Interwebers

With more interwebers hitting Web 2.0 multiplied by the increasing number of social media sites sprouting up daily, it’s almost enough to make you retire to the Amish country living the rest of your 18th century days selling wooden signs. This is information overload and we’re feeling it more now than ever. And if you’re into the 2.0 wave enough to be reading this blog, you probably deal with this more than the average person.

Grant me a short digression. Kelly Kapoor is bubbly customer service representative On NBC’s The Office. There was one episode when her co-worker Jim transfered back to her office in Scranton. When reunited, she threw her arms around him and told him all about the latest Hollywood celebrity news and gossip. When he asked what’s new with her, she confusedly responded, “I just told you.”

Is this what the internet is becoming to us? A giant melting pot of social news and gossip?

Take Facebook’s newsfeed. Despite its hugely negative response when launched, it has helped keep Facebook in front of the social network pack by organizing and listing what our Facebook friends are doing. It’s also paving the way for online water cooler sites Friend-Feed, Iminta, Plaxo, Readr, and Mugshot. These sites attempt to harness the information overload of all social media content and updates by packaging it into one comprehensive offering. Good idea? Sure. A little excessive? That’s up to you.

Social networks are great. They’re fun, they’re helpful, and we have a lot to benefit from them. But if we don’t know how to prioritize all the shouting, invites, and social network feeds, we’re gonna get lost.

There is more going on in the world of social media today than any day before and its gotten to the point where we need websites to organize it for us. As this medium grows and as more people get involved, the more noise on our screen and the more we become interested and informed to what everyone else is doing. Interwebers Beware! The one person most at risk of being lost in the digital noise is ourself!

We can’t be like Kelly. Her life revolves around what other people are doing. It’s great to stay in touch and to know what’s going on, but we can’t let it take away from everything else we’re trying to accomplish by being online.

As we plug along building our networks and getting back in touch with old friends, we have to keep our own presence on the www right where we want it. Are we establishing our image? Are we keeping everything up to date? Or are we just standing still watching everyone else?