Less than a year ago, I crossed over to the dark side...aka I joined twitter. I never boarded the myspace boat, which now seems to be shipwrecked. I waited several years before joining the facebook cult, and I recently began twittering. Even though I nurture love affairs with only two social networking tools, it is amazing how much information I consume in a given day.
At a friend's dinner party last week I ran into Nick Purdy, founding publisher of Paste magazine. We had nothing to talk about. Not that we didn't have anything in common--we do--but we are both on twitter. We didn't need to ask "What have you been up to lately?" cause we already knew the answers. We had not seen each other in more than six months, but we chatted like we work in the same office. Nick proceeded to explain to me that there was actually a phrase for this: "ambient knowledge." It's all that knowledge you gain about someone without actually coming into contact with them.
Nick talks about this in a recent Q Ideas blog post, where he admits that he first encountered this idea on Leisa Reicheit's blog. Reicheit calls this pheonomenon ambient intimacy, which she defines as, "being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn't usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible."
I am constantly catching heat from twitter-haters and anti-facebook activists for being plugged in. Sometimes I don't even believe my rationalization. It's nice to hear someone else offer a defense of these things. Ambient knowledge allows busy people to stay involved with more people in less time. It will NEVER be a substitute for personal contact and community, but there's no shame in admitting that social media serves a useful purpose.
As Nick said, "Ambient knowledge is by nature incomplete - and that's ok. It's not about obsessing and keeping up with every post, every status update or every set of vacation photos. It is about more connections yielding deeper connections. Quantity yielding quality. And who wouldn't want that?"
Have you ever experienced an eerie "ambient knowledge moment?" Which social networking sites do you frequent? Are you addicted? Come one, admit it. This is a safe place.
Mari Lynch said:
Hey, Jonathan. You're on my radar because of Matthew Sleeth, who I hosted in Monterey.
Yeah, well, my personal verdict is still out on OSN! Having been self-employed a long time, I miss the pre-OSN days. Still, I agree there is some value in "ambient knowledge" as a substitute for connecting with people we'd like to know more, if only we had 48+ hr days! I chose Twitter over LinkedIn and Facebook due to quick and casual.
I'm a non-techy by nature (see "Lead Pencil Girl Gone Techno" on my personal blog). Yes, finally succumbed to blogging too in late May 2009, but not so sure I'll keep it up. My gardening isn't happening (what's wrong with this picture?); that correlates with taking on blogging and Tweeting.
On days like today, when I gave myself time for a 4 hr bike ride (including in-person connects with tourists who needed tips, etc.), life feels so much more balanced than when I spend too many hrs at the computer.
An aside, tho in the same vein: whenever I see two people together and one is on their cell phone, I want to sing the Stephen Stills song, "Love the One You're With." I think that would make a good public service ad, emphasizing the essential nature of in-person relationships!
Posted: October 16, 2009