My interest in Twitter/FriendFeed and all things social media is so like my interest and involvement with VoIP it sometimes keeps me up at night.
VoIP for me was never about the technology – and it certainly wasn’t about “making a phone call”, we could already do that. It was about the possibly. The possibility of being able to communicate with friends, family and strangers who have a common interest in the context of what we wanted to talk to them about.
It was always the power of context. It was always about moving our communication into the contexts that mattered to us right then.
Twitter/FriendFeed and social media resonate with me for that reason. And more. We now have the ability to merge the private and the public. To, not only bring the communication into the context (like, for example, a UStream Chat Room does), but also to extend the conversation beyond that venue.
The context then becomes the subject, topic or event – like Peter Himmelman’s Furious World – and that event can live outside the venue in which it takes place (Peter’s studio in CA). UStream extends the walls of Peter’s studio and allows him the ability to invite us all in. Peter gets to do what he’d be doing anyway… and we’re invited.
The Wombat Tracker does the same thing for the conversation about Peter and the Furious World. It tears down the walls of the UStream chat room and let’s the conversation live. Because what we are interested in is talking about Peter, his music, and the Furious World – and that isn’t limited to the venue – just like freeing Peter to tear down the walls of his studio via UStream and invite us in… we tear down the walls that separate the conversation from the rest of the world.
Which brings us back to the cocktail party principle. Have you every been at a cocktail party and just hung back? Stood off to the side and observed everything, all at once? There are dozens of conversations going on, some people are talking to each other, some people are talking at each other, while others appear to be in the conversation, but are really just observing.
You are in a room of people, each making their individual noises – and if you try to take it in all at once all you register is noise. But if you get up, and join a conversation, all that noise recedes into the background. Voices emerge, thoughts are exchanged, friends are made. From a room full of noise we are able to discern the signal – and in doing so participate in conversation with those that share our interests and – if you are lucky – connect with people you’ll maintain a relationship with.
That is what JustSignal is for – and what the Wombat Tracker does. It filters out the noise, turns up the signal and allows those of us interested in Peter, his music and the Furious World to become Wombats.
You’re a Wombat, and you can’t watch Furious World live – grab the Wombat Tracker and we’ll keep you updated. And when a Himmelman fan has yet to discover Furious World and their inner Wombat – we can see that and invite them in. Because the Furious World isn’t a place, it isn’t a webcast, and it isn’t separate from the world – it is you, me, and every one of us – in the world, wherever we are, whatever we are doing.