I attended today's tweet meet at the golden wok. Great to meet some new people from around the University that are in to thinking about online community. I would say about half the people there I had not met previously, and did not follow on twitter. Twitter continues to catalyze new relationships. This was some real social networking.
The discussion opened up some branching thoughts. As always, I find the revelation comes someone puts into simple words something that is so intrinsic it is not easily verbalized. James Howell mentioned that he started using facebook to friend the students that he advises because he found that interacting in facebook was less intimidating for them than using email. When communicating with someone through facebook, larger identity is more naturally carried along with the message. As more and more of us become accustomed to crafting our own online identity as well as parsing the online identities of those we interact with, receiving an email message may seem cold and faceless.
There was also some talk of separating one's professional identities from one's more familiar identity. I think there is definitely some room for overlap, especially in light of the idea above. I am not saying that maybe different views into one's life should be offered, e.g. a view tailored to colleagues vs. a view tailored to friends. However, creating an impenetrable wall between the various aspects of your online self may one day soon be widely perceived as inauthentic.
It was great getting to meet everyone. Hopefully more events like this are to follow.
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