Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Simplify
This fervid desire for the Web bespeaks a longing so intense that it can only be understood as spiritual. A longing indicates that something is missing in our lives. What is missing is the sound of the human voice.
The spiritual lure of the Web is the promise of the return of voice.
“The Longing”, by David Weinberger, from The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
My wife and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this past weekend with a little family getaway to Lancaster County, PA, and had the wonderful kind of physically exhausting, mentally stimulating time that makes you want to mail the keys to the bank and go live off the land, leaving you barely able to function in the “real” world upon your return.
Barely.
Three days away from home, hanging around the Amish and trains from the 1800s — and, except for posting pictures to Facebook, being relatively disconnected from the Internet — offered some much-needed perspective on Weinberger’s premise, and I’m refining some of my ideas about new vs. old media, engagement vs. interruption, and marketing in general as a result.
Coincidentally, a new study from Ruder Finn, “Why People Go Online“, noted last week that most people go online to pass time, for education, and to connect with others, while “the least common intentions… were to make purchases, manage finances, comparison shop and join causes.”
It’s pretty simple, really; it’s about people.
Always has been, always will be.
About Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez works in publishing by day, world domination by night. Over the years he’s lived in Staten Island and South Beach Miami; served in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, US Army, and Dennis Kucinich’s ‘04 Presidential Campaign; won poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry, and self-published another; prefers Pumpkin and India Pale Ales, Buffalo Trace and Four Roses Bourbons, and Dona Paula Shiraz Malbec. He’s a devout Mets fan from the Bronx now living in New Jersey, and has a beautiful wife and two amazing kids.
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[...] This reminds me of a friend whom I hooked on Twitter. In his first week on Twitter he forwarded, I kid you not, hundreds of links to his web site. When I told him he was crazy he argued that the people do click. Yes people click once to see who the new fish in the pond is but then you go to the blind spot exile. The blind spot is our coping mechanism to deal with the overflow; it is tuned to ignore everyone with whom we don’t have a personal connection. That huge virtual geographical region is the matter of online survival. Guy is right, it’s all about people. [...]
[...] I have a weakness for anything it’s simplicity. Where a lot of people like to dress things up or add detail, I like to strip things down and [...]