Exhaust data

This is an interesting and thought-provoking piece on the nature of the communication that flows between people using so-called ‘micro-blogging’ tools. Interesting because of the number of times I’ve heard people criticise the kind of “banal, pointless chatter” that goes on through channels like Twitter or Facebook. Am I really interested in the minutiae of my friends and colleagues’ lives?  Well, yes. I might not really be that bothered what Mr Snowbadger is having for Sunday lunch, but I do think that Leisa Reichelt’s ‘ambient intimacy‘ post holds water. It’s a kind of connection that’s quite reassuring and human – this kind of throwaway communication acts as a nice counterpart to big, heavy, thought-through content that typifies the kinds of blogs I tend to read ;).I have a lot of friends that live in far away places, and I really do find that I feel much more connected to them and their lives.When I was growing up, my family lived in Singapore whilst I was at school in the UK. I remember clearly the ONE phonecall I could make every 3 months. I also know that if you’re living with distant relationships, the pressure on a single channel of communication grows and grows. Things are very different these days…