Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do by Euan Semple

Author:Euan Semple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2011-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

23

WAR OF THE WORLDS

We talk as if online exists in isolation from the rest of our lives but of course it doesn’t. It becomes intertwined with our face to face encounters and the trick is to get the best of both worlds.

The online world doesn’t exist in isolation from the “real” world. In fact let’s deal with that word “real” for a moment. It always has air quotes with it when being discussed by those used to spending time online. The assumption that our physical world is more real than our online world is problematic. I would argue that the relationships we establish with each other online are no less real than those we have face to face. In many ways we get to know each other better online through more open and thoughtful written exchanges than would be acceptable in a casual office conversation. I feel as if I know people I have known online for years, but have never met face to face, better than people I shared an office with for years. We can also spend a lot of time sharing the same physical space with another person and hardly know them at all.

There are benefits to the Internet that are different from some aspects of our physical realities. On the Internet you are as good as the ideas you express and your willingness to help others. No one cares, or will possibly ever know, whether you are tall or small, good looking or average. This non-physical world will have its own elites but they are less likely to be based on physical appearance. Equally there are lots of downsides to face to face. People can make assumptions about you based on your appearance, dress, and other outward signs of status. This shift towards online has a powerful effect, and increasingly conditions our relationships with each other. Managing the transition between these two worlds is something we will get better at and will be seen as a key business and personal skill.

But of course, as with so many things, this is not a question of either/or. I love face to face. In fact I am very aware that I only have so much face to face time available to me on the planet and I have an interest in making the best use of it that I can. This is where the online tools help. Thanks to an upfront investment in time building online networks, I get to spend more of my face to face time with really interesting people, having really useful conversations, than I ever have before.

This is where geo location applications like Foursquare come in. These tools pick up on the GPS signal in our phones and then alert our social networks as to where we are. People often wonder why those of us who use the tools spend time telling people where we are. Aren’t we worried about people breaking into our houses when we have broadcast the fact that we are elsewhere? God bless the media for making us so paranoid.

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