Reach Out and Touch Someone
The power of connecting is what drew me to get involved in blogging and community networking in the first place. It is why in my definition of social media I mention the importance of the off line connection:
“Social Media is the process of using interactive web-based tools to create and share information in order to establish community engagement online and off.”
The power of the human voice brings an immediacy to your connection. The ability to see the person in the flesh adds another dimension and allows you to cement a relationship more rapidly and more strongly.
As some of you know my wife is in Hong Kong this week, a terrific experience that the Twitterverse pleaded her to take with gusto back in December. This is probably the longest period of time my wife has been away from our family and certainly the furthest. And although it doesn’t supplant having her here it certainly helps when we can jump on Skype (kffbos if you want to add me) and presto!
I realize that we talk about the technologies that enable much of social media too much. It is better to explain the benefit in a way that folks can quickly understand, particularly when the use of the technology enables a better understanding and helps smooth the way in breaching the abyss. A personal experience and how it helped my own life is going to have a much bigger impact with people who have not engaged in social media than another case study, a blog post or even a cool video.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:16 am
I am experiencing the same thing with my wife in the United Arab Emirates for 6 months. Skype and Facebook are making connectivity much easier.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Kyle, my wife just decided yesterday that she and my son are likely going to spend most or all of April in Kenya to visit her family. A full month without seeing my adorable son! I expect her Internet activity to be limited, so we’ll need to use phone — voice and texting — to stay in touch.
So pleased that you’re able to chat with your wife on Skype!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Bryan, wow, that is a long time, that is definitely going to be tough, hopefully the phone will help you at least hear him and stay in touch a bit.
Geoff, Skype has definitely been a blessing, not so sure about Facebook…each day I seem to use that less and less.
/kff
March 19th, 2008 at 5:40 am
[…] Flaherty talks about the “human voice” of social media, and how at the core it’s really about “reaching out and touching someone”, […]