Today I noticed Betsy, The Farm Dog, outside barking at nothing in particular, and suddenly I realized her barking was really social networking. She was just barking to be barking and other dogs far away were barking back. It dawned on me that dogs have been social networking for a long time. One starts barking in your neighborhood and then another a little farther away and then another at the edge of your neighborhood. Before long the barking has networked from your neighborhood to the adjoining neighborhood. Just like in “101 Dalmatians” when the puppy was born. I began to think about how people use to social network before the advent of the Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging and all the rest of the present day social networking gadgets. People used to chat with each other over the fence in the back yard. They used to sit on their porches and gab with neighbors about the weeks’ events and any gossip they picked up from the day before. Word of mouth was the social network of the day. People met in hardware stores and exchanged ideas and recommendations. They talked in grocery stores and expressed their product preferences with those willing to listen. Today even though we spend less time talking with each other in person it seems to me that we spend even more time trying to communicate with other people. People type out their social messages remote and removed rather than in person. I remember a story my step-son told me about his wife in the next room texting him while he was sitting on the couch in the living room. This was the way she felt most comfortable communicating with him. Of course there is more to that story but the point is that people have a need to communicate. Wanting to communicate with each other is a basic instinct in humans. And wanting to tell others our opinions and preferences are just part of the whole communication driven thing. I fully expect the new wave of social networking to expand rather than contract as we look for ways to fulfill our need of communicating with each other. I am sure there are lessons to be learned from the past on how to best utilize the tools of today for commerce.
By the way, I think Betsy was barking to her friends about the new dog toys in our store.
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