Flippant Article Intro
In today’s New York Times on the cover of the Business Page there is an article by Brad Stone, Online Chat, As Inspired By Real Chat.
The article itself is a story on Vivaty a start up whose goal is to make 3-D virtual chat rooms the next big thing. It looks like a cool service and an interesting approach to new media and social networking.
The work Vivaty is doing isn’t what caught my eye about this article, but rather the opening and the intro to the story.
"Compared with other forms of human interaction, online social networking is really not all that social."
I have a huge problem with this statement and the thinking it creates. First of all the thinking implies that social media is just a bunch of people sitting behind their comuptuer using clever speak to sound social and in touch. Second it is just wrong, especially with the new media crowd here in Pittsburgh. I’ve never been more connect or in touch with people than I have ever since joining twitter. Not only is the connection important but the way it allows friendships and ideas to quickly develop and form into action. Parties, get-togethers and meetings have been organized within minutes over twitter. Now I don’t want this to be the joys of twitter post, but I want to make my point clear.
Also check out these blog posts for further support on this topic:
Dawnpapuga.com (Refrencing toward the end of the post)
And if I can get the link to work Scott Sweep wrote a great post that really explains the strength of our local community.
To me this goes deeper than a few posts here and there on various blogs. This topic is a conversation I have had over and over, in real life. To me when I read a statement like that in the NY Times it really makes me cringe because new media is social media. There are a lot of people taking advantage of it and it is changing their lives in cool and interesting ways.
I checked out Brad’s other blogs and I noticed he is on flickr and Linkedin, he has just recently joined twitter (seven posts recently). I hope that he soon experiences the joys of twitter and the connection it brings you to the people in your network.
About the author
Written by Norm
Currently growing iTwixie.com for tween girls. Organizer of @PCPGH, playing Magic: the Gathering, and enjoying life.
Cynthia Closkey
March 31, 2008
The opening of the article sounds like it must be the pitch Vivaty makes in explaining their service. So I’m tempted to blame them instead of Brad Stone.
The screenshots on the Vivaty site kind of horrify me. I don’t want to interact in that world, in much the same way that I don’t want to interact in Second Life. But it may be that I’m a Luddite and will be left behind by the cooler kids.
That said, I agree with you about the IRL socializing that happens because of social media and social networking online. Around Pittsburgh we have lots going on, and the RL and virtual connections reinforce each other. It’s amazing.
And yet: I also have many, many friends who have no interest in using Twitter or even reading blogs regularly. I’m kind of puzzled (and maybe a little hurt) that my long-time friends don’t read my blog, but I know they have other lives going on, they don’t read blogs in general, and they don’t care what new cocktail I’ve been mixing recently. That’s absolutely fine, and we’re still friends and always will be. What’s strange is that I now have such separate circles of friends that don’t even intersect. It’s a strange feeling, being in these multiple worlds.