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OK….this one’s a little “stream of consciousness….” Bear with me.

I find the virtual world we live in compelling.

Not because I have a virtual Library of Congress at my fingertips, and not because I can find 50 different recipes for coq au vin. Not because I can easily find others that share my affection for Aprilia sportbikes, and not because I can buy virtually anything I can even imagine online….including a kidney.

It’s compelling because it gives us a glimpse of what’s possible. It connects us to people thinking and doing amazing things, and occasionally it gives me hope that I might accomplish something amazing, too. Not amazing in the sense that someone else would ooo and aah, but amazing in the sense that I could never have imagined it possible.camera

My mother was a talented television broadcaster for many years. (She’s still a talented mom!) I used to accompany her to “the station”, and sat in the director’s booth mesmerized by all that had to happen to get a broadcast to the masses. These people were geniuses, and their expertise seemed inaccessible to me.

Just this week., after listening to some really smart guys I work with dream a little, I decided to create an online live broadcasting site.

It took me less than an hour.

Don’t get me wrong…..content is still king, and my ability to broadcast something doesn’t make me compelling enough to garner an audience. Still, think about it….think about the aspiring filmmaker in Cameroon, or the political theorist in Tajikistan. These folks would never have had the opportunity to share their thoughts with the masses, and now they do.

I think it’s pretty cool. You?

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I used to LOVE getting my grandparents to talk about when they were kids. They both grew up in Toledo, Ohio near the turn of the last century, and their stories mesmerized me. It was an era I was totally unfamiliar with, and the picture the history books painted for me paled in comparison to the first-hand view I received from my grandparents.

There have always been generational gaps, but it seems like that gap has widened measurably today. Students don’t understand the world their parents and grandparents grew up in, and I think most folks from the older generation have felt completely lost trying to communicate with the younger generation.

Then along came Facebook.
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I have heard it said that the fastest growing group on FB is women over the age of 55….and my kids live there! I have Facebook friends that are almost 80, and some that are 12. (Sorry, FB age requirement.) I think I could make a pretty strong case that Facebook may be the most multi-generational platform ever created….online or off. My questions is…is it “inter-generational”, and by that I mean, do the generations communicate with each other?

There is so much to be learned by communicating across generational lines. Both young and old can learn by listening, engaging…..really connecting. Perhaps in this age of social networking we can see some barriers begin to come down, and in the conversation that follows, we’ll see the richness we’ve missed by being in our generational silos.

Thoughts? Observations?