The ultimate social networking tool - a journey’s end?

“Are we nearly there yet?” are the words all parents dread hearing from their children, especially five minutes into a four hour car ride. These words are currently ringing in my ears as I read the latest stories around Twitter, Facebook and predictions for the next big thing.

These social networking applications are amazing communication tools and, as a PR consultant, they form a part of my daily life. It’s interesting to see though that we’re already looking at what’s coming next – but will the social networking journey ever end?

Having worked in the PR industry for over ten years, I can still remember communicating with clients and the media via fax and post. A dial-up Internet connection was something to dream about. Today, if Google takes more than a few seconds to deliver up thousands of results to my current information request, I get impatient. And I know it’s a common feeling.

We’ve all become used to the access we have to a world of information and ideas. As a communications professional, it’s an amazing source of inspiration and opportunity. But it’s also interesting to see how these ongoing technology developments impact people.

As soon as something new is announced, the world knows about it. The news of Bing and Wave became common knowledge within hours via Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc. etc. This compares dramatically to new technology launches even five years ago, which could take weeks to get the same level of exposure, with trade events being scheduled, press tours arranged and CEOs and CTOs needing to travel large distances for face-to-face meetings/demonstrations. Busy people no longer need to waste hours travelling or sitting in individual meetings – large audiences can be reached within minutes using online multimedia tools. From a people perspective, it means more time spent online rather than in personal interaction. And we’re still asking ‘what’s next?’

It’s great to know that there are always fresh ideas being developed, with support of creative think tanks (Google alone offers several!) and entrepreneurs taking an Open source view to making new tools available as quickly as possible to as many people as possible – Twitter and Facebook to name but two!

While we need to look to the future, we should remember that the journey is half the fun and making the most of the things we encounter along the way is important too. Maybe we should all focus on the positives and making the most of the tools available before looking at what’s around the corner? But hey, looking ahead is human nature and (at least for the moment) the human element is still the common factor in social networking.