Quiver & Quill

In college instant messenger was ubiquitous. At three a.m. my buddy list was buzzing with life. I would have three instant messenger windows open at once. In one window I would be studying for calculus with a friend, in another window providing relationship advice and in another talking with my roommate about what food we wanted to order. Signing online was connecting to my world. Day or night I was never alone.

Some of the best conversations happened on instant messenger during finals. The more stressed out people became the more they wanted to confide online. We often shared ideas and feelings we would never say in person. Many good friendships and relationships started and ended in this way.

I haven't been able to recreate this environment outside of college. While I have have several hundred friends on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, I have nowhere near the interaction of instant messenger several years ago. It's possible that I am confusing technology for time period. If I were in college right now maybe Twitter and Facebook would provide just as opportunity as instant messenger. Or perhaps not. And for the most part, I've found, speaking on Twitter is like having a conversation at a concert with someone who is half listening and can half hear you.

Skype provides me with a reason to believe that there is something to my observation. I've seen many business people who work for international companies form unusually close relationships with the coworkers over Skype. I think much of this is in part to that fact that they know that they nearly always has a group of people they can speak with at any time of the night or day.

Have you experienced a change in your social group because of a change in technology? I'd love to hear your story.

A few members of blog group are members of the Live Journal community. It's surprising to me that Live Journal has active communities all around the country that are relatively under the radar. The Davis Square Live Journal was offered as a particularly good example of an active community. If you don't already know about it, check it out.
 Jesse talked about a website for Oberlin college students called the Confessional. It's a faceless, nameless meeting of the "hive mind," to discuss everything from homework to hooking up. Imagine going to a school where everyone logged onto the same website just to read secrets about you. Intense.

 A few quotes from this week's blog group:
 "I don't like people who have the same Facebook status as their twitter
 "Take the time to copy and paste. This automatic importing is just spam!"
 "it's harder and harder to have different worlds now. Work world. Social world. They all collide"
 "If I'm thinking about posting a link, and It's not really timely, I wait a couple of days."

Cool terms:

 Being observable human online - Lisa Williams

 Radical Transparency - Wired Mag