Do you hear chuckling when you tweet?

A great post over at Fistful Of Talent (FOT) today made me think. I was recently at a meeting of colleagues in the HR teaching/research game. We were discussing ways to build a community of practice around improving our teaching in HRM. I mentioned a couple of possible technologies, including Twitter and Ning, which may be useful in building and maintaining a social network around this focus. We use both of these for developing and maintaining our social network: www.HRMtheJournal.com

Anyway, the response was consistent with that identified by the survey by Third Age/JWT Boom and discussed by Kris Dunn at FOT: Snort... why would we be interested in that... kid's stuff... what the xxxx is Tweeter (sic)... etc etc. Some of you may recall similar responses when trying to get colleagues, family members, or god forbid bosses (!) to use email about 15 years ago. The chart tells the story:

So what's the harm? Can't we just leave it to the young-un's? Well sure, you might do that. The problem is, you will be slower, less well informed, and less capable of communicating with your future peers (as those young-uns race up the hierarchy and eventually out-pace you in promotions!).

For us Academics/Writers/Researchers/Consultants the need is no less powerful. Staying abreast of the latest tech is what separates the winners from the losers in a world of freelancing, independent, long-tail livin' knowledge peeps... Just ask the guys at FOT!

Of course, perhaps blogging about the need to be tech savvy no matter what your generation is a little like heading to Salt Lake City, Utah and recruiting for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. (disclosure: I spent 3 years living in Utah before making my escape)