But there will be a day when people all around the world look up from their smart phones, their laptops and their Twitter and realize it’s been weeks since they’ve spoken to another human being, live and in person.

This will be a tremendous opportunity for the church, maybe moreso than the new technology offers at present.  The church doesn’t need social media to show its human side.  I certainly believe the church ought to avail itself of culturally relevant communication tools (i.e. Twitter) but it specializes in being countercultural.

Those using the new tools of social media to develop relationships will find that the disembodied context of virtual community will leave them hungering for something a little richer.  Some will find that in families to be sure but I hope the church will realize its opportunity to be a haven for the the lonely netizen longing for human touch.

Mumbai attack coverage demonstrates ( good and bad) maturation point of social media
by Jennifer Leggio

Is immediacy better than accuracy?  That question is raised in this ZDNET article about the use of social media during the recent attacks in Mumbai.  A fascinating question that deserves serious discussion.

Thanks to Lorraine I’m trying out TweetDeck. I’ve been using Twhirl so I will have to relearn some buttons but that’s a small thing. We’ll see how this goes.

Now i just need to setup multiple monitors so I can keep an eye on everyone.  Is there a name for the social media junkie version of a day trader?

Excerpts from Cafe-Shaped Conversations

I think what social software is setting us up for are cafe-shaped conversations.

I only know Paris through the words of others, but here’s what I see: little coffee shops with no more than ten tables. I see little bags of groceries, you know those types in movies, with the baguette sticking out? (Always with the baguette). Everything there is neighborhood-sized. People walk or at the worst ride a bicycle. The mod use scooters. But they don’t span the whole city. They stick to their bank, their tribe, their cafe and their cheese shops of reference.

I don’t know much of anything about Paris but “neighborhood-sized” is a great phrase.  Our problem, one of many, is the loss of neighborhood, specifically, the physical neighborhood.  After many years of building networks in the cyberworld I’m still not willing to jettison the importance of geography and physical proximity.

I think some companies will want big conversations, mass messaging, when what we’re offering are cafe conversations. We’re offering the intimate, the personal, the chance to talk in numbers of dozens and hundreds, and to make the appropriate kind of impact.

An “appropriate kind of impact” suggests a broader motivation than mere profiteering.

I think that full page ad in your local newspaper is nowhere near as impactful as what I hear about on Frugalous.

The notion of paper-based news is going to be filed alongside the mimeograph.  So, if you’re asking to compare the impact of the local news website with Chris Brogan’s website…that’s a different issue.  Could be the Springfield Daily Gazette website is more impactful than what Chris, or anyone, hears about on website X.

I think the cafe is where the action is. I think that your $15,000 an hour film crew can’t beat my Flip Mino and a personal touch.

Regardless of where the action is, my kind of action is definitely in the cafe.  Besides…there’s coffee readily available and, in some places, baguettes.

The cafe-shaped conversations that we are finding through social media are more meaningful, more impactful, and have a chance to spread and overtake other mass methods. And yet, they need tending.

Tending.  I think that’s what I do.

I’ve been blogging, off and on, since 2000 or so.  During my most recent hiatus (slump) came Social Media and Web 2.0.  Wow!  You can’t turn your head for a minute.  The Internets will get it into all kinds of stuff.

Now I’m playing catch-up.  Not sure if that’s like jousting windmills or chasing my tail.  How quick & easy it is to go from savvy, near expert to sitting in the park feeding pidgeons.

Since my brush with obsoletism I have girded up my loins and am getting in social media shape.  Don’t know if I’ll be able to play on the main court with the big boys but I’m hoping for a few half-court games to develop for now.