Check out How the Social Web Destroys Traditional Marketing - Articles - Baekdal.com

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I want you to take a look at: How the Social Web Destroys Traditional Marketing - Articles - Baekdal.com 

(Internet) Age Old question: Internet relationships...better?

Indeed, a question as old as the first transmission of the first data bytes between computer terminals: can relationships be built, and sustained via digital interaction?

In a study₍₁₎ on communication apprehension (the tendency to become nervous in face-to-face interaction), researchers Michelle Mazur and Ryan Burns studied how communication apprehension either increases or decreases when people "meet" online. The study examined people who had met their romantic partners online, and measured their general level of communication apprehension, introversion (shyness), and interdependence (how connected they were with their partners).

The study revealed that among the people who were generally apprehensive about communicating face-to-face, their relationships online had a high level of interdependence. Among people who are more shy, their online relationships were not particularly interdependent; these type of people tend to maintain independence within their relationships in general.

So what's the point? Of course the debate continues, even among scholars, whether or not relationships between people are affected by the increasing amount of time spent communicating online (and by extension, other modes), versus face-to-face contact--the jury's still out on that one! But what we are definitely sure of is that people are initiating and maintaining relationships using online channels.

Might be important to consider the next time you see a hot person online that "in real life" you might be interested in!




_{1. "Perceptions of Relational Interdependence in Online Relationships: The Effects of Communication Apprehension and Introversion. Communicaiton Research17(4), 2000.}

So what the hells' been up with you?

I know, I know, that's probably the question if you were one of the exclusive (READ: one of five) people who have had the privilege of reading my blog--especially since the last time there was an entry was over a year ago; And despite it being ridiculously overdue--good things come to those who wait! But let's get some housekeeping out the way first:

What else I've been up to

As I'm sure several of you know, TIME'S ARE HARD!! The primary reason I haven't been updating like I should is that I've been working and attempting to complete the last leg of my college-tour; as in the tour of classes I have to take before I can exit stage left.

In the meantime though, I actually had a few great opportunities. I interned for a blog How Legit, that was a great experience. I became acquainted with The Web Start-up, learned some pretty great things in SEO, page analytics, and all that great technical stuff that'll make an online marketing maven of me!

Shortly after that, I had another internship with Change.org; similar stuff, honing my social marketing chops, networking with some great people, etc. I recommend to anyone, get as much experience as you can--cliche, I know, but invaluable none the less!

I just wanted to provide a synopsis of my year in review. The most important thing I wanted to bring up was that If you're following me anywhere else (i.e Twitter, FB, Digg) my names there are all the same, Cre8tv Rec (well, mostly the same.)

What's new on the menu

So first, by virtue of me knowing more, I can write more--AWESOME!! I also plan to attempt to expand the scope of my blog to incorporate communication phenomena from sources other than social networking sites, but that's kind of on the back-burner (maybe of another stove!) But rest assured, I'm definitely back on the horse. I guess I can see where Green Day was coming from--now that September ends, it's time to be woke up!

Stay tuned friends and foes...