Ms. Adverthinker

I signed up for the Google+ as soon as I received one of those coveted invitations. But, once I got there, I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. A lot of people I knew were signing up, too. But no one was posting or sharing, we were all just kind of, well, there just to be there. So my profile has been sitting there, sadly unused since last summer when I registered it. Until yesterday.

Yesterday, at SXSW, I listened to Guy Kawaski grill Vic Gundotra about Google+. And during this grilling, Kawaski revealed his passion for all that Google+ offers as a tool for sharing. In fact, at the close of the session he announced his new book, “What the Plus?” The book is an e-book, available for immediate download and I decided to read it. It is a quick read and when I was done, I decided to give Google+ a second chance.

Google+ is this interesting mix of Facebook and Twitter, with a layer on additional features on top. It is not exactly intuitive, but once you understand the differences compared to the other social networks and practice with it a bit, it is fun to use. (Though a social network that needs an instruction book doesn’t feel very social.) Really, Google+ works a lot more like Twitter in terms of how people follow you and the more public nature of it compared to Facebook. The benefit of Google+ over Twitter is the long form posts with embedded links, images and videos right in the stream and aggregated comments, which are Facebook-like functions. For me, Google+ is going to be a place to share interesting finds that aren’t necessarily blog-worthy, but need more commentary than allowed on Twitter. The circles are greatly valuable for segmenting the messages you want to share and really giving you a way to use one social network for all your different audiences. Google+ has the potential to be a regular source of news and information for me as I find more people to add to my circles and I love that my using it can make my overall Google experience a better one eventually.

Check out the video from SXSW of Kawaski interviewing Gundotra about Google+:

Have you checked out turntable.fm yet? While music is in my life everyday, I am not very knowledgeable about or good at finding the stuff I like. Let’s just say I don’t have an exceptionally discerning ear, but I know what I like when I hear it. And I like being around people who know more about than me and are willing to teach me.

Turntable is that online version of being around people who know more and are teaching me when an in-person lesson is not an option. The reason that I am talking about here is the social and gaming aspects of site participation are interesting:

• Anyone can set up a room and DJ to a theme of their choice. Up to five people can DJ in a room and the control rotates between them.
• Anyone can join the room and “vote” on the song playing as “lame” or “awesome.” When you vote “awesome,” your avatar’s head starts bobbing to the music. You can see how the song is fairing on the lame/awesome meter while it plays.
• The more people that favor your song, the more points you build as a DJ. With more points, you can change your avatar (choices open up at different point levels). Every visitor can see your score.
• There is a chat column in each “room” and visitors talk about the music.
• The name/title of the song shows and there are built in features for sharing the song to your social networks and saving the song to your music player of choice.

CNN recently called it the “cool kids’ Pandora” and offered some spinning tips for the new visitors.

I am loving it right now. Check it out.

One of the most interesting facts from this book:

“A recent major survey of high-level executives, including chief executive officers, chief financial officers, and presidents, revealed that 70 percent of them regularly play casual computer games while working. That’s right: the vast majority of senior executives report taking daily computer game breaks that last on average between fifteen minutes and one hour.”

I wouldn’t believe this startling statistic had I not spotted one of my clients playing Solitaire during a meeting, and another playing Words With Friends while walking to a meeting. The bottom line is that everyone is playing games and in surprising numbers. Games have huge power and potential influence over our behavior. Because there has been a lot of talk in the technology and social worlds of this influence of gaming and its growth potential, and because I believe know nothing about gaming–not being a gamer myself–I decided to read the most talked book on the subject. While I am still trying to figure out gaming and how it can be used in our business as an effective tool, this book did shed some light on the appeal of games and how they can influence change:

“The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures, the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by virtual environments. Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively. Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from the bottom up to make us happy.”

Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal explores why people play games, the psychology behind good game mechanics and gives real examples of games that have the potential to change behaviors for world-wide good. I have a new appreciation for both game developers and game players after reading this book. McGonigal walks through specific games, like World of Warcraft, and talks about specific skills the gamers learn and build by playing these types of games.

Ultimately, McGonigal is saying that game play makes people happy, and when they are happy they will play more, and when they play more they will ultimately reach the defined game goal:

“There are many ways to be happy, but we cannot find happiness. No object, no event, no outcome or life circumstance can deliver real happiness to us. We have to make our own happiness–by working hard at activities that provide their own reward.”

…

“On the other hand, when we set out to make our own happiness, we’re focused on activity that generates intrinsic rewards–the positive emotions, personal strengths, and social connections that we build by engaging intensely with the world around us. We’re not looking for praise or payouts. The very act of what we’re doing, the enjoyment of being fully engaged, is enough.”

So McGonigal wonders if we can define a goal within a game that can fix really big world issues, and that is the impetus for the book:

“What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what’s wrong with reality? What if we started to live our real lives like gamers, lead our real businesses and communities like game designers, and think about solving real-world problems like computer and video game theorists?”

…

“Game developers know better than anyone else how to inspire extreme effort and reward hard work. They know how to facilitate cooperation and collaboration at previously unimaginable scales. And they are continuously innovating new ways to motivate players to stick with harder challenges, for longer, and in much bigger groups. These crucial twenty-first-century skills can help all of us find new ways to make a deep and lasting impact on the world around us.”

With this as her premise, McGonigal walks the how games are created, defined, played and improved upon. From the basics like the four defining traits of a game:

• A goal
• Rules
• A feedback system
• Voluntary participation

To the details like scalability and social integrations. With this kind of detail and range, this book is great for a non-gamer looking to understand what impact games have and how to go about thinking about game design. I enjoyed reading and learning from McGonigal’s extensive experiences and would definitely recommend this to anyone curious about game mechanics and design.

Last week, Roby Brock and I talked about the trend for social media companies to enter IPOs, and Zynga came up in our conversation as one on the horizon for entering that realm. Well, it happened a couple of days ago.  Zynga’s user-base and proven profitability have made it desirable:

• 232 million monthly active users
• $597 million in revenue in 2010

Mashable provides a list of 11 other interesting stats about Zynga’s success.

Zynga is the company behind social games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars and is highly dependent of Facebook for its players.  ”The company admits that basically all of its revenue comes from its partnership with Facebook: ‘We generate substantially all of our revenue and players through the Facebook platform and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.’” This fact may make investors a bit wary of buying in immediately, but with the success of LinkedIn and the talk about growth potential of gaming/games in general, Zynga will probably fair well in this market.

I recently sat down with Roby Brock of Talk Business to talk about social media companies as the next big thing in tech stocks. Watch the interview here:

Tech companies are staying private longer and building up evidence of actually being able to generate revenue. Now that social media outlets have been established and are continuing interactions with large databases of users, they are starting to enter the public ownership realm.  What makes companies such as Groupon, Zynga and Facebook valuable is the list aggregated information they have on individual populations of people and sectors.

“For the most part, today’s social media companies are generating (or at least forecasting) real accounting earnings.   And nearly all of the popular offerings are based on businesses that actually have customers (instead of just a concept). But it is quite amazing to see the flood of capital competing for ownership of social media companies, and the implied company valuations.”

The response to LinkedIn has set the stage for other social-media IPOs, including Facebook, which is being rumored to go public in 2012.

Another trending topic at South by Southwest this year was the incorporation of game dynamics into social media, communications and generally any type of task where people need to be motivated to participate. The big question, however, was how are marketers going to leverage this idea and trend in their communications. We are now starting to see some experiment with game incorporation. Here is a round-up of examples:

Subway

Subway has partnered with Scvngr to promote adding avocado to its menu. Twenty-five Scvngr players can win two free tickets to the premiere of “The Green Lantern.” Other players can receive free tickets to see the movie in their local theater. “Scvngr players can win the tickets by earning points with the following game-like activities: ‘Superhero Fuel’ points will be rewarded to players who create their own sandwich with avocado as a central ingredient. ‘Quote It’ points can be accrued by users expressing their favorite Green Lantern quote. ‘Flex for the Camera’ points will be rewarded to those who take a photo of themselves next to a Subway logo, while flexing their muscles.”

Sears

“The retailer is offering shoe discounts to Scvngr players who check in at stores, complete challenges, and upload content to the app. The challenges include: snapping a photo of sneakers/shoes; picking three sets of colorful footwear and taking a picture; and telling a brief story about where the player would like to walk to if she could go anywhere in the world.”

New York Public Library

I love this one! Not only does the New York Public Library have its own Foursquare badge, but in May they launched a promotion that allowed a limited number of participants to sign up and spend the night in the library to go on a scavenger hunt. The promotion appeals to the younger, tech-savvy target and gets them into a place that rarely need to visit anymore: the library. Smart.

“’Find the Future: The Game,’ devised by renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, is a series of ‘quests’ delivered via an app on players’ mobile devices that can be completed at the Library’s 42nd Street location. … The challenges are designed to encourage players to explore and reflect upon the objects from the library’s collections. A player might be tasked, for instance, to scan a QR code located at the Declaration of Independence, and then respond to a creative essay prompt. Once enough quests have been completed, they will be “unlocked” for the public, who can begin playing the game online May 21.”

There is even a video to go along with it:

Snoop Dog Fragrance

Through Facebook, the more people that like the Snoop Dog fragrance, the cheaper the price gets for the fans to buy it. Kind of fun.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Earlier this year, Buffalo Wild Wings partnered with Scvngr to allow “customers [to] complete challenges on their smartphones and win prizes, like Buffalo Wild Wings and Coca-Cola, which are redeemable on the spot. Such challenges, like snapping a photo with a fan of an opposing team, earn fans points that go toward winning the grand prize of a trip to see the NBA finals with Scottie Pippen, formerly of the Chicago Bulls.”

There are many other examples brands experimenting with game dynamics floating around out there, and most of them seem to use Scvngr as their partner in the efforts. While results remain to be seen, the approaches seem on track and look to be engaging for customers.

“Our morning social media browse to check in on what everyone has been up to became the equivalent of the old-timers’ early morning stroll to the diner for pancakes and coffee. We check Facebook and comment on a friend’s photo of her new shoes (which we know without asking are Kate Spades and were bought at Nordstrom’s because she said so in her status update) the same way we once would have remarked, ‘You look lovely in that hat, Margie,’ as we passed our neighbor.”

For those that don’t understand the draw of social media, the excerpt above can help put it into a context they may understand. In “The Thank You Economy,” Gary Vaynerchuk does a fantastic job of clearly explaining the significance social media can have on a business and its customer relationships.  For those that are still wondering if and why they should engage with customers through social media, Vaynerchuk knocks down the arguments. The book is bursting with real examples of brands that have used social media to make a difference in the business engagements and the brands range in size, awareness and business type. Vaynerchuk shows that you can be a dentist and use social media with successes to show for the efforts.

Some quotes from the book that hit home for me:

“When given the choice, people will always spend their time around people they like. When it’s expedient and practical, they’s also rather do business with and buy stuff from people they like. And now, they can. Social media has made it possible for consumers to interact with businesses in a way that is often similar to how they interact with their friends and family.”

“Social media has transformed our world into one great big small town, dominated, as all vibrant towns used to be, by the strength of relationships, the currency of caring, and the power of word of mouth.”

“People thought they had seen a massive cultural shift when the public adopted the Internet into their daily lives, but the bigger shift occurred when the Internet began to allow for two-way conversation. Learn how to implement a culture of caring and communication into your business, scale your one-to-one relationships, and watch your customers reward your efforts by using their new and massively powerful word of mouth to market your business and brand for you.”

“The drawback to resisting social media engagement is clear: the longer you wait, the farther the competition can pull ahead.”

“Some people try to use social media…by pushing sales pitches and gimmicks. Their efforts might get brief attention, but the message will fade and it certainly won’t have long-term value; it’s just not worth thinking about. If you’re going to launch a campaign, it has to be one that evokes an emotion–positive or negative–so that people feel compelled to share. Give them something to talk about, unleash the power of word of mouth, and allow them to pull you into their consciousness.”

“The Thank You Economy works when you build a sense of community around your brand, not when you simply sell to it.”

I heard Vaynerchuk speak at SXSW this year where he enthusiastically revved up the audience with his passion for social media. You can feel his personality, enthusiasm and passion come through in this book.  This book can make a believer out of the biggest skeptics to social media.

Recommendation: read it.

Below is a Prezi I put together for a couple of agency presentations I was scheduled to give post-SXSW. It sums up my key takeaways from SXSW 2011.

Thank you to Roby Brock at Talk Business for the discussion about 2011 tech trends.  Check out the video here:

The annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival wrapped up over a week ago and I am finally starting to feel caught up on sleep and missed work.  I have had the time to reflect on the experience and learning with a semblance of organized thought.  Here are the themes and my key takeaways from SXSWi 2011.

Games!

Gaming is more than just entertainment.  The extensive gaming topics at SXSWi were really all about game mechanics and incorporating those into work, play, education and general problem solving.

Seith Priebatsch, the founder of location-based game SCVNGR, made the point that game mechanics can be used in any situation to drive results from the targeted audience: incorporating a different rewards system, involving team/communal aspects and instilling time limits all are ways of changing the way people engage in various activities, thereby making them a game rather than a chore.

Gaming is being talked about even outside the uber-techie audiences of SXSW: the March issue of Wired magazine, in an article titled “How Games Make Work Seem Like Play,” Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken says:

“‘Games are the future of positive psychology’…Games, she says, bring out our better angels: When we play a game, we think creatively, collaborate, and persist. ‘You can apply game design,” she adds, ‘to anything.’”

It is time to start thinking about game mechanics and how those can be leveraged in marketing communications and outreach.

Location, Location, Location

Location-based services will continue to evolve.  It is no longer just about finding your friends and announcing to your friends that you are at someplace that is cool. It is going to be about discovery and expanding the users’ worlds. Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare, believes that users will ultimately want recommendations through location-based applications rather than the coupons or promotions.

Location-based services will continue to grow.  More users are joining every day.  Foursquare has 7.5 million users. SCVNGR has 1 million users.  There is an assumption that Gowalla has approximately 1 million users. Facebook has 600 million users and the approximation is that 30 million of those have tried Facebook Places.

Businesses need to be exploring and experimenting with these tools.  Their customers are already checking in and leaving tips and recommendations.  It is time to become part of those conversations and even enhance the experiences.

Community

Marketers talk a lot about social networks and social media.  And many tend to erroneously think of social networks as another channel for “pushing” messages to a target audience.  But what social networks are really about is community: groups of like-minded people coming together to share experiences.  It is time to remind brands that this is what consumers want and stop social media from becoming just another advertising channel.

Social Behavioral Norms Applied to the Social Web

One of the most interesting presentations I saw at SXSWi was done by a design team from Frog Design that used a dinner party as the analogy for social media and our interactions through those social channels.  The point was this: we understand how to behave at a dinner party with varying types of audiences and relationships, but we have no idea how to translate those behaviors to social media.  And brands are especially bad at this.  Their advice was to humanize brands and think about social media interactions as simply social interactions:

1. Pull back the curtain and give people access to the information they want and need.
2. Stop selling and start sharing.  Self-promotion is awkward in social situations.
3. Stop talking and start listening.  What are people saying about you and what can you learn from that?

This seems so obvious, yet no brand is doing this really well yet.  It is time to consider the space and act like we would act in a social world in which we were physically present.

Trans-media Storytelling

Trans-media storytelling is about taking the viewer through a story in a more interactive way, jumping from channel to channel across video, mobile applications, websites and even print.  These channels are used both simultaneously and independently.  The varying channels can work together while playing to each of their individual strengths to make the user/viewer experience richer and more entertaining.  Many brands and storytellers are already doing this; now it has a name.  For those that have yet to dip their toes into this method of storytelling, it is time to start experimenting.

Keep the User Experience in Mind.  Always.

Marketers, designers, developers, and people in general are too inwardly focused.  We all tend to think about what we want and what we understand and what we need.  Yet, we are typically communicating, designing and developing for others.  We all know, intellectually, not to do this.  But, practically, we do it any.  It is time to stop that and consciously make the effort to consider the end user.

Entrepreneurship

The number of entrepreneurs, authors and innovative people in general present at SXSWi was awe-inspiring.  Through the power of the internet and technology, starting a business is easier than ever before which, of course, leads to a flooded market.  But there are some great ideas floating around.  I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

In addition to all the education and thought-provoking sessions that contributed to the experience, I also had some learning about how to manage my days and log my experience at SXSWi.  These are my notes to myself when planning for next year:

• Don’t carry computer and accessories around all day; the iPhone and iPad are more than sufficient for taking notes.
• Pack snacks.
• Get a good camera and learn how to use it to document the experience in photos.
• Figure out how to document the experience via video.  More video, less words.
• Take a wingman.  A week at a conference is more fun with a friend, preferably someone you can riff with.
• Buy Red Bull for the hotel fridge.

These are my raw notes from this session.

Speakers from Frog Design and are designers. Hashtag is #dinnerparty

Authority relationship, don’t mess with me. Like when a police officer pulls you over. Packs of dogs and military are organized this way.

Exchange relationship. like buying an airplane ticket. Keeping track of fairness is important in these relationships.

Communality relationship. About sharing and not keeping track. Social media is governed by this set of rules. Spaces for friends.

Very few of our relationships are in one category, they overlap each other. It can become awkward: gaffe, awkward, taboo, faux pas. Which set of rules to follow when situations and relationships overlap?

Dinner party analogy for these situations. If you boss brings a bottle of wine to your dinner party, they move from an authority relationship to a communality relationship. And we use language to help navigate: it would be great if… (Pinkeron book).

Online, all of these relationship rules fall apart.

In social media self promotion is awkward. You vantage outset be friends with a brand, but you can have a meaningful relationship.

We spend our days thinking about creating experiences for people. Social media is a great tool for doing this. It is hard when you don’t have a tangible product.

Brand building through behavior.

Brands do a lot of communicating and talking, but they don’t get to do a lot of behaving or be effectively humanizing.

1. Pull back the curtain. This is all about access. Best Buy’s Twelpforce: allow individual employees to use their own Twitter handle to answer customer questions.

2. Stop selling and start sharing. Self promotion is awkward in this space. Design Mind, platform of content for Frog Design. Need to give someone the experience of our brand to those who haven’t actually met us. Generate original content and then participating in conversations.

3. Stop talking and start listening. Southwest Airlines is a good example of this. Bravo is the best example. They tweet the story lines and features and use input from social media to decide what shows to create, like Bethenny Getting Married?

Large healthcare client wanting to do social media:

Video series of doctors having conversations with each other to pull the curtain back.

Still under campaign development, so guarded in revealing the campaign elements.

Make a campaign about actual people when the product or service is challenging.

A blog can very easily become a series of news releases about yourself. You don’t show up to a dinner party and just talk about yourself or you don’t get invited back.

What do you write about? Well, what do you think about? Write about that.

Take exchange relationships and turn them into communality relationships. Like Gary V with the wine and jersey.

In social media, most people are choosing go be in these relationships with you. You are not spamming them, but you want go make the relationship worth their time and yours. A lot of this is intuitive.

These are my raw notes from this session.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Calls himself obnoxiously practical.

Who can create the real context with the end consumer? That is the person that will win. It is all about the end user and the customer. We all talk to ourselves. Do you really have a grasp for the problem you are trying to solve?

Winelibrary.com – have a customer who ordered $20,000 in wine over two months. They know him on Twitter and they know he likes Jay Cutler. Rather than sending him coupons or a free bottle of wine, we send him a signed Jay Cutler jersey and make an emotional connection.

People aren’t looking at the billboards. They are not even looking at the road. They are not listening to the radio, she is on the phone. Mom is going to be impacted at the point of sale, she is going to pull out her phone and look at and compare all the products on her mobile device.

We are about to humanize brands.

Marketers do all the talking. Think about the person that calls every day and talks and talks. Then think about the person that you call to talk to. Love them first.

Everyone in social media today acts like a 19 year old dude: they try to close too fast. You have to build a relationship and build context.

There is no such thing as a social media campaign. A social media campaign is a one night stand. You have to build the relationship.

Old Spice didn’t talk to anyone. All they did was push. No feel. Thinks Old Spice is what not to do.

Content calendars suck. It is like going to a cocktail party with a script.

Throwing up a Twitter logo and Facebook logo up at the end, it is like throwing a phone number logo on the screen. Ridiculous.

It is small town approach again. Interact one on one. Search.Twitter let’s us go into the conversation and its acceptable. You can join the conversation.

We are sharing more in our lives than ever before. We are sharing things that we would have never picked up the phone and called a buddy to say, but you are basically doing that now.

Social media is not a fad because it is human.

Out care your competition.

Effort is grossly underestimated. If don’t naturally care, try.

Retiring from Wine Library TV as of today. Starting a new show: on mobile Daily Grape. Makes content more useful.

I have to appreciate the most recent approach that Taco Bell has taken in response to the lawsuit about the percentage of beef in their products: a bit self-deprecating.  Check out some of the latest Twitter posts by Taco Bell:

Of course the laughter comes only after they made it over the hump of seriously addressing the lawsuit with an official video and statement from the company president last week:

The responses from Taco Bell, both the serious and the funny, were the right ones.  No one really believed they were eating 100% beef when they ordered from Taco Bell, especially those that are actual customers.  And they don’t care because they love the brand and the products.  The news only rallied Taco Bell’s dedicated following: their Twitter and Facebook pages are practically love fests.

While Taco Bell had to address the situation, the acknowledgment of the humor in the situation makes the brand all the more likable and really aligns with its established feisty brand personality.

Here is the video referenced in the Taco Bell Twitter post above. Enjoy.

Last year was one of significant growth for Foursquare: 3400% growth in 2010, according to the site.  Foursquare has released an infographic with some interesting facts.  Thinking about Foursquare from a branding and business-building perspective, these are a few of my favorite data points shared by Foursquare:

Knowing when a consumer is more or less likely to check-in and share their location with friends and followers can give a business the opportunity to offer special deals during slower time periods to try to drive traffic.

This graphic tells me when to stay home!

Clever.  Consumers love clever.  Brands should think about the unique qualities of their brands and leverage the data to make the consumer smile in appreciation.  Then, check-in because they want to be part of the inner circle offered by the brand.

The year 2010 proved that location sharing was relevant to the social consumer.  Foursquare has by far dominated that scene.  Some of the questions in 2011 will be:

• Can Foursquare maintain its dominance or will Facebook’s massive user base switch to using Facebook Places?  There is something appealing about the game aspect of Foursquare that encourages participation more than Facebook Places; but being able to tag friends with you gives Facebook an edge.
• Will brands figure out how to really use location sharing in ways that benefit consumers and get them talking?  Big brands like Starbucks have used it and small yet savvy independents have used it.  But what about those mid-size challenger brands that are trying to stand out?
• Will we see the apps for location sharing get more robust?  Some allow photos, some don’t; some allow tagging friends, others don’t.  What about multiple photo uploads to one check-in?  Or user rankings or reviews for each location?  How about options to leave feedback for the business versus posting it publicly to the check-in?  Will we see video sharing options built in?  Might we see some personal analytics tools for “defining” the user type?  How about varied privacy settings a la Facebook so that family can see all posts, certain friends can see limited posts, others can see more, etc.?

Because I had some work to catch up on last night, I chose to stay home and watch the Golden Globes alone.  But I didn’t feel alone at all.  With my computer in my lap, the Twitter app running and Facebook in my browser window, it felt like I was at a watch party among friends.  I laughed at some posts, rolled my eyes at others and commented on many.  Is the fact that technology can replace the feeling of camaraderie that comes with personal, face-to-face interactions good for our society or bad?  Probably neither and both.

This topic is explored in a new book, Alone Together.  I haven’t read the book yet, but have put it on my list to read soon.  The book was recently reviewed over at The Daily Beast:

“The advantage to all that gadgetry, of course, is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we’re more lonely than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing relationship with technology. The result of nearly 15 years of study (and interviews with hundreds of subjects), Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our perceptions of intimacy and solitude—and warns of the perils of embracing such pseudo-techno relationships in place of lasting emotional connections.”

The “alone” versus “together” situation works in reverse as well: when we are face-to-face among a group of people, many of us isolate ourselves by bowing our heads to the mobile devices actively lighting up in our hands.  If you don’t believe me, next time you go out to dinner, do a quick scan around the restaurant and check out what people are doing at each table.

The impact of technology on social mores is not a new topic of conversation, but as technology and social channels continue to improve and become even more integrated into our lives, the conversation will grow.  But will anything change?  Will we pull back on the use of technology and social media now that it is ingrained in our behaviors?

Check out the novel Super Sad True Love Story for a satirical look at the possibility of completely transparent sharing through technology and utter dependency on technology.  It is funny and sad and scary.  Set in a future where people are obsessed with appearances, their smart phones and credit scores, this book tells the story of two mismatched lovers through their journal entries and online communications.