I consider myself a pretty well rounded guy. I know I’m a geek and consider it a term of endearment. On the other hand I’ve got a fairly eclectic set of friends, family and co-workers that possess varying degrees of technical savvy.
It’s occurred to me recently however, that even though I work in IT I have very few friends or acquaintances these days that are truly web savvy. Here is a quick list, off the top of my head, of 6 things I don’t think average people do on the Internet.
- Subscribe to RSS feeds. If you’re reading this blog and aren’t a member of my family, chances are you know what an RSS feed is. Believe it or not most folks don’t. Not even your friendly neighborhood IT guy. I work on a team of 8 people doing configuration management and not a single member of my team uses a news reader. Not very scientific you say? Well I did a survey of the larger group of some 50 “IT” professionals and the results would astound you. Less than 10 percent really new what RSS was. Scary huh? Sure everybody has a blog now, but none of them know how powerful it can be.
- Use on-line Word Processing or other “Office” Applications. This was an even bigger shock to me. I need almost no real client software on my personal computer. I use the suite of Google applications for everything from e-mail to my calendar and even my Word Processing, Spreadsheet, and Presentation needs. I keep my notebooks and bookmarks on Google. All of my todo-lists are in Backpack. My computer could take a total dump and I could move along to the next machine fat, dumb and happy. Most “average” people look at you when you try and explain Web 2.0 and web based applications like you just passed gas.
- Set up spur of the moment outings with friends using twitter or dodgeball. This one probably isn’t that big of a shock to most of us. There are tons of people on twitter and probably equal numbers on other social networks like dodgeball. But in the grand scheme of things, even a couple hundred thousand users is a drop in the Internet “bucket”. If you’re not a geek and you want to get everyone over to your favorite local coffee house, what do you do? You dial them on your cell phone, one by one.
- Get their degree on-line. I almost didn’t put this one on the list. I think there is a bit of a generation gap issue with this one. These days more and more “youngsters” are pretty comfortable with taking classes on-line, although I think few do it for the majority of their education. I got almost all of my degree completed on-line through the University of Marland. Try and find a professional in any field that got most of the degree on-line and you’d be hard pressed. The more cyber charter schools like k-12 penetrate the landscape the more I think this will become mainstream.
- Telecommute. I’m still dismayed by the number of companies that don’t truly embrace telecommuting. I live in a rural area about 40 miles outside of Philly. It was nearly impossible for me to find a company that would allow telecommuting out of the gate. Most said flat out no. Some said that we could “work our way into it”. Even the great progressive company of them all Google, doesn’t appear to do it much. How can this be? In the 21st century with web-cams, IM, Skype and everything else we have, how can we still be reluctant to do this. Could it be the majority of the population doesn’t feel disciplined enough?
- Buy big tickets items on-line. Sure everybody shops on-line these days. Ebay is a household name. But how about ebay motors? How about all of the fledgling “For Sale by Owner” real estate sites? I bought the car I drive on-line sight unseen. Does everyone else know something I don’t?
It seems as though there is still a great deal of room for growth in many of these areas. The people that solve the problems and break down the barriers to true main-stream adoption of these tools will be the rich people of tomorrow. Here’s to hoping it’s you … or even better yet … me.
January 24, 2008 at 06:51
Even more: I was helping a neighbor with a misbehaving printer yesterday when he mentioned that he wanted to buy a new computer soon and asked what he should get. I recommended a Mac. His response: “Oh, no, because I need to browse the web and do Excel”.
Right. Microsoft invented spreadsheets and the Internet, I forgot..
January 24, 2008 at 21:48
1. I do I subscribe to RSS feeds to the point of addiction if I was addictive.
2. Well Lyne got me hooked on online apps, they make life so much easier.
3. No only because we’re anti-social to the point of being hermits.
4. Got y degree so long ago it wasn’t an option but if I peruse another degree it will be online.
5. My company calls it cyber comute and we literally wrote the book on it.
6. Yep got a car online only went into the dealer to pick it up.
January 24, 2008 at 22:23
Subscribe to RSS feeds. Yep. I’ve been banging on about how good RSS is for around three years now.
I use no email client anymore. I have my own domain email set up via Gmail. Many advantages.
Been invited to a twitter meet downtown tomorrow actually - my first one.
No, I didn’t get my degree on-line. Wasn’t possible. Not then.
I run my own business, and largely work from home.
I met my wife online. Does that count as a big-ticket item? Seriously, I buy a lot of things online, I prefer it to going to the mall for sure.
January 24, 2008 at 23:34
You guys are the greatest. Thanks for participating. I’m working hard on ideas for a new post in the morning. Hope you like it.
January 26, 2008 at 08:35
Good stuff.
1 - Google Reader Rocks
2 - Dont use online apps - very attached to my MS Office Suite. But I’ve used Google docs to share documents.
3 - I don’t use Twitter to socialize with people in my physical ares. My friends and family arent tech savvy yet.
4 - Degree Online - still thinking about that
5 - I have my own business online.
6 - We found our latest car online - and like you just went to the dealer to buy. Same thing with our new fridge. I researched and researched then went to the store to purchase it (I still need to physically see some things).
Awesome post - glad I found you on twitter!
January 26, 2008 at 11:18
I’ve done everything except for a bit leery about online apps. They just don’t feel very secure.
Btw, one could add the use of wikis to that. I just introduced some friends to it, they were delighted, most of all a 70-year old friend.
The replies to your post are interesting (including the beginning of my reply). They are once again about what we geeky people are doing, not what the rest of the world is doing. And believe me, the rest of the world is MUCH bigger! Never mind people in countries where IT isn’t that big, even here in North America, the cradle of IT.
I think we need to spend WAY more time paying attention to people who are not (yet) comfortable with this world. Maybe even learn something from them.
January 26, 2008 at 11:33
Wow … thanks for the great responses Isabella and Cara. Very good point about Wikis Isabella. Each new company I move into I work to make Wiki’s part of the culture. Using Microsoft Sharepoint at my current location pains me. :)
January 26, 2008 at 14:16
1. Yes, I got you through an RSS reader.
2. I use Google documents for an address spreadsheet and use a document that tracks my spending and expenses.
3. I was invited to a twitter meet up yesterday, I didn’t actually go however.
4. Some of my coursework for my degree was online, but most of it was traditional.
5. I telecommute about 25% of the time. About 1/4 to half of that time is working from home, and the rest of the time is when I travel outside the city for work projects.
6. I have never purchased a big ticket item online (yet)
January 26, 2008 at 14:18
Hey Adam .. welcome to the blog … thanks for stopping by!
January 26, 2008 at 23:14
Hahaha all of this is so true! Although I have to admit I haven’t done online schooling, but I haven’t ruled it out yet. But honestly though, Anthony Lawrence’s comment (the first one) made me literally rofl. Haha “microsoft invented spreadsheets & the internet…” hilarious.
January 26, 2008 at 23:44
I here ya Cher. It’s sad to me really, how many people there are that have access to the Internet and don’t really know what a powerful tool they have or how to use it. But hey, it gives me a mission in life!
January 27, 2008 at 16:30
I think you’re right. Regular people aren’t doing these things for various reasons. Not even many of us “Geeks” for that matter, as you pointed out about your IT friends.
1. I subscribe, but don’t look at them too often.
2. I like the idea of online software, but I don’t trust Google with my data or even my search items. Scroogle.org is my favorite search engine.
3. Twitter quit working here in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. I received twitters on my cell phone for a while, but it quit about a month ago.
4. Still haven’t found a reputable school that offers the courses my wife wants to take.
5. Telecommute daily. Even my ten year old son Joshua is doing it! What ever happened to lemonade stands? Visit his online video game store! http://astore.amazon.com/joshuas-arcade-20
6. I found a used Toyota Celica for my son John online, but I checked it out and test drove several others I found online before buying.
January 29, 2008 at 03:02
I feel whichever apps you use, whether it is online or not, is not important. The most important is whether you are comfortable with it and it suits your needs.
I get my parents and relatives who are relatively newcomers on opensource apps usually, as it is easier to fill an empty glass.
January 31, 2008 at 12:43
All the people above listing all the things they have done are nice. But it is obvious that the people posting comments are not too similar to the “unsavvy” majority of Americans.
If you had to put a #7 on the list you could probably put, post a comment to a blog entry. I do this for less than 1% of the articles I read. I am pretty knowledgeable about and involved in the online world. I own and operate my own online business, but I only can say that I do one of the things on your list (if you call running a web based business from home “telecommuting”).
PS I got here through StumbleUpon. Most likely I will not make it back to this site any time soon. That is not a knock on this blog, but it is just the truth about the behavior of Stumble Users. (I did give a thumbs up, though).