Mike’s Points

The Web is a great tool and offers great opportunity to connect with people we wouldn’t connect with otherwise.

Duh. You already know that.

But, unless you are a hermit, the social media aspects of tools like blogging, boards and forums, online communities, etc., are NOTHING MORE THAN SUPPLEMENTS TO OUR REAL-WORLD , OFFLINE LIFE.

The world Linden Lab created was called a Second Life because it is secondary, as in a second life. Not a first (a.k.a. primary) life.

The opportunites afforded by the Web is supposed to assist and expand our life. Not replace it.

If you have Twitter account, you’ll be amazed at how often and at what some people Twitter about. On a seemingly continuous basis.

And, this morning I read this — The Wonderful World of Webkinz — in my e-mail (courtesy of MediaPost).

“Webkinz is a social network tied to a toy company that targets young children and places them in a virtual world that is safe, exclusive, and appears to be a lot of fun! . . . .

What I love about this is, it continues to signal the future of online social networking by tying the Internet to the real world. The goal of the company is to sell the plush toys, but the virtual world is a hook and it keeps people coming back!”

I’m not against capitalism and making use of new technologies to make money. But I am leary of efforts that can get children into the wrong habit of spending too much time online, and taking them away from any real world fun and interaction. (Note that I said “too much time” online.)

My fear is that efforts like Webkinz will generate a generation of Web-tied adults: Adults who are more comfortable online than offline; and that first socialize online before socializing offline.

I realize that how much time children spend on the computer and their overriding care falls primarily on their parent(s). Parents have the bottom-line, ultimate responsibility. I also realize there are enough parents who are not involved enough in their children’s lives — and don’t need any help being poor parents.

So, I guess in a perfect world, all children would have high-quality, loving parents. But, back to my main point . . . .

As many opportunities as the Web offers to socialize, learn, “meet” new people, expand our real life, escape our real life, etc. — all those great social media tools must only supplement, not replace or detract from our real lives.

– Mike

Gawd. After reading my own post, I sound like Jeremy Pepper. (Which is not a bad thing.)

That seems to be the point of Jim Cramer in a RealMoney.com column (”Lack of Financial Acumen Burns Newspapers“).

“All of these companies seem to be run, frankly, by jokers or dreamers who had no idea how to deploy capital. The only explanation I can think of is that they were run by people who are up from the newspaper side or are heirs to the founders and had no idea what they were doing financially.”

That may be, but I’m sure there are other reasons. One could be:

Publishers and owners of newspapers should think of themselves of being in the business of informing the public. The Fourth Estate. The delivery of the information should not matter. So, I simply see the majority of newspaper publishers as being myopic. Narrow minded. Even arrogant that print has been king so long, so why not even longer?

Up until recently, has running a newspaper really been that easy? I mean, how could newspapers have been so successful so long?

It is because the media industry has had relatively little change. Newspapers. Magazines. Radio. Television. All definitely different media, though with the same audience, different enough in purpose.

Not so today. The Internet provides nearly unlimited opportunity. And, we are still just testing the waters to see what can be done. The Internet and how it can connect people is evolving.

And, as is typical with evolution, if you don’t mutate (that is, adapt in a positive way), you’ll be extinct.

Newspapers are in the information-gathering business. They should be leading the Information Age. Instead, they’re dying a slow, painful death.

Mike