Gasp! Internet Brings People Together
Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 14th, 2008 2:32 PMYesterday over brunch, I was discussing with my mother how she could leverage the internet to promote her new book. She isn’t new to the internet but she has not seen the power that can come from leveraging new technologies for promotional purposes. I’ve discussed on here before how the internet has transformed the ability for people to promote themselves. I called it a “personal brand revolution“.
Something my mom said stuck with me. While I don’t know here direct quote, she thought it was unique that I was trying to use Social Times to bring people together. When the internet first became a commercial item, there was a large group of people that said the internet would have a serious negative impact on humanity. Ultimately we would all end up stuck alone in front of the computer aside from when we were sleeping. I could make all of my purchases online and there would never be any reason for me to go outside.
While my mom doesn’t know much about my competitors, the fact that she found it unique that the internet could be leveraged to bring people together illustrates the divide that still exists in our society today. Many people my mom’s age use the internet to connect with those people that they already know. Aside from online dating sites, they don’t see how the internet can bring people together. Perhaps they are being brought together with others but don’t realized it.
At some point in the past year and a half I began connecting with people that I only knew digitally. Most of these connections took place at conferences. Regardless of where I met these people though, the fact that people are just starting to realize that communities can be built thanks to new social technologies is substantial. I believe that we are going to see a boom in personal connections created thanks to these new technologies, some of them even instantaneous.
Imagine walking around and finding out that the person standing next to you actually knows 25 of your friends. Rather than them being a complete stranger, you turn to them and start chatting with them about how they know your other friends. This is the power of social media and while many of us may be up to our ears in social media, the reality is that most the world is not.
If people like my mom are just beginning to realize that there is a benefit from the internet when it comes to building relationships and communities, we may just have a great future ahead. What do you think? Is social media helping you build your social life?
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Onto the older population. With no disrespect, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," most of the time. As people get older, they get set in their daily lifestyle. With our generation, this will take a turn. The best part about the Internet and social media is portability. Rather, we are in constant contact anywhere anytime.
Jason
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nice article
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