Online "Friends"

At some point earlier this semester we talked about ways reporters were trying to measure audience response in the presidential debates. They are pushing ways to quanitify emotions and reactions of humans in a machine like way. I was reminded of this by the article about Twitter. The author envisions twitter being used in a similiar way:

If you could have a few hundred or a few thousand people Twittering their observations on what was happening, and then somehow assemble them into a cohesive whole. You could get a more meaningful and perhaps more accurate read of what the crowd felt or the “mood” than any single journalist could provide, whether with camera, microphone or by writing.

In an ideal world, perhaps. He does say that he suggests people find a way to use it intelligently and for the benefit of others, but I think this is giving the general public a little too much credit. Or is it?

The article in the NYT demonstrates jsut how responsive people can be when something grabs their interest or something is at stake for them (privacy, etc). I think this article demonstrates how much power these online communities have, and have the potential to have. In our changing times with these new technologies available, it seems it is crucial to figure out how to use them to your advantage no matter what area that is. To add a personal and somewhat relevant anecdote, I recently received a facebook friend request from a priest at my church that presided over my sisters wedding. He is young, probably early 30s, and at first I was admittedly weirded out by it. After exploring his page and realizing that he had old high school friends to reconnect with, just like someone in any other profession, I accepted the request. So reporter or priest, new online technology can serve you in some way.