Social media what-ing?

I have been avidly involved in the internet since I was about 12. I remember when I first joined the internet culture my dad had gotten AOL and we were connecting at the lightening fast speed of “slower than a turtle”. I often brought a book along with me to wait out the connection and downloading times. Shortly after joining I found AOL groups and made a ton of friends in the Sherlock Holmes and mystery areas. Ever after that I was hooked. I joined groups, started IMing, blogged, chatted and did the whole forum posting thing. To this day I’m addicted to social networking.

In my own mind this isn’t something new. I’ve been doing for it so long it’s natural. I love the podiosphere (for podcasting), the blogosphere (for blogging) and have a lot of friends all over the world that I communicate and interact with on a daily basis. Yet, I forget that this still is intimidating and unfamiliar territory for other people.

I forget, that is, until someone reminds me.

This past Sunday I was explaining to a lot of different people at church about my job. And a lot of them are so far removed from using the internet for social networking that they go “Myspace-wha?” “Second Life-huh?”

Now these are not, by any means, dumb or slow people. These are very talented people who just haven’t “jacked in” to the web and all it has to offer. They email, google and stuff like that but the internet is a practical tool for them to navigate their own real life experience – not connect with people half-way around the world.

It’s fascinating to me to think people don’t blog, don’t listen to podcasts and don’t even really grasp the concept of Myspace. My dad (who has been listening to me talk about Twitter for the past couple weeks) mentioned it in his sermon a couple Sundays ago and got completely blank stares.

So social media taking over our lives I guess is still far away…. but I can’t wait to convert more people to it shiny and enticing ways.

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