All This Talk About Social Media...How Social Is Too Social? Lessons Learned on The Pressure of Personal Contact and Communication. Stay Away or Come On In? Is It Your Decision?

Have we lost all of our privacy as a result of living in the Internet Age?  That could easily be debated.  Finding out information about an individual is as easy as typing their name into google.  Do I care?  Not so much.  In fact, I like having a personal brand on the web and I try to find ways in which people can reach me.  So what's the problem?  The problem is that I only really want certain people to reach me, and that is an issue that the internet really fails to take into consideration.  

The other day I received a call from FedEx/Kinkos.  It was a very nice lady who had printed a few resumes and cover letters for me last week.  I wasn't able to answer, but she left a very nice message asking me how my interview went and in what ways she could help me in the future (in terms of printing services).  This was probably one of the nicer things that a business has ever done for me.  I mean, that's some very personal service right there.  I just can't help but wonder...was that phone call a little too personal?

Now I've seen this personal service in other ways and it's never really bothered me.  I order protein supplements and vitamins from Bodybuilding.com.  About a month after each order they send me an email saying something like "I'm sure you're running low on protein and vitamins, here's the deals that we have available for you."  I mean that's pretty cool right?  I think the difference lies in the medium of delivery: phone vs. email.

I love the web.  I communicate daily on the web.  I build relationships through the web.  The phone however, is and always will be (IMO), a much different story.  I could talk to people on Twitter all day, people I don't know, people I want to know, or people I do know, and never get bored.  If everyone of those people started calling me though, I'd get a little wierded out.  I think that's where the generational difference comes into play between millennials and Boomers.  My parents both prefer phone as a medium and very rarely give out email addresses.  I however prefer email, facebook, twitter, and then the phone, something I don't think is very uncommon for my generation.  In fact, I'm reading a lot of articles now about professionals simply putting their email address and Twitter handles on their business cards.  Makes sense to me.

This was just a spur of the moment thought but I'd like to hear from you.  Have you had any "Kinko's" moments?  Do you prefer the phone or the web? I'm all about social media so I would have to say I'm bias, but I believe we're in the Internet Age for a reason, and the phone as we know it may be on it's way out.  Opinions from all ages are welcome.

Also, if you're looking for the most innovative way to connect, one step beyond phone and email, check out my post on Google Wave, the newest communication platform from the guys and gals over at Google.  Check that post here