I'm a mobile Luddite. I don't have an iPhone or Blackberry (although I do like the look of the new Palm Pre) and to be honest I'm not too bothered about having a smart phone at the minute.
Now you might say that for someone that is involved in the online world as I am, not having an iPhone or similar makes me some kind of heathen. And maybe it does.
But here's the thing.
I'm a people person. I like to know people. I like to connect people. My aim is to meet and introduce as many folks as I can, and help make one big interconnected community that can call on each other when needed.
This could be for advice, knowledge, help, charity or anything else. The more quality people I know and can put in touch with each other, the better.
For me to be an effective people person and an effective connector, I need (and want) to know a person. What makes them tick. What makes them laugh. What upsets them. What motivates them.
Basically, I want to know why that person is who they are. Then I can help put them in touch with like-minded souls.
But to do this, I need to offer my full attention to that person at that given time. And maybe it's just me, but Twitter mobile apps are a major stumbling block to this aim.
The amount of times I've been out with friends or connections and they've been tweeting merrily away on their smart phones is scary.
Do we really need to be so technologically connected all the time? This is meant to be downtime. Drinks and a meal with friends. Can't that super important tweet wait until you get home?
Don't get me wrong - I'm as big a Twitter user as the next tweeter. But tweeting while in company - isn't that kind of rude and anti-social media?
But what about conferences and events, you might ask? I have a laptop if I want to live tweet. But let's flip that around - aren't you at conferences and events to learn from people as opposed to hearing the odd snippet of info between live tweeting?
I'm not denying that Twitter mobile apps are useful, to some more than others. But aren't people more important than the tools? Or am I just being idealistic in a technological world?
© dannybrown for danny brown, 2009. |
Permalink |
Post tags: community, people, social media, twitter
No comment
Link to original post