Learning or working

So, it's the holidays, and the company is closed for the holidays, yet here I am on my computer learning about blogspot, twitter, facebook and linkedin. Partially learning and a lot of exploring and poking around to figure how to not type the same message a million different times, but have my messages shared.

It's only now that I realize that the internet or Web 2.0 as they like to call it is going to leave a large number of people in the dust. Is a profile on facebook going to be enough? Can you just hang out in one area? To me, it's an interesting analysis because I started surfing with Web 0.1. That was the internet before it became The Internet. Where bulletin boards and dial-up modems were how the techies got on-line, and you needed to know the routing path to send someone an email.

In all this, one observation that I've had recently is that our desire to communicate on-line is becoming equal to our need to communicate on-line. Our network of friends is merging with our network of colleagues and associates. Our ability to communicate to an incredibly large audience of those that know us, know of us, or might just be interested in what we have to say has started to explode. To be heard, to be seen, or just to communicate requires that we do communicate and do it often enough to be heard in the sea of other communication.

So, is this good or bad? Is there really a good or bad? From one standpoint, it is great if I can type one message and share it across my multiple networks. It's not so good if I have to go to all the sites and type it in one at a time. Of course, I do have to hope that someone in my network takes the time to read all the words that I've typed.

Either way, I'm generating more traffic for the internet (excuse me, Internet) to exchange throughout the world. And the more traffic there is, the greater the need for network equipment and servers to store the data. I guess that must mean I'm working...