I still have a few friends who claim they don't get social networking. Don't need it. Have no use for it. "I'd rather spend my time in the real world." "I don't want to 'chat' with some person who was a classmate in the first grade who found me on Facebook." These people so miss the point.
Social media can be a distraction like anything else, and when that happens people become burned out and cynical. I am a heavy user of social networking. I check my facebook several times a day and I have the facebook gadget downloaded on my desktop. I consider myself a relatively early adopter of social networking. The deeper I get into it, the more I realize how much control I have over it, how I can tailor it to my "real world" the more potential I see in it.
A few days ago, I was downloading some Twitter add-ins to my Outlook. As I was doing this, I was reporting the experience on my twitter updates. I was testing the new functionality by using it for its intended purpose. Within seconds, a few people responded to my updates. This circular occurrance really blew my mind. I was having an experience, what that experience was almost doesn't matter, I was conveying that experience, and any one of the hundreds of people on my friends list could learn about that experience and comment on it in real time. It felt very real and very connective.
This is not idly chatting or wasting time. I was having this rather simple moment privately in my head and at my lap top, but was able to share it with hundreds of people who are spread out all over Europe and the States, and have them participate in the experience, was something that struck me as unquantifyably wonderful. I am sure in a few weeks, someone is going to come up with an application that can quantify wonderfulness. I'll be the first person to download it, and to share it.
