A major theme in AIS this year is the media, and how it affects our lives. We all have Facebooks, some of us may have Twitters, some of us blog regularly, or follow blogs and other feeds, however we usually have to make at least some sort of effort to check them - whether it be physically going to the web page or using the app on your phone.
Well, not anymore. I recently started using a web browser, built off of the Google Chrome developer channel called RockMelt, and it has completely changed how I follow websites. On the left side of my browser, I have all of my news feeds: Facebook, Twitter, I even have multiple blogs and a YouTube app. On the right side of my screen I can update my status on either of these social networking sites and I can quickly see which of my Facebook friends are online and chat with them. I can do ALL of this without closing out of my current webpage. Plus, it alerts me when something new is added to my feed, so I always know what is going on.
It's overwhelming, weird, and scary, but it's so awesome. It is still in beta, so it's not perfect, but this is where I see social networking going. Even just staring at this blog post, everything is right in front of me. This is just an example of how the world is becoming a truly "globalized society". I am connected to everything, and everything is connected to me.
That is so cool! I'm going to have to try that. But I think a good question to ask is how much work you are actually getting done while checking all of those sources? And is it really necessary to stay that connected to everything? Would it not be more efficient and a better use of time to have a clean screen with only what you want on it? To me, it sounds fantastic, but I think I would sink a lot of time and energy into staying in contact with everyone, and maybe lose sight of what I really need to focus on. But if you have the time, I guess it really helps stay on top!
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