company’s India offices. AOL will be creating department editor and general manager positions for different pieces of its content business. It will also rely less on freelancers and hire more full-time journalists.

Naturally, Armstrong laid on the praise for his prized acquisition, The Huffington Post and its co-founder Arianna Huffington. The newly-formed Huffington Post Media Group, which includes AOL content such as Engadget, Moviefone, and MapQuest, is a centerpiece of Armstrong’s strategy. “With Arianna’s leadership and vision, HPMG will be fueled by high-quality editorial content,” he said. It will also “give AOL the enhanced ability to deliver a scaled and differentiated array of premium news, analysis, entertainment, information and community.”

Layoffs are to be expected with any major acquisition, especially when the two companies have a lot of overlap. But this wave of layoffs is more likely part of a larger content strategy driven by Armstrong and Huffington. Whether this shake-up is the start of a revitalization of AOL’s fortunes or marks the beginning of the end has yet to be determined.

The company that brought dial-up Internet to millions of people is dead. In its place is a massive media empire that refuses to be ignored.

With its blockbuster acquisition of Huffington Post, AOL has catapulted itself back into relevancy. It has sent a clear signal to the rest of the world that it is a media company and that it is in this game to win.

AOL has been on a content acquisition spree recently, not only acquiring the technology blog network TechCrunch, but also snagging up Thing Labs, Brizzly and most recently About.me in the last few months.

AOL has been moving in this direction for years, but it was easy to write it off as the final gasps of a dying company that had lost its relevancy.

I’ve always disagreed with that assertion, though. Even in 2009, I argued that AOL’s decision to become a content company was the right one if it wanted to become relevant again.

Here’s what I said back then:

“AOL and MySpace have the right idea with their shift in strategy and focus. Instead of trying to attract new audiences with better technology (a losing proposition), bring them in by churning out content. Online content creation is in demand (more so with the rise of article sharing on social media channels), and each company has preexisting audiences that are not only consuming it, but helping share it to others.

MySpace and AOL are no longer technology companies; they are content companies. When they realized that they couldn’t win in technology, they switched. In my estimation, they are making the right moves to ensure that both companies don’t simply disappear or become the next BusinessWeek.”

Regaining Relevancy

Until today, AOL has been a disorganized collection of media entities that weren’t strong enough on their own to truly transform AOL into a media powerhouse. People weren’t quite sure whether AOL was a technology company, a media company, or a little bit of both.

The Huffington Post changes all that. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong made his company’s goals clear in the company’s announcement. “The acquisition of The Huffington Post will create a next-generation American media company with global reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers,” he stated in the press release.

While AOL has made plenty of stupid moves (merging with Time Warner and acquiring Bebo for $850 million top the list), acquiring Huffington Post for $315 million isn’t one of them. The Huffington Post is a growing entity with huge influence and reach, and combined with the AOL homepage, it will only become larger.

Still, Huffington will be tasked with making the whole operation profitable and sustainable, something she only recently achieved with The Huffington Post. She will have to successfully integrate dozens of independent media entities into one profitable organization, a daunting task by any standard.

The Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington will become the anchors of the AOL’s new media strategy. With Arianna Huffington running the show, AOL will gain the content focus and media legitimacy it desperately needs to restart growth and become relevant again.