The hosts (Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman, Don Lemon, Larry King, Anderson Cooper…) talk about twitter and facebook on cable news shows. Politicians, internet businesses and even businesses like Whole Foods are on twitter…but many of my friends still say “twit-what” ? They know what facebook is…but don’t have a profile. Or if they do, they attend to it maybe once a week or less. Many have yet to find their social niche on the ning platform Can you believe many wine folks are now early adopters thanks to Open Wine Consortium, Wine 2.0 and almost 30 more social networks dedicated to wine!!?? Granted most of those participants are in the wine industry or wine blogging world or tech. Heck, the internet, and all of these online social tools, are credited with helping to elect President Obama! So Social Media is almost mainstream…but not quite.
So what or who am I waiting for?
I guess I’m waiting for folks like my aunt or my mom to be on twitter or facebook or any social network (even AARP has a social site…and of course they should!). Or even some of my closest friends in their 30’s n 40’s who have no idea about the online world beyond e-mail and shopping. I’m waiting for them to get connected. I have faith though: they all chucked their answering machines in favor of voice mail. And they all have cell phones; they even text. So not being the most patient person in the world, I it is only a matter of time.
Then what?
Well, I’m curious and eager for the information and connection that twitter, ning and the blogosphere bring to the conversations. Perhaps I’m already primed because I’m a news junkie: world, tech, wine, entertainment, travel and politics…gimme news! And when those folks are connected, I can’t wait to see how the marketplace inserts itself into the conversation. We’ve already seen them blocked, booted or blasted for spamming their messages into conversations. It’s like being at a cocktail party and walking up to people chatting (say they are chatting about a back yard bbq with their friends and family) and you start shouting “Hey I have this great deal on Office Copier Machines! Get it right now! Go Here to buy it!”. Don’t you think people would just look at you like you were crazy?! So I’m curious to find out how the next leap in social media evolution will look…will it be so gradual that we won’t notice? I kinda doubt it. Will it make the coolness of twitter, the blogosphere and online conncting evaporate? I sure hope not.
Whatever it will be, my hope is that the social media tools enhance connecting both online and in real life (IRL); that it will be a hub of information, authenticity and buzz about what’s happening right now, where can we go next and who can we find to engage!
Funny, I just got a phone call from the brother of the president of my company asking me about groups on twitter and facebook…maybe we’re closer to mainstream than when I started this post!
Images courtesy of Google images.
California Wine Life 