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It's a brave new world and it changed in an instant.

Oh yeah, Obama, too.

But I'm talking about the whole facebook-twitter-blogoverse. I'm always late to the party, so I am a newbie to most of these features. But once I was in, I was off and running, wanting to get more and more connected. In an excerpt from the New York Times article by Clive Thompson referenced above, he describes the term "ambient awarenes"

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Facebook and Twitter allow little glimpses into your "friends" lives - things you may or may not want to know. This past week, everyone that I am friends with on Facebook was pretty political, but as people updated their status, or "groups" that they had joined, there were also a few surprises. It's up to the user how personal they want to get in these running real-time life updates. I actually joined Facebook after a group at work was formed, as an attempt to get people more web-savvy and "Web 2.0" our workplace. But truthfully, apart from a few work "friends" who are also friends, Facebook has been actually more invaluable to me as a way to get back in touch with friends from my past, who I had lost touch with, to keep up with friends & family who live far away, or get to know new friends better.

Twitter seemed pointless to me at first, because I'm a visual person, and if I'm working on my computer, and want to share something, Facebook seemed the way to go. Until I tried to tweet on my iPhone. Then it all made sense, even more than SMS or trying to access Facebook through the phone. And where I really crossed over and got into Twitter was on Election Day. I was mesmerized as I watched the Election Day tweets scroll by endlessly. All of this interaction may have added to the more participatory election results. Who knows? But somehow, the big, scary Internet seems a little more accessible with these services. Now I'm not naive. Advertising is a huge feature, and a person who posts intimate details of his or her life does, well, just that. It's the opposite of private. But in such a huge, sometimes lonely, world, it is nice to be able to sign in and see that a friend across the country just woke up to make coffee or some equally mundane task (and posted about it). They wouldn't call you to tell you that, but somehow, reading their little snippets keeps you connected, in a new way. Ambient awareness. This century's virtual reality.

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