socialization technologies
I've been thinking about social networks, blogs, etc. When e-mail supplanted regular mail, people who refused to "get online" kinda were left out of the loop. Similar things happen with IMs, and I think social networks may be doing something similar.
There's a certain resistance on my part against jumping on random choice technology of the day...however, I'm starting to believe that this urge is kinda stupid. If you look at the evolution of communication fads over the last few years, it really feels like social networks are just the next "evolutionary step." Here's a off-the-cuff attribute comparison.
TechnologyLatencyInteractiveMessage Queuing Contact ListPersistenceMulticastPublish Paper MailHighNoYesNosomeNoNo PagersLowNoYesNosomeNoNo Cell phonesLowYesSomeNosomeNoNo E-MailMediumKindaYesYesmoderateYesNo IMLowYesYesYesnonesomeNo BlogsMediumNoYesNoYesYesYes Social NetworksMediumConstrainted YesYesYesYesYes
There's a certain resistance on my part against jumping on random choice technology of the day...however, I'm starting to believe that this urge is kinda stupid. If you look at the evolution of communication fads over the last few years, it really feels like social networks are just the next "evolutionary step." Here's a off-the-cuff attribute comparison.
TechnologyLatencyInteractiveMessage Queuing Contact ListPersistenceMulticastPublish Paper MailHighNoYesNosomeNoNo PagersLowNoYesNosomeNoNo Cell phonesLowYesSomeNosomeNoNo E-MailMediumKindaYesYesmoderateYesNo IMLowYesYesYesnonesomeNo BlogsMediumNoYesNoYesYesYes Social NetworksMediumConstrainted YesYesYesYesYes