In a recent book tour in Pittsburgh, Chuck Klosterman commented that the Internet is making the world wider but also shallower. I think of his quote often when I read things like Gina Madison’s latest post.
Vehicles like Twitter make communicating with your contacts extraordinarily easy in our fast paced lives. I can tweet about something random in my day and receive four responses as if I was having lunch with a group of people. The exchange of thought in 140 characters with others can foster a sense of camaraderie while we’re all sitting in our respective cube farms. It’s reassuring to know that your content has sparked a bit of interest in someone else’s day while you digest similar content indefinitely, whether you @ someone or not.
Gina mentioned those that those who are not getting involved will be left behind, and I couldn’t agree more. Rob and I had a discussion last night along the same lines. Someone he knows is a senior at a reputable local institution of higher education and she just discovered Google Talk and is amazed by the fact that she can communicate with three people at once, in separate conversations. (*headdesk* if I may, via Burgh Baby)
Rob mentioned that he was amazed that there are still professors who do not encourage the use of the Internet for educational content. And whether they know it or not, their lives are ruled by Internet content.
Non-profit organizations are beginning to leverage social media to its greatest potential, as we have seen with the anticipation of Twestival. Just as the music industry went through a major overhaul in the last decade, the world of marketing continues to snowball its efforts to reach us in all possible ways.
There is a Coors Light billboard downtown obnoxiously beaming into the night, visible from 579 North that simply reads “Win Super Bowl Tickets.” There is a custom placard at Willis Ski Shop in the North Hills that reads “Phil said six more weeks of winter.” Up the road, there’s a billboard for Sheetz, quietly advertising their $4 footlongs. I can only imagine how these mundane marketing attempts will penetrate our eye sockets in a very short time when they go beyond expanding animated advertisements on Yahoo’s frontpage or local news websites. Optimistically, maybe the billboards will go away and we can look at prettier things when we look up from our iPhones.
Social media is evolving at a fast rate and it will be interesting to see which turns and roads it chooses to take in reaction to the recession.
Maybe there’s an app for that.
I joined Twitter two months ago and it’s amazing to think about the difference between a medium, like Twitter, and “old school” media like using the telephone. It is simply amazing. I like it though. It’s definitely been a fun two months for me. I just hope I can keep up!