The Power of the Internet
It began last night as reply to a simple tweet. After awhile, a couple of friends had jumped in and tweets were flying back and forth, all in good fun. And then things were kicked into the next gear. An email was received saying one friend had been tagged in a Facebook post by another. I suppose twitter’s character limit just got to… limiting.
Over the next couple of hours, there were over 200 comments across 3 profiles by 6 friends. Comments were coming in as fast as you could refresh the pages, each funnier than the last. It was an excellent evening among friends. Friends who are separated in some cases by other a thousand miles. Friends who live in 4 cities across 3 states.
It was as close as these friends were going to get under normal circumstances. And it was all spontaneous because the infrastructure was already there to support it. No one had to set up a meeting time for a conference call. No one had travel. No one had to think about it. No one had to contact the others to say “hey, get on facebook!”. No, Facebook just emailed whoever was tagged in the initial post. GNotify notified whoever wasn’t logged into their email account. Or maybe the email was pushed to their smart phone.
This is the true power of the internet. Sure, you can get up to the second data or buy the latest junk while in your pajamas or read the news from a foreign newspaper. But bringing people together is what it is all about. This is why I work on the web. This is why I bury myself in technical specs and obsess over layouts at one in the morning. It is all about bringing friends, both old and new, together. The web is about giving people the ability to live better lives, to live happier lives.
Sometimes we just need to be reminded why it is we got into our chosen profession, whatever it is, and why we have decided to stay there. For me, this is it. If at the end of the day, people aren’t better off and happier than when they started, then I have not succeeded. So I will keep reading specs, and doing research, and experimenting with code into the depths of night, because this is what drives me.
Why do you do what you do?
=D You’re welcome! <3
Well said. I truly can’t imagine life without internet anymore. The conveniences, the efficiency, random crap you can learn. But you’re right… it’s the connection with people that I love the most.
It was pretty fantastic.
Thanks for all of the giggles!