Remember where you were on August 6th when Twitter went down and Facebook sputtered along for a couple of hours? Me neither. But it was fascinating to watch the blogs light up with the topic. Fascinating.
It was almost a panic. People didn't know what to do with themselves. But they still found a way to communicate.
That got me to thinking about what would happen if all social media suddenly went away one day for good. Stay with me. We have these tools that connect (or give the illusion of connection) us to followers/friends/etc. And because of that, we have become hyper-connected (overconnected?!?). But now since we have been exposed to this overconnectivity, if it was suddenly taken away, would you run out of the house and just start talking to everyone you saw? Would you be on the phone all day and night trying to update everyone on your every thought? Would you drive around the city with a bullhorn and broadcast messages?
I think the people that are using social media to have deep, meaningful conversations with a small group of others would be the ones that would adjust the easiest. Those that have build their reputation on their numbers and were nothing before social media would suddenly be nothing without it. Scary. For them at least.
So it's just a thought, but I think there's a lesson for all of us in there somewhere.