Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Are social networks driving the rebirth of the handwritten note?

I think social networks have begun to influence the offline, er, real world.

How?  Well, it may be highly anecdotal, but I have noticed a dramatic increase in notes on car windshields. One could suggest it is the holiday season what with people sharing good tidings and all, but the notes I have seen are not of the particularly friendly sort.  Here's my thinking -- as more and more people feel empowered that their opinion actually matters and must be shared, that swelling of conviction can no longer be contained within the boundaries of the Twitter or the Facebook. So wherever a social injustice may occur (or one simply has an opinion on something) people now feel they have the right -- nay the obligation -- to express their outrage. Perhaps someone could come up with a line of notepads that express generic observations, and all the user (er, person) will have to do is fill in a blank or two to contribute their thoughts and feelings.  Now that's the offline equivalent of Facebook...

And by the way, to the person who left a note on my car claiming I blocked them in, next time don't pull thru and park your SUV in front of a pile of debris, leaving a legit parking space behind you. If I only had a notepad and a time machine...