Social Media

Today, Greg Rollett published a interesting post titled Gen-Y Bloggers vs. Reality. It's interesting to me, at least, because rather than being a Gen-Y Blogger I'm a Gen-X Geek who got caught up in the internet boon-doggle of the 1990's and has ridden the wave straight through to the web 2.0 world.

This generation gap (x-y, I suppose) lends us differing perspectives. As a mostly cynical 40-year old I find myself spending each work day figuring out how to best leverage the 100's of Social Media Sites out there and incorporate them into our online marketing and technology strategy. In essence, my view of the Social Web is largely as a tool - a means to an end not unlike any of the other tools I use daily (web servers, programming languages, databases, coffee, etc.)

Mr. Rollett has a much different relationship with Social Media. For him, it is much more intimate and integrated into his daily life. He is surprised when peers are not familiar with basic Social Media (or SEO) concepts, and considers himself a pioneer. The most telling quote from his post is:

There is such a great advantage to using this technology, not only for networking and playing Scrabulous but for learning about ourselves and taking control over our careers and lifestyle.

And so what I find most interesting is how Mr. Rollett's post conjured memories of how I felt in 1995. The software company I was working for in downtown Manhattan relocated to the west cost. Instead of finding another full-time job I recognized the opportunity the then-burgeoning internet provided and I struck out on my own. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ever since, but I don't bemoan one minute of it.

In hindsight, I often wish I'd taken even more chances; been more daring. But regret is a wasted emotion. The opportunities that will evolve from this (new) New Media are countless and folks like Mr. Rollett are helping to uncover them everyday.