Wedge 2.0 - the Great Divide in modern communication

In the last few weeks, I have witnessed this organization attempt to step into a new tier of communication through several Web 2.0 platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and at present Blogger.com. As each of my colleagues begin to explore their own uses for the technology and begin to carve small footholds and build followings, it has been fascinating to observe the reactions of the people involved and witness to the project.

Since the early onset of social platforms like Blogger, Friendster, and Myspace, the vast majority of people rarely, if ever had personal interactions with the technology. It was seen in the majority view as something of a trivial source of unsubstantiated information and certainly not a pillar of business success.

Most audience members outside of a college audience, merely saw the ability to find their 7th grade lab partner on Facebook as pure novelty.

And then came Twitter.

Twitter is a logical step in evolution. At one time we were able to blog, then we built profiles and had walls and status updates, and during all of this we crafted an understood language that fit anything in 140 characters or less through text messages. And so now, we have Twitter.

The most interesting aspect of this latest version of Web 2.0 has been the emotional response by otherwise unscathed bystanders.

I had one member of our staff engage in one of several very interesting debates over the relevance of Twitter. He stated that he has managed every aspect of his job, grown his culture and his business, and developed iron clad business acumen over a 30 year career and never once had to rely on something so asinine. “Why do we need to be on Twitter?!”

It dawned on me that people are legitimately feeling threatened by the Twitter phenomenon.

After 45 minutes of explaining the context, history, Web 2.0 evolution, it boiled down to a simple answer that we do not yet know the Why. We do not know nor understand what will make this a successful venture. But what is clear, is that a solid presence in the Web 2.0 playground is necessary. We must be there today to be relevant tomorrow.

My colleague is not alone. I was nearly quick to dismiss his angst as an out dated generational gap. But since that moment, I have had so many conversations with people who see the culture around them changing on the wave of Twitter that it becomes isolating and threatening. I have even begun to craft my responses to “Why Twitter?” and “Who cares?”

Perhaps my next response will be a solid answer for those two exact questions from the perspective of an executive with the Boy Scouts of America, a Rotarian, and a contributor.