Social media connects adults again
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 |
I wrote recently about the relationship economy and the value of personal interaction in successful business. On February 11, more than 100 people gathered for the first #meetthemedia tweet up – a huge success that will undoubtedly occur again.
As much as we credit social media for making us ‘social’ beings again, the face-to-face personal meeting still ranks highly in our society. My take on this is that we’ve come full circle. Let me explain.
When I was a kid my parents knew, and socialized with, their neighbours and co-workers. There were backyard get-togethers, house parties and Grey Cup shin-digs. Fast forward about 30 years, when my kids were small, and activity was focused on the children. We ran (literally sometimes) from kid-focused event to kid-focused event, making small talk with parents we knew we would not see once the the hockey/soccer/baseball season was over. This kid-centric social life may have been great for the young’uns but we parents were more disconnected than ever. Despite having met dozens of parents over the years, we were always too busy rushing our precious cargo to their next activity to really make any friends.
Fast forward again about 15 years and we have the arrival of the social media revolution. Now we can meet and socialize with people of like interest. Finally, something for the adults! Social media has taken us back full circle to the days when my parents met people and socialized around areas of mutual interest.
You may say this is true because my kids are adults now and I’m no longer on the kid-activity treadmill. However, the average age of people at the tweet up on Friday was probably 35, and ranged from early 20’s to 50+.
Social media has given us the auspices to socialize again. And, that’s really the point of it, right?
As always your comments are welcome (click on ‘comments’ at the top of this post).
Comments
Andrea says:
I love this blog posting. I am an avid tweeter but I will take any opportunity possible to get together with fellow tweeps and meet with them face to face. There is so much that is conveyed through actual conversation and body language that we miss being online. My whole world has grown exponentially (and for the better I might add too) through social media conversations.
posted on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 11:03 AM
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