Context: Human beings from time immemorial, have attempted to understand the framework of life in which they lived. The use and interaction with astrology, philosophy, and religion bear this out through historical record and longstanding popularity. Astrology has attempted to use the observation of the stars in an attempt to understand the controlling forces of nature and human events. We see the observation and derivation of logic in an attempt to understand the motivations and actions of ourselves through the discipline of philosophy.  Throughout world religions, we see mankind recognizing that some sense of an other force or being out there, and that perhaps it just might be more powerful than humanity individually and collectively itself.

The virtual reality created by interaction over the internet is no different. As we interact with our world through the use of online media, we still attempt to understand what, why, when and how everything is happening around us. We hope that we can control it, lacking that we hope to understand it, failing that we hope to defend ourselves from real or perceived threats bourne out in the virtual world which are reflected from the real world.

Connection:Mankind has always sought connection and relationship; with the divine, his fellow human being, and with nature to some extent or another. Social media offers a means to graph the relationships and interactions which are associated with a mere moments consideration in the real world now become friendships and connections which can be graphed and stored with less and less effort. The issue comes that with greater ease in building relationships, the quality of the relationships can and often grow much more shallow.

The innate need and drive for relationship still remains though; and the desire for authenticity and honesty and utter distaste for hypocrisy continue to grow. With the noise of conversation growing ever louder, we fear will be lost and thus we seek to build as many connections and cross-connections with people we know to provide a framework of meaning, and worth. Without relationship, comes not only lack of meaning but even insult if deliberately rejected.

Communication: Mankind has always appreciated face to face personal interaction. It does not matter the time, place, culture, or point in the historical time. Mankind desires relationship. The development of communication technology has posed an interesting conundrum, potential dehumanization of the communication process. The reality though is that it also allows the desire to communicate to cross distances and boundaries never before anticipated or conceived. Any means of communication with allows for facial movement, voice inflections, and raw data to be transported as close to instantaneously will continue to be developed. In essence our ability to touch others will continue to be extended, how we choose to use that touch is a question that everyone must ponder.

How does one engage the social media movement? Go back to who you are, rather than who you want everyone else to think you are. Its a very natural human inclination to hide behind a mask, but the crowd has discovered a means to rip it off. As an organization or business, tell your story and show how you actually desire to contribute to the greater good. Simply broadcasting a message is not enough, show with actions that you mean what you say. Once you decide to engage as either a business or an individual remember context, connection, and communication. Place focused thought and effort into providing context for those through around you, reach out out to those you know or desire to know, and then communicate with them on a regular basis. Social media can appear to be all about you, but in order to use if effectively one must remember its really all about them.

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