Most of us spend more hours attached to a computer than we spend with our neighbors, friends, and even family. We’re no longer waiting on the delivery of interoffice mail or limited to a location determined by the corded phone. Work is mobile and accessible 24/7. We are always connected. There is no getting away from this. It is how it is.

Being connected to the digital universe doesn’t mean we need to disconnect from each other. On the contrary, it enables us to find those with common interests and desires, to connect in a multidimensional way with others on the grid. Twitter and Foursquare go a step further by throwing geolocation into the mix, allowing us to quickly disseminate information to the community. Many of those who have previously attended a KDC mixer learned of it through social media. It has become our generation meeting at the digital fence, a snapshot of every moment mirroring our experience off the grid. It’s a parallel universe.

c’mon. everybody’s doing it.

Some digital local yokels are already doing it right! Hudson Coffee Traders offers incentives for their ‘followers’. Besides offering free WiFi, Hudson Coffee Traders hosts one of the most coveted Mayorships on FourSquare! Being the Mayor grants you the simple privilege of a free cup of coffee every Wednesday! Can’t overthrow the Mayor of Hudson Coffee Traders? You still have another chance! On Facebook, they choose one customer randomly each Monday, connecting the customer to the promise of a complimentary medium cup of coffee.

Is it working? There’s rarely a time that I’ve ‘checked in’ on Foursquare at Hudson Coffee Traders and not discovered many of my neighbors and friends – many who I was introduced to through Twitter – were already there.

Off the grid, Hudson Coffee Traders is a digital hub in our community, many of us meeting there to work, to meet, and of course, to indulge in coffee. Part of what has made it that way is the willingness of Tim and Donna Brooks to do everything they can to connect with their customers – many of them who work in the digital sector. It brings back the old neighborhood feeling, going into a coffee shop, and having the owners greet you by your name, ask is your child is better? How’s your family? What happened to your ankle?… You know each other as people because you have given a glimpse of yourself, who you are, what are you about by sharing your thoughts and quirks.

It’s all too easy to objectify someone you do not know. Social media adds the human element, something to identify with, to your person, to your product, or to your company. It acts as a reminder that everyone is multidimensional in character. We’re not one-dimensional billboards. We’re all a little quirky. That’s OK. That may even be good.

It’s isn’t about berating your followers with incessant sales pitches. It’s about making connections with your followers, networking with those who have similar interests and desires, briding a disconnect.

Frankly, I never read much of the Daily Freeman before becoming acquainted with Ivan Lajara on Twitter. I do now.

Social media can help resolve some of the the gaps that were introduced through the evolution of our digital universe. It’s human to human connection, even if its means is via the wire.

And so the neighborhood feels a little smaller.

And what better feeling is there than that?

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CONNECT! COLLABORATE! CONQUER!