Today I saw something on ReadWriteWeb, the writer bagging out Twitter because too many people get on and do nothing. This is frustrating because, with time, many people will learn the value of Tweeting.  As with everything, some people will never get it, but that’s OK, at least millions of people are interested enough to turn away from their TV and log in!

I read a story recently that looked at social interaction and the evolution of humanity (I can’t remember where! If you know what it was, please tell me!)  Hundreds of years ago, when there were no communications ‘technology’, people interacted with one another in their spare time. They drank, made love, played games, talked, and even went to ‘interactive’ theatre and such.  Then, with the invent of Radio and TV entertainment people became passive, it was all simply push. People sat on their bums and absorbed crap… They still do!

With the invent of the Web people have started to interact again. Descartes once said “Cogito, ergo sum” (”I think, therefore I am”); but in the World of the Web this is not enough. It has been rephrased by a friend of mine, Tim Noonan, to read ‘I participate, therefore I am’.

Two-way conversations are the currency that people must ‘trade’. With Twitter, and other social networks, if you do nothing, you have nothing and more importantly, you don’t get to experience the benefits of the new media.  I also hear people say they can’t understand why their friends or colleagues are obsessed with watching conversations online! They seem to think people are wasting their time.  In many cases that is just not true. People can really leverage social media for social support, social observation, interaction, sharing, learning and entertainment. They are simply doing what humans once did all the time, what we are hard wired to do. That is, to be social.

People have always sought out social interaction of some form. In fact, if you don’t have enough social interaction in your life you will go crazy. It’s almost as important as shelter, food and water.  These days, the technology of travel has meant that family units are ‘breaking-up’. We are all moving around. Kids are moving from the country to the city, interstate, or overseas. And parents retiring and doing the same.  Hell, I’ve had a dozen houses in the last 10 years!  For me, the Internet has become a primary connection to some family members and friends.  It is cheap, easy to access and a very simple way to communicate, to connect.

This New Media is important and it will grow.