I was going through my usual routine of reading today’s news online when I came across this article in the New York Times:

One Step Back From the Digital World

The title really caught my eye.  Every few years, there seem to be people talking about how technology is not giving us that promised rest and less work that we were expecting.  My initial thought was we can’t step back, we’re in too deep.  However, as I read the article I began to agree with the writer.  It seems that his point is that we should put the technology down sometimes so we can be fully present for the people in our line of sight.

I know I am guilty of some things that I would never have thought would be me.  For instance, instead of climbing the stairs to say something to my husband, I will text him.  Yes, text him!  Honey, will you bring my reading glasses down with you?  I have to laugh as I remember that before SMS, I would have hollered or climbed the stairs. 

My husband and I are young baby boomers so text messaging each other in the house is one thing but we don’t text others more than just talk to them on the phone or in person.  Now, the young people we hang around, typically those in their teens and 20’s, amaze me with the amount of text messages they send out.  I asked a parent about this who said their teen sends about 3,000 messages a month.  I asked if that is a concern for most parents.  Most parents tell me that this is just the way it is now.  All the kids are doing it. (I won’t bother saying what my parents would have said to that. Are you old (I mean wise) enough to remember?

All of my own children are in their mid to late 20’s.  I continue to get my eyes opened when I watch their interactions with others.  Once I was in the room with my daughter while she was giving some advice to a teen about college.  Later, I asked her if she was bothered that the teen never looked up from her phone while they were talking.  My daughter hadn’t even noticed.  At this point texting all the time is just natural to her.  Is this a sign of the times?

Whatever happened to downtime?  The time every week where people relax, recreate, and rejuvenate sometimes alone but often with others.  I must admit that I try very hard to hold on to my weekends but often I feel guilty because I know that others are up and out even on Sundays handling business.  Now add the technology and you don’t even have to leave your house to be busy with handling business.  You could be at dinner across the table from your spouse and kids yet really be many miles away from what is going on right in front of you because of email, SMS, and other digital ways of being in other places. 

To say the least, the technology that allows us to communicate in real time is a great thing to have.  I  admit that I love meeting people who I might not have ever had the opportunity to know because of distance.  And, as a mother, I really enjoyed spying on all our kids while they were in college.  However, used relentlessly, I believe social networks can be the downfall of many other opportunities to communicate in real time.  I am a huge proponent of using all the technology available so I don’t believe we should let go of all the progress that has been made.  Perhaps we shouldn’t let that progress cause us to regress in terms of being actually present in person. 

Oh, excuse me while I answer this text. LOL!  

So I used to think that Bill Gates would be the one to take over the world with all the Microsoft products, but now we see who the real (hopefully, not evil) world dominator will be, Mark Zuckerberg.  Facebook is at it again.  This time they are giving developers the opportunity to use a plug on the sites the developers create that allows them to pull in FB profile information.  Now, developers are using the plug-in at a rate of 300 websites an hour!

What does this mean for you?  It means that whenever one of your friends or fans or whatever they are called these days in on CNN, for example, they might see your lovely picture already there because you read the same article they are now reading.  And, you don’t have to be logged in for that to happen.  Mark wants to make the internet a more social place with Facebook being the hub for all those social interactions.  This is either the most altruistic reason ever and we’re going to be so glad it happened.  Or, we’ll be afraid to turn on our computers because now we really don’t know who is watching.

Mashable reported about this in their article, FaceBook’s New Social Plug-Ins Come to 50,000+ Websites in One Week. 

What do you think?  Should we all be concerned about this or is it harmless fun?

Well, just when we all think that social media is getting to a manageble level it happens again.  Another social networking platform, Facebook, adds a few new features that make you go, hmmm…  Now, I do like what LinkedIn changed, but I’m not sure exactly what FB is going for.

First, they have changed the way people join fan pages.  Now, we can only like each other because apparently, according to FB, fan was too strong of a word.  Also, on the fan page you now see your personal FB friends along with the people who “like” you.  The thing that I loved about facebook’s personal profile and fan page was the separation.  I liked having people who only want to see pictures of my granddaughter separated from the other people who want to talk about social media.  It’s down right frustrating, I tell you.  I’m almost afraid to teach my next social media class because while I’m explaining a feature of some social networking site it might change that very hour. 

Second, Facebook is now introducing another level of networking (I guess that’s what it is) called community pages.  So what’s the difference between community page, fan page, personal profile and group?  I don’t believe anyone know yets.  If someone does then like the Bush’s Beans dog, they ain’t talking.  For now what is known is that individuals can create a community page.  I think that the page will be owned by the one who creates it at first but once it reaches a certain number of people who like it then the community takes over and it becomes more like a wiki.  If you understand that, please explain it to me!  LOL!

So the question again becomes should people/organizations go ahead and create a community page to have first in advantage or just wait to see what happens.  How will people use the community pages?  What will having these well liked community pages do for fan pages.  Will it make fan pages obsolete?  The world is waiting for an answer. 

Here’s my biggest question:  Are the big drug manufacturers working on a pill to combat social networking chageitsis?  I might need a perscription.  In the meantime, I guess margaritas will have to be enough.

Our world is changing at a rapid pace.  Every day new technologies challenge the limits of what we thought was possible today.  No where is that more evident than in the work environment.  Our once tried and true way of going to the office, staying there for the required amount of time, then doing it again the next day is practically gone.  I’m not saying that all corporate offices will disappear, of course.  Some jobs and careers really have to be done in person.  I mean, I wouldn’t want my doctor to perform my surgery from the golf course via teleconference call.  That would be awkward.  But overall, technology has made the idea of working remotely a viable option that could fit into many types of occupations. 

I ran across this fantastic podcast produced by Business Week Small Business called, Boosting Productivity Through Virtual Collaboration.  It takes about 30 minutes but well worth the investment of time.  The two guest panelists give great answers to questions such as these:

• How do I encourage virtual collaboration in my very traditional workplace?
• How do virtual teams create effective communication?
• When should we be face to face?
• What is virtual distance and how do we overcome it?
• How do virtual workers remove the obstacle of seeming non-productive just because you’re out of sight?

The biggest fact that this video uncovers is the idea that virtual is only about telecommuters or freelancers.  Actually, if you even use a PDA, laptop, or any mobile device you work virtually.   How many of us now have to understand how to connect to or facilitate online meetings?  Quite a few I would suspect. 

So watch the video then let me know what you think? 

Do you think that understanding how to work virtually will be a priority for your career growth?

If so, do you see that as a good thing or a curse?

As a manager of virtual workers, what would be your biggest concern?

I don’t know about you but the fact that Twitter is now profitable is a weight off my shoulders. Over the years we’ve seen these companies become a major force for changing the way people communicate. So, what if Twitter were to go under, wouldn’t that alter the lives of many. You bet it would! It would alter the lives of around 58 million people. That’s the number of people who have a presence on Twitter. Let’s say only half of those people are active, that’s still over 25 million. You just can’t buy that many impressions within a reasonable marketing and advertising budget.

You can go the Business Week article to read the announcement for yourself but briefly, it says:

1. Twitter inked a multi-year deal with Google and Microsoft that is worth around $25 million
2. The deal makes tweets available to show up in searches on Google and Bing
3. This deal confirms that Twitter is a valuable entity and will be around for a while
4. Tweets will make searches even more content rich with up to the minute information from real people

The good news is that if you are using Twitter as a marketing tool your tweets might show up in Google more frequently than your website. I’m not a web analyst or anything but it seems to me that if a few thousand people are tweeting about you then that might show up in searches faster than if you are blogging or have a website. Are there any Google experts out there who can give us some insight on how tweets might be indexed?

My biggest question right now is what will happen to sites like search.twitter.com. I always advise my clients to use this type of site to search tweets. If you can search in Google and get a multi-layered result, why go through the extra trouble of having searches on other sites. It seems redundant.

The other problem that I see for business is this whole big brother (meaning customers) is really watching now. Who doesn’t use Google? Now, current customers and potential new customers might find out in real time what people think about your business. Moreover, what about people looking for jobs? Already, HR recruiters might look at Facebook or MySpace to determine if they want to hire a person. Will your tweets now be easy to obtain by recruiters just by doing a Google search?

What do you think? Could this be the best deal of the century? Or, will it be a huge headache for marketers and advertisers?