Long Distance Social Networking circa 1993:
Get paper.
Get pen.
Sit and hand write the first draft.
Massage hand for a moment to get the cramps out.
Find the nice stationary and the good pen — the one that doesn’t leak.
Write more.
Crumple up that first page because you totally left out a word.
Write more.
FINISH!
Place in envelope.
Write out the envelope.
Realize you left out the last page.
Argh …
Open (and ruin) envelope.
Write it out once more.
Place the letter (all pages!) in the new envelope.
Seal. (Ick. The glue is gross.)
Find a stamp.Um. Stamp. Where are they? Think.
Tear up your house looking for one.
“MOM! I need a STAMP.”
Bug mom to get stamps on her way home from work for two days.
Get the stamp and place the letter in the mail.
Wait weeks to see if your friend received it while everything in it is completely outdated.
Start over again.
Long Distance Social Networking today:
Log onto Myspace.
New Comments! New Messages!
JOY!
Read messages and comments.
Respond.
The end.
The above happens within a two-minute timeframe. Who would have known how vastly different the world would change in a mere 14 years. Really, five years if you simply go by the introduction of the Internet to the masses. It has changed the way we communicate in every capacity. Everything is faster, sleeker, wittier and smaller. Every day teeny tiny new little gadgets are invented to enable us to stay plugged into everything: our friends (and frenemies), TV, music, movies, sports, news, gossip … it’s never ending.
I find it all incredibly fascinating.
Technology is moving so fast that it’s hard for even the techiest of tech people to keep up. Web 2.0 applications and practices are in full swing with blogs and social networking sites becoming actual outlets for advertising and marketing opportunities. Not just a place to write about what you had for breakfast and saying “What’s up” to your homies. The entire landscape of the Internet has changed and in the grand scheme of things, it’s still in its infancy. As a result, traditional marketing and advertising practices are taking a backseat to more innovative approaches.
I’ve often been questioned by people who haven’t embraced the Internet (and more specifically social networking sites) as fervently as I have. They don’t get it. I might as well be telling them that I talk to monkeys. But slowly, even the most skeptical people are coming around.
My first foray into the realm of Internet geekdom was message boards. I found a couple that focused on topics I liked and I dove right in. Now, I’m a social person. I talk non-stop. (Go figure I work in communications.) I love to debate, but even more so, I love being in the know.
So the world of message boards was like a little piece of pixel heaven. I can talk, laugh, argue and always be in the know because the posts stay there. I can go to bed fully engrossed in a topic, then wake up the next morning and catch up on what I missed while drinking my coffee and lounging in my jammies. You can’t do that in real-time. If you aren’t there, you simply miss out.
For years, I was happy in my little communities. I knew everyone. Everyone knew me. It was like Cheers but with a keyboard and no beer. I made friends and attended “meet-ups.” I talked regularly to folks both on the boards and on IM from all over the country. Then one day, my friend Gabe sent me an invite to MySpace. I was totally confused. I had heard of Friendster and never understood it, either. I mean, why would I need MySpace? I have my beloved message boards!
I accepted the invite and let the page sit for months. Suddenly, all the people I interacted with regularly on message boards were getting pages. They started leaving comments and writing blogs. Slowly those same people started become more open and really letting parts of themselves show through. The blogs became personal. Pages were designed to reflect their tastes in art, music, film and TV. It really became and extension of themselves.
I know people often question the usefulness of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. They want to know why you would want or have a need for those sites, when message boards are available and so prevalent.
There are two very distinct differences between the two:
1) Message boards are about the community more than the individual, and social sites are the opposite.
2) Networking sites allow users to control who they interact with.
With social sites, the user is the superstar, so to speak. The content is about them. It’s where they can show off their creativity and inner celebrity. And most importantly, they control who views it and who’s allowed to participate. All of this in conjunction with the explosion of YouTube gives the “average Joe” the ability to create their own community of fans and get a taste of celebrity life via the Internet. Think of it as the “Me” generation of the 80’s with a focus on celebrity status rather than financial (and less hairspray).
The Web has changed the way we think and interact, both in our personal lives and in business. Marketing and advertising companies have had to completely rethink strategies … but that’s something I’ll visit in part 2. Stay tuned!
I KNOW. That’s so old school. I’m bringing it back, though.
- Ali
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
You are a blog goddess. That was fun – do it again!
October 1st, 2009 at 9:20 am
[...] couple of years ago I wrote a three-part series about the Internet social scene. (”Three-part series” makes it sound very [...]