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Plurk! Pownce! Twitter! The Call Of a Microblogger

As of this week I am a regular contributor to the new English language newspaper Jakarta Globe. I'll be posting excerpts of my columns and articles as they appear on the newspaper's print and online editions. If they remove the articles from their website, I will post them in their entirety here.

Enjoy.

Human beings by nature are social creatures. Some may be more reclusive than others, but deep down there will always be the need for social interaction — even if it is mostly one way, as depicted by Tom Hanks in the movie “Cast Away” or Will Smith in “I Am Legend.”

That social interaction even extends to a segment of the community that is, counter-intuitively, among the world’s most socially connected people: home-workers. The irony of working in a formal environment is that although you are surrounded by people, you may know little about them outside of work. This is mitigated only by those famous “water cooler” moments of chitchat.

But I discovered a funny paradox about people who do not work in offices and do not even get these small moments of interaction: they are actually able to socialize with a greater number of people. And this “underworld” of social interaction has never been more evident than today, with always-on technology giving you access to almost any spot on the planet.

You are probably thinking about phones. Well, yes, but they are limited. If you are not the recipient of a call or text, you are being left out of the loop. No, I am talking about microblogging, also known as life streaming.

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Plurk! Pownce! Twitter! The Call Of a Microblogger