http://la.truxmap.com/

December always brings year-end reviews and prognostications for the future, and it seems this year everyone is writing about the rise of social media, highlighting what's good and what's bad. And one threat that seems to be universally touted is the intimacy experienced through this digital interaction is replacing or undermining real face-to-face personal relationships. As a fairly regular social media user, I do not agree, but I don't plan to extol the benefits of social media in this post. Rather I'd like to provide evidence that social media is not replacing real social interaction, but rather exists nicely along side it, and in fact, even enhances it. And I have proof.

1) The attendance at museums, especially evidenced by this week in NYC, is certainly not declining. The lines at the MOMA to see Tim Burton's drawings and at the Met to to view Samurai Art were staggering. In freezing temperatures, people stood outside for over an hour just to mingle with thousands of others and view two dimensional non digital images. I saw the same lines at the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Granted it's the holiday week but still people are not staying home. Impressive. No social media required.

2) Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, holiday travel is always the lead story on the news as in "more people travel on this day than any other." And why? Because going home to family for the holidays is wonderful, and cannot be replaced by skype, twitter or facebook. But you can share those moments with family that could not be there if so inclined.

3) This holiday season the Kindle was the most gifted Amazon product ever. And while this may not directly relate to being social, it proves people still want to be engaged with long form communication and richly woven stories longer than 140 characters, and not just watch YouTube videos or comment on Facebook posts. Hooray.

4) And last but not least, I find I'm actually able to stay in touch with more people than ever, people who's email addresses have changed, or who have moved and neglected to send out their new phone number. And I think we've all reconnected with folks from our past --like our old boyfriend from that summer long ago --that we might otherwise have lost touch with.

All of this is simply proof that social media is not replacing the real thing, but I think keeping us closer. So on this eve of a new decade, I wish everyone a wonderful very social new year.

Is our darling headed for a rough patch? Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch seems to think that it might be, worrying over its now negative US user growth.
To quote: “Ever since last summer, Twitter’s growth in the U.S.
has been stalling . But in October, the number of people who visited
Twitter.com from the U.S. actually declined for the first time by 8
percent month-over-month… Will the new features be enough to bring back
growth in the U.S.? If they don’t, Twitter’s troubles will really
begin.”
That is a quick summary, for sure, but it encapsulates his views
well. If Twitter cannot reignite user growth on the website with new
features, Twitter will have a hard time keeping its investors happy.
Hyper growth is sexy, stagnant slow declines are not.
What can we make of Twitter’s slow down in the last few months?
Recall quickly that we only have access to estimates of traffic to
Twitter.com and other applications websites; we do not know if API use
is growing, shrinking, or steady.
Read the entire post here:
http://bit.ly/1STKvw

Is twatching a word? I think it should be. It's what I do when I watch MadMen. I love everything about the show, the acting, the writing, the production design, the fashion, and of course, the actors..although I'd never want Don as a husband, nor Sally as a daughter, nor certainly Betty as a mother. With only 3 more episodes left, I'm already dreading the end of participating in their late night love affairs, and daytime office dramas.

One other thing I love about watching MadMen is being on twitter (or specifically tweetdeck) while I'm watching. It's like having a very large group of friends over and we're all watching our favorite show together. The fact that we don't know each other doesn't seem to matter at all. Many times my MadMen twitter companions, none of whom I normally follow, give me inside info about Matt Weiner, the show's creator, teaching me his secret themes and revealing hidden gems. I never knew that he uses orange to signal death. And currently there's a theme emerging that Don may end up in Dallas in November just in time for Kennedy's assassination. Obviously, you have to be a MadMen fan to even care about these details, and I am and I do.

The simple joy of sharing the plot's twists and turns in real time with others who love the show as much as I do is the real benefit. Like the episode when the new Sterling Cooper CEO came across the pond from England to meet the employees and had his ankle severed by a lawn mower in front of everyone, it was intrinsically more shocking to know everyone else was just as shocked as I.

And last week's episode highlighted the power of this collective dynamic ever more forcefully when Betty found the key to Don's secret drawer. Watching my twitter stream, it was clear we were all dying to know if she would find out his secret past (and we would too of course), but we were all doing it together in real time. And when all the tweeters are posting "OH NO NOT THE DRAWER!" or "Uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh", the suspense becomes even more palpable. For me, this is a very new experience and surprisingly it does not distract, but rather enhances, my engagement with the show.

The same thing happened with Obama's inauguration. It was such a historic event, and I watched most of it on TV, but I was on twitter at the same time, getting impressions from many other people all around the world (not just through CNN's reporters) as well as contributing, in real time, during the entire ceremony. Facebook can't provide that kind of broad conversation second by second over a 60 minute or 4 hour timeframe. There's no doubt now that Twitter really is a very very powerful communication tool.

The old paradigm of how we experience an event has changed forever We used to watch television with our families or close friends, and then discuss it following day by the water cooler. At a rock concert, even though you're with thousands of people, you really only speak to the friends you are there with--if they can even hear you. And you're not even allowed to talk in movie theaters. But all of that has changed. So if you're not on Twitter, get in the stream with the rest of us. And whatever you're interested in, I'm sure there's a hashtag for it!

And I am proudly his 9,600th follower.

For companies and businesses looking to take on the streams, Steve
highlighted three major imperatives to not only just broadcast, but to
ensure quality engagement - including ubiquity, multiplicity and
diversity of message, and finally, discovery and visibility. The new
lifestream-powered Web sites would enable companies and brands to be
"everywhere stakeholders are spending time", and enable the opportunity
for different stories in different venues in different formats,
avoiding a one size fits all approach.

The stream is real. Whether you call it the flow, as Stowe Boyd has, or
the River of News, as Dave Winer has, the firehose is pushing more data
our way faster than ever. IT could be that the lifestream is an answer.

the full post is here
http://bit.ly/1kCKOc

  Heather

 whitelaird@yahoo.com
twitter.com/howlvenice
http://howlvenice.posterous.com/

I see folks have been creating a lot of lists
lately: Dave Armano ( http://bit.ly/3515Y2) and Guy
Kawasaki (http://om.ly/IppU) to name a few, and I think it's because lists are
succinct,easy to compose and easy
to comprehend. In the grand old days of print, lists used to
sell magazines (while working at Entertainment Weekly, the issues touting the
Ten Best or the Ten Worst Movies of all time always sold out).
So I woke up
this morning with a list on my mind, and even though it was only 6:44 am I just
had to write this down. It took till tonight to fully craft it.
 Here goes:
 1. Be brilliant. I try to avoid drivel and
tossing off meaningless phrases, such as just ate a donut, or knock 'em dead. They are annoying, and don't contribute
to the dialogue, instead they waste people's time. Making this my number one
rule challenges me. I know I don't always succeed, but I like trying. When it's not possible, I call on Rule #2.
 2. Be amusing. Or controversial. Or enchanting.
Or compelling. Or provocative. Anything but boring. I like irony a lot too.(For
instance, I love twitter.com/badbanana, he makes me smile.) 3. Be reflective. This obviously work towards
improving my entries, and helps me with my first and second requirements. Just
because a post is only 140 characters doesn't mean I need to regurgitate the
first thought that comes into my head. And this rule actually requires me to
exercise my vocabulary. Language is an amazing gift we so often overlook as we
rush to communicate as succinctly and efficiently as possible.
 4. Be curious: read a lot-- and not just emails. But blogs, posts, tweets,
journals, books and magazines. Of course, I also mean watch videos, look at
photos, and other websites, stumble around the internet. It's endlessly
fascinating and the random journey can sometimes be the most brilliant. By reading, I learn from others, and then
feel inspired to make a contribution
 5. Be interactive, don't just post. Respond, Answer, Comment. I
often find the comments below a post are more interesting than the post itself.
This feature is what makes the "social" part of this media so amazing
and unique.
 Heather
 
whitelaird@yahoo.com
twitter.com/howlvenice
http://howlvenice.posterous.com/