An observation from attending Edmonton networking events has been slowly festering in me for a while and it peaked after participating in Pecha Kucha Night 7 (PKN7) last Thursday.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the social aspect of these events such as tweetups and various camps. However, does any concrete action or change happen in our community as a result? There has been fundraisers, which many have supported, myself included.
If you asked me a year ago what was a hashtag, a tweet or a retweet, I would have looked at you blankly.
As a member of the CPRS Edmonton chapter, I decided to attend a luncheon in December 2008 that focused on the topic of social media. Walter Schwabe of fusedlogic was the guest speaker. Schwabe said one line that sold me on Twitter – (to paraphrase) if you aren’t on it, you are out of the game.
While listening to Stuart McLean on the Vinyl Cafe today, I was struck by the image of how families used to gather around the breakfast table reading newspapers.
McLean posed the question, “Are we all on the same page?” in his “In Praise of Newspapers” piece. He made a great point when newspapers were king, everyone was reading the same front page and this was a key connection to building a community.