As 2009 draws to a close, the social web is abuzz with predictions and reflections. I had a fun conversation with Doug Haslam about 2020 predictions. Rather than go with the flow of 2010 foresight, I challenge him to predict 2020. His great response was: “Flying cars! Automated homes! Robot maids!”
To me it seems over-done to predict 2010 as it was a big trend on Twitter and Blogs recently. There is, however, a set of predictions publicized by Fred Wilson on the importance of three elements in the future called the Golden Triangle:
The three current big megatrends in the web/tech sector are mobile, social, and real-time.
There is an excellent post by Brian Solis on how these 3 areas intersect.
This brings me to the subject of this post, family. I’m writing from my folk’s place in Washington state, just south east of Seattle. It’s a little overcast today, but I was able to catch a glimpse of my old friend Mt Rainier yesterday.
Without a doubt, 2009 has been one of the most instructional years of my life. I’ve refined my broad interests into a wildly progressing career in Online Marketing, adopted and utilized social media to connect and share information at a rapidly new pace, and I’ve grown in my own type of Golden Triangle: spiritually, personally, and professionally.
It wasn’t until I was nestled away in WA, surrounded by the love and warmth of family, that I’ve been reminded the importance of family. The speed of life increases and we’re more likely to forget to call on our family than to tweet what we had for dinner. Sure 140 characters is easier than a phone call, but far less rewarding.
In the World of Social Media, it’s far too easy to forget and neglect those who haven’t fully adopted the tools we use daily.
My parents are on Facebook and it has helped keep us in touch- or at least informed. There’s a marked difference between those concepts too. Knowing the latest highlights in someone’s life is great, but it’s like reading their personal newspaper. Without a conversation, you might as well be reading about the latest happenings at the White House.
My grandmother doesn’t use Twitter, so I don’t follow or @ reply her. Social Media empowers adopters to converse, but I’ve been reminded to not let this be an excuse to not connect with everyone I care about.
I lot of the tools and concepts I blog about on Waterski The Web revolve around the concept of keeping you informed about what you care about. I should expand this to “who” you care about too!
In conclusion, my thought going forward for 2010, is to remember that family, whether they are on Twitter or not, are important. Even as Social Media becomes the ‘norm’ we must not forget to reach out and have a conversation, on or offline, with those that we care about.
