Post

Communication and communities

Commentary

Communication has taken on a whole new meaning in recent years with the advent of the Internet. Instead of calling someone on the phone to schedule a face-to-face meeting, we can send an instant message to that person (if we have confirmed one another to be “friends”) on Facebook and take care of our business without picking up a phone or getting out of the office chair where we’ve been planted all day.Using Skype and Twitter, text messaging, email, instant message, FaceBook and a bunch of other social media tools available today, I can reach out and interact with almost anyone at anytime.

As an agricultural communicator, these new tools have played an important role in how we deliver the content we create to the persons who want and need to receive it. People go a lot of places to get their news and information today. In addition to the tried-and-true formats (radio, print publications, television) consumers are seeking out e-newsletters and You-Tube videos, Twitter and FriendFeed to pick up nuggets of “news.”

Armed with this new technology and cool gadgetry, suddenly anyone can be an on-the-scene reporter. All you need is an iPhone and abracadabra, you are a journalist. Because mainstream media has acted shamefully in recent months, choosing to sacrifice unbiased journalism for what seems to me to be a blurring of lines between truth and deception to build an audience; the public seems to have more readily accepted these personal interpretations of what might or might not be “news” events.

Since the advent of the Internet, community, as well, has been re-defined. Groups of people from different time zones can meet and interact online in a virtual setting without ever meeting in person. During the National AgriMarketing Association Conference held earlier this year, a presenter on social media made the statement that if Facebook was a country, it would be the 6th largest country.

I’m not a technology-nay-sayer. I am online daily. I own a Blackberry and have a Facebook page. I blog, podcast and tweet from time to time. I am a member of several social media communities. I utilize these modern technology tools in my work as well as in my personal and social life.

My plea is for balance. As the saying goes: All things in moderation.

I remember studying early childhood development in my education curriculum in college. It doesn’t take an education degree to know that physical touch is extremely important for the health and social development of a child. I believe that need for social interaction stays with most of us for the rest of our lives. Some more than others, maybe, but nonetheless, for the most part we are a gregarious species.

For 94 years, the Cooper County Agricultural and Mechanical Society has hosted the Prairie Home Fair in our little rural community. My chocolate chip cookies and canned green beans took first place honors in the baking and pantry stores divisions. My husband won blue ribbons in several rose classes. A heifer we raised was awarded the Champion Simmental trophy in Thursday’s cattle show.

I shared the story of our success with some “city” co-workers this morning while we were getting coffee. I told them about the variety of entries, from farm-fresh eggs and quilts to decorated cakes and photography. I told them how our friends and neighbors and people with whom we go to church catch up on one another’s gardens, hays crops and grandchildren as we admire one another’s entries.

The comments ranged from “Isn’t that quaint.” to “How nice to see you’re getting back to your roots.”

I laughed to myself. There’s no getting back to my roots as I never did try to shake them off.

My friend Julie commented as she walked by, “Sounds to me like a real community, not an electronic one.”

I think we are blessed to live in a society where we can enjoy both.