Comments on: Social Surfing

By: Anita Santiago

Anita Santiago — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:44:34 +0000

Very interesting article. I agree that social interaction is an important part of the human experience. Having the ability to interact and/or engage others is important in the online world. I agree w/ you that the need for interaction has contributed to the growth of Facebook & MySpace. Thanks for a great post. I really enjoyed it.

By: Mike McCready

Mike McCready — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:06:35 +0000

I agree with you completely Hal. While I really enjoy this social connectivity, it does grow tiresome at time. In fact, I am very much like you. I rarely log into Facebook, and when I do, I’m there fore only a few moments. I do however spend alot of time interacting on Twitter.

I quite often use product reviews from Amazon or other online retailers to make decisions. Where I think the social surfing idea can grain ground is just in that. Using peer evaluations to make decisions. In post secondary we have that right now with various school/professor rating web sites, but they are all out of context. Tools like Google Sidewiki or GLUE would allow us to share opinions, concepts, issues, etc. in the context of the business, product, charity, etc.

Thanks again for participating and sharing your insights.

By: Hal Brown

Hal Brown — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:53:36 +0000

I think it is very difficult to “keep your finger on the pulse” when the patient is running. Recently, I’ve read several books, (Free, And Then There’s This…, Trust Agents and others). This is why I think not only this post, but your entire site is timely and thought provoking. That said, I don’t know where things are going with social media.

I do know there are two distinct kinds of people who use the net: the old school who think all this Twitter/Facebook stuff is just kids screwing around, and those who can’t seem to get enough social interaction online.

My personal thoughts are, enough already with the toolbars, join and participate sites, life online in a virtual world. There is a real world outside where you can ‘friend’ and touch actual people. As much as I use and enjoy the web, I’m also worn out with the constant “join me” groups. As far as business, all this collaboration with all things must reach a point no ROI.

I sometimes ask myself why I belong to the few social sites I’ve joined. I no longer log onto Facebook or actually use much of anything but Twitter. Maybe I’m just getting old, and don’t really care – I haven’t figured all that out yet.

A few years ago I predicted a backlash against living online. Many people would do well to go back about 30 years and read “Future Shock.” Technology moves far too fast for society to keep up.

Thanks for a good post and the opportunity to express a thought on this phenomena.

By: Jeff Walden

Jeff Walden — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:04:04 +0000

Great article. I think that in terms of successful marketing it’s crucial to have an idea where social media is taking us rather than just grasping the idea of presently using it.