First off- I continue to think that it’s fascinating that while we are all using Google search to find information, our behavior is, in the aggregate, creating new information. Meta-wow.

Google Zeitgeist lets the world know important things like:

• Searches for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” surge around Halloween.
• Chili is the most sought after recipe.
• A lot of people want to know “how to kiss.”
• Everyone’s all freaked out about Swine Flu

Like a lot of trending information being created today, I feel compelled to know about it, and completely at a loss about how it helps me make money, be happy, or serve God (the three sieves of “useful”).

You can see the whole report here.

Thoughts?

In the course of our conversation, my friend said he just doesn’t feel like the changes that are happening now are as big a deal as all that, that this isn’t as life-altering as, say, the industrial revolution.

That’s when I realized something…

• Most people didn’t make it out west.
• Most of the world’s population didn’t live in the colonies during the Revolutionary War, AND
  • The revolution didn’t significantly change the lives of any black slave in the colonies.
  • The revolution didn’t significantly change the lives of most white colonists as it was happening
• After the industrial revolution, there were still farmers, herders, hunter gatherers.

A few interesting points from the site Interent World Stats:

• Only 23% of the world uses the internet
• Over half the world’s population lives in Asia. But in Asia, only 17% of people use the internet.

Yes, yes- here in North America, 74% use the interent. That leaves 26%, or 79 million people NOT using the internet.

What about Social Media…?
According to comScore, 140 Million people used Social Media in April of 2009. Alot? Yes.
Percentage of the world population? 2%

I’m also reminded of a fantastic book I read awhile ago- The Source, by James Michener. The book takes place in the Holy Land, telling the story of one plot of ground from the dawn of time until the present (1960s, when the book was written). At one point in present-time, a local expert-guide takes his American charge around and shows him people living, essentially, in various past eras, including one man living in a cave and using flint tools (Stone-age style).

Where I’m going with all of this, I guess, is…

There is no requirement that anybody be at the forefront of things. Most people, in fact, are not at the forefront of things. While some people (you?) act like the whole world will fall into a black hole if they don’t take advantage of the newest Web 3.7 technology, other people are still happy living in the stone age (literal or figurative).

I’m not suggesting that anyone abandon Social Media, or that it isn’t important (I make my living, partially, by helping people with this stuff)- I’m just suggesting some small amount of perspective. Venture out into the wild frontier because you’re excited, because you’re curious, or even because you’re bored. Go because you’re looking for a new opportunity, because you want to stake a new claim, because yo’re running away from something.
But don’t become a pilgrim just because you feel like you have to. There are still plenty of customers and friends back on the mainland.

But, for those adventurous souls- the pioneers, the outlaws, the prospectors…

“Go west, young man- and grow up with the country.”

Pretty quickly, computer scientists figured out how to build another language on top of that language. A compiler would turn this new language into the 1s and 0s the computer needed to do it’s thing, and everyone congratulated themselves for solving “the biggest problem facing computer science today.”

But then, pretty quickly, they figured out another layer that could be draped over the new language, which made it easier to write programs and solve problems. Programs and devices and algorhythms were invented to translate the newest stuff into the slightly less new stuff, while something else translated slightly less new stuff into the stuff that actually works: 1s and 0s.

I bet you can guess where this is going…

Computer scientists (and programmers and engineers, and whole cadre of geniuses) have layered and layered and layered, because each new layer allows the programmers (and the end users: us) the ability to do more things, more complicated things, cooler things. It may be (theoretically) possible, but it’s hard to imagine programming the CGI effects of the latest Star Trek movie by individually turning on and off transistors.

How many layers are we from the stuff that actually does things? I would venture to guess that it is more layers than there are between my experience of conciousness and individual neurons firing in my brain.

Crazy, huh?…

So what?- This isn’t a computer science blog, so what do you care, you Social Media Marketing Maven?

Well… I was talking recently to a computer programming friend who was talking about “purists” computer programmers/scientists who think that you need to understand this stuff from the ground up in order to be effective.
I say… that’s ridiculous. That’s as ridiculous as thinking we need to know how muscle fiber is built before we can learn how to walk.

Now… many people would agree with that- in fact, I know a great number of programmers, and I don’t think any of them could scratch out machine code if their lives depended on it.
But, I think that the same ridiculous reasoning in a slightly different form pervades Web Design and Social Media and all the other great new things that you can do with technology.

Those of you who are still trying to get your bearings with all this stuff, I say… Take Heart!
The greatest thing about this revolution (and that’s what it is, mind you) is that the informational barriers to entry have dropped to the point where building a website is on the level of conscious will, as opposed to the level of corralling neurons or jettisoning chemical activators.

Yes, you do still need to learn how to walk. But EVERYONE DOES, eventually.
So…
Most of you reading this probably already have jumped that hurdle, but for the rest of you, who still feel a little intimidated by the “geeks.”
HAVE NO FEAR!
Stop waiting around until you have the time to “really learn” how to do whatever it is you think you need to know how to do (program? write html? understand what a CSS is?) and just jump on board and
Start Dancing!