I and my associates live on the web every day. We forget there are many people who don't.
25 years ago. My first computer was an IBM PC (I missed the Kaypro days). 64K RAM, 2 5-1/4″ disk drives–it was leading edge. I taught myself Wordstar, dBase, and Lotus 123. Dabbled on dial up email and chatrooms on Compuserve. It was pretty cool.
The other day, I spent the entire day in my hotel room, in front of my computer.
- Checked, answered, and wrote emails.
- Opened Tweetdeck so I could stay updated on what the folks I’m following on Twitter were up to.
- Opened a page for Success in Sweatpants (my coaching practice) on Facebook (I invite you to become a fan!).
- Checked Triiibes.com and posted a few comments among the amazing conversations that go on there.
- Eagerly downloaded and read Seth’s Godin free Tribes Casebook (I’m on page 168! Way cool!)
- Met with my BlogTalkRadio partner, the wonderful Davender Gupta, to plan the very soft launch of our 3-day-per-week radio show.
- Talked to the wonderful Teresa, 4R’s Copywriting Practice Lead about what’s coming down the pike and when we should get together to do 2009 planning.
- Wrote an audition piece for a big book ghostwriting project.
- Used Paypal to send a referral fee to an associate.
- Hooked up with my niece on Facebook.
- Updated my info on Squidoo.
- Checked to see where the closest Costco is and how to get there from here.
- And I’m sure I’ve forgotten what else.
Pretty much a normal day. But it hit me–this tech-savvy water in which I am swimming, staying connected to people, places, and things that span the globe without leaving my room, is something I take completely for granted.
It’s so easy to forget that there are a lot of people–maybe MOST people–who don’t do anything (or very little) on computer. That whole Digital Divide thing, which I’ve pretty much ignored.
It’s a good idea for those of us in service businesses to remember that there is a big population of less-then-power-users out there who are still part of our target market. Maybe we need to work on stop taking the cyber-ocean in which we swim for granted, pop our heads above the surface, and chat with the folks standing on the shore.
