Staying Connected.
I’m excited to be a contributor to the Canadian Marketing Blog. Being a regular visitor, and now telling all my friends and co-workers to visit (!), I’ve read interesting stories and points of view on a range of issues. From volunteering to politics, hearing new developments in online marketing, branding challenging in today’s media world or sharing a jazzy creative idea, the site brings the marketing community together. Judging by the caliber of stories and comments, I’ll definitely be keeping my HP keyboard warm. In taking up this blogging challenge, my goal is to write about marketing and communications ideas, share personal and professional experiences with you, and ask for your feedback. Together, if we share opinions, solve problems or make a connection or two, this will be really cool experience for me.
Since my background is marcomm and technology, I read with interest about the Blackberry ‘service interruption’ that began late Tuesday April 17th that left millions of mobile uses without access to their email. Watching the stock price dip in the morning, it drove home the reality that we lead truly connected lives and these devices are a necessity for many of us. Further proof were the comments from Canadians – even politicians who were interviewed on the CBC – “I needed my fix…so I tried to keep busy but still got a little panicked,” or “I couldn’t stand not knowing what was happening at work, etc. etc.” That’s pretty powerful stuff! When customers were finally able to get back online and rush through the tens of emails that had accumulated in their inboxes, their panicked state subsided for the time being. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s talk in the future that the service should be regulated, so – god forbid – it doesn’t happen again.
This reaction was fascinating to me and I believe exposed a core human trait – it is fundamentally important for us to stay connected within our world and have the choice to connect and communicate with others. Today this is evidenced with the use of mobile devices. A thousand years ago it was storytelling around a campfire. You can see it in ancient European cities that were built with enormous town centres as gathering places. We read emails, send instant messages, visit sites and download files at a seemingly insatiable pace. Whatever the activity, we’re within reach of others, keeping the conversation going – staying connected.
In our crazy noisy, fast paced world, there’s solace knowing that we can connect with virtually anyone in just a few quick key strokes. And that's definitely what I'm looking forward to.
