Twitter, Twitter-di, Twitter-dumb: What’s Next?

As Chris Brogan commented today on Michael Calienes post, “We are Presence Engineers.”  Michael Calienes is smart. First, he sends me a beer from a thousand or so miles away. Then, I see his Twitter avatar change to have a mug from the same bar (at the time of this writing). The idea is that we’re using these tools to define a new kind of presence.”

Now it’s up to each of us to manage our presence both on-line and off-line.

One day we may sit back and remember the Twitters, the Facebooks, the MySpaces and LinkedIns, the virtual avatars of the world and realize, Aha, that’s why that happened!”  Now I feel we are on a roller-coaster ride to incorporate new technology into our lives whether we like it or not. Sometimes technology is creating more work and eating more into our time. Not only do we have to beef-up our mobile plans and spend the extra $600/yr, but we also have to learn how to adopt new means of communication such as Twitter and Facebook to be connected and taken seriously in our professions.

People, Who Need People
Today, the cobbler down the street didn’t charge me for fixing my shoes after I explained to him I was laid-off from my job and had a few other personal issues. Although he insisted not paying him, I felt obliged to run to the market next door and buy him and his colleague something. I walked back into the shop, gave them both two bottles of wine and each of them greatly appreciated it. For me personally, that interaction, uplifted me, brought me smile, even though they weren’t expecting it. Yes, it was more gratifying than if someone was to “pass me a drink” on Facebook, and I am sure that my actions were more memorable to them and could attest to my true character overtime. 

In the future, will there be a retro movement to writing personal letters again, avoiding emails, text, and turning more opportunities to call a person, or shake someone’s hand? It seems we are forced into using new tools, spend more money on Blackberries, iPhone’s because it’s cool and everyone else is doing it. It’s not a bad thing to communicate in this manner, but sometimes we have to sit back and think for a minute, is this how I want to live my life? I find there isn’t already enough hours in the day to take on the next big social media craze! Yet, I’m going out there on a limb like others “twittering away” to see what could happen.