Anti-Social Networking - Using the Technology
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Your personal networking style may dictate how you utilize the technology available. If you enjoy stream-of-consciousness conversations or hearing anecdotes about Gnorb’s college days, you may be content with the rousing laughter, barely audible conversations, and scribbling on bar napkins. Bradford says, “Hardware will ultimately only be used if it makes social networking easier in some way. This is likely to boil down to one of two things: the hardware will make networking go faster or it will take over a part of the process that humans don’t like to do, such as introducing themselves to strangers.”
He continues, “The key question about using hardware for networking is how it will affect the flow of interaction. If you normally engage in interactions where lots of data is exchanged--which happens a lot in conventions and trade shows--anything that makes this convenient, fun, and inexpensive is pretty welcome.”
It really depends on the industry and function size. A meeting involving one branch of a multi-national corporation may not warrant the use of devices, but if all the branches are invited to one location, it might be easier to communicate on a non-vocal level in order to meet kindred geeks.
None of the devices discussed are guaranteed a lengthy lifespan in the social networking realm. USB drives are just now gaining respectability after being regarded as a novelty, but still have a few negative aspects. nTags haven’t been in circulation long enough to fully develop a reputation. We even run the risk of seeing social networking software and websites integrated into the networking process and quickly fade. One thing we can be sure of is that we’re beyond the business card sniffing and a memorable handshake days of social networking.
(This article originally appeared in the May 2004 issue of Plug-In).
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