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Saturday, May 19, 2007

I was listening to Episode 66 of the East Meets West podcast and they relayed a message from a listener. He said that Twitter let's people feel they're part of the "in crowd" by following people like Tom Merritt, and Robert Scoble. In fact, that's why he had a Twitter account even though none of his friends had one and none of them seemed to "get it." I can't say the same for myself. Although I do follow Leo Laporte on Jaiku and I've joined the Buzz Out Loud and TWiT channels. I haven't joined to feel like I'm part of the "in crowd." I'm just kind of along for the ride to see where it leads. I love technology and think we're living in the best of times. This stuff is part of that and I want to see where it goes. I have a real sense that this is changing our lives (or at least the lives of today's teens and twenty somethings) I want to play along too. However, like that fellow, I don't have any friends or family with Twitter or Jaiku accounts and I'm not sure they'd "get it." But Tom Merritt also made a very profound statement on the same podcast that went something like this "In today's society, it is easier than ever for like minded people to find each other." Hhhhmmm... That sounds like the true significance of Web 2.0 and social networking sites. Like minded people with common interests can find each other regardless of time or geography; e.g., the gentleman who commented on my walking the dog every night. Maybe that's just a small connection, but I'm sure there are many bigger connections out there. That's new and that's cool.

As I follow along and consider the possibilities, I'm also thinking of some very practical, productive uses for the likes of Jaiku and Twitter, which I'll talk more about in future posts.

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