Traveling to see how the social network views social networks.
Location: Here

Smack dab in the middle of America lies the heartland of Kansas, a state with a dual personality of West and East. The left half lying flatter than a pancake (science has proven it!) and the right bearing the natural green meanderings of the Mississippi River. I spent some time in Kansas City, getting a taste of the metropolis that has a blended culture from all regions of the compass. And how can I not mention the BBQ. Chow on that.

In between all the good eats and sightseeing, I managed to saunter into casual conversations with a nice cross section of social network users of varying generations. The finale being a conversation with my cousin Bo who is currently working for the Papa John’s brand and is a recent entry into the social networking space. It was a great perspective on not only seeing the space from a business perspective, but also at a personal level and the new function of family communication. It’s an interesting question to pose as this medium opens itself to the identity of virtual self. Facebook often combining the circles of family, friends and work into one location for broadcast and now separating those groups if so wanted.

Brands are still trying to figure out the best way to gain a solid foothold into this space and even as an internal communication tool. I enjoyed the leanings of the conversation toward this topic and how these new tools of social networking are being adopted into the business space. The arena of social networking as management tool.

Thanks Bo for the excellent interview!

Grown in cities long since abandoned
Blown to pieces and thrown at random
This is what we see while standing
Long before the thought of landing
Planes Like Vultures – Le Loup

It’s been a while since my last post as I’ve been traversing back across the country from East to West, the landscape slowly changing again from forests into prairie and then desert. This leg of the trip has been much more relaxed, a vast departure from the 23 cities in 30 days to begin the excursion. But even with the change of pace, the novelty still remains of it all with finding the diversity amongst cities, people and landscape.

The wind back and being off-the-grid with technology has brought about the purity of communication with the people I’ve been seeing and meeting. The social network reverts back to its original format of meet and greet, sit and speak face-to-face, expression laden and more often than not, humor filled. And sometimes in the most random of places.

There have been the occasional chats with strangers in places you would commonly associate with conversation. Bars, restaurants, concerts and tourist locations, but more often than not I have found that while on a lot of the hikes I have been on, people will start a conversation beyond a conventional hello. And these are trails where you run into a fellow hiker once in a while. It’s taken some getting used to. The sparse quiet terrain that sprawls forth only to be disturbed by your footsteps suddenly bursts forth with a passerby who would love to know your life story. Granted, most pass by with a nod or a salutation, but in the isolated stillness, people still search for connection.

I am often surprised at places where I get reception and can access or upload the social nets, further shrinking the world. It’s both a good and a bad thing. Good in case of injury or loss of direction to access help, but bad that I’ve seen people checking email and chatting up a storm with friends and relatives in places where the world is quiet, often devolving a moment of beauty and grandeur to be appreciated into a blink of an eye that they’ll remember only through what’s on their digital device.

The wonder of the world is that it still retains it’s quiet even with us Chatty Kathy’s running around. It is pretty amazing that we can post in real-time the places we are and to share them with everyone. The bigger wonder is when you do manage to find yourself alone in silence in a vast landscape, thoughts adrift as far as the eye can see, panning the diversity of the Earth in front of you soaking it all in and finally the thought of what other people would think of it all if they could be there with you.