So I spent a great hour and a bit at SF Green Drinks this past Wednesday night at the 111 Minna gallery. Green Drinks are a once-monthly occurrence that bring together everyone in the green space, as well as plenty of onlookers, to chat, drink and be merry. Yesterday's event was sponsored by Matter Inc. and RMI2009, and was generally a success (at least in my book).
Something that did strike me, however, was how social media is being used to make the events more interactive. We've all seen them: the projections on the wall of Tweets relevant to the event, the latest news and comments as they come streaming in from the Interwebs. I think it's actually pretty neat, and gives me the feeling that I can feel the "pulse" of whatever event I'm currently scoping out.
That said, here's the ironic part: many of the Tweets were coming from people already at Green Drinks, out mingling in the room. This means that at some point each and every Twitterer took a minute to disconnect from the scene around them and send out a Tweet - an inherently unsocial thing to do at a social mixer, no?
It's fascinating to see how people integrate social media into their lives, whether it's on the bus, walking down the street, or at an event. The question for me is this: to what extent does integration come at the expense of real, authentic, in-person human experience?
So I spent a great hour and a bit at SF Green Drinks this past Wednesday night at the 111 Minna gallery. Green Drinks are a once-monthly occurrence that bring together everyone in the green space, as well as plenty of onlookers, to chat, drink and be merry. Yesterday's event was sponsored by Matter Inc. and RMI2009, and was generally a success (at least in my book).
Something that did strike me, however, was how social media is being used to make the events more interactive. We've all seen them: the projections on the wall of Tweets relevant to the event, the latest news and comments as they come streaming in from the Interwebs. I think it's actually pretty neat, and gives me the feeling that I can feel the "pulse" of whatever event I'm currently scoping out.
That said, here's the ironic part: many of the Tweets were coming from people already at Green Drinks, out mingling in the room. This means that at some point each and every Twitterer took a minute to disconnect from the scene around them and send out a Tweet - an inherently unsocial thing to do at a social mixer, no?
It's fascinating to see how people integrate social media into their lives, whether it's on the bus, walking down the street, or at an event. The question for me is this: to what extent does integration come at the expense of real, authentic, in-person human experience?