What’s Next Now

Here’s a video link about a team of neurosurgeons that did a play-by-play, conversational brain surgery using Twitter and YouTube.  It was followed live by about 1900 Twitter members.   We have barely scratched the surface regarding the possibilities that come with the expansion of social media tools.

What else might we find and use in following and conversing in the future?  Well, just off the top of my head:

• Participatory legislative processes – you will be able to follow and converse with elected officials during debate in committees and on the floor with legislators retweeting the most persuasive arguments
• Pizza delivery – your favorite pizza place will automate tweets during the process from order to door, or even deliver to wherever you are, based on your mobile phone coordinates
• Purchasing ninjas- a service will notify you when a hard-to-find item becomes available for purchase or when something on your favorites list goes on sale (Amazon.com, are you listening? Why don’t you have a place for me to put my twitter username in my profile?)
• Targeted benefits – businesses will market directly to you based upon your pre-set preferences and/or a tag-cloud generated from your on-line behavior
• Slow-time incentivism – restaurants and retailers will offer ‘for followers only” discounts and incentives via twitter to increase traffic during non-peak hours
• Prescription meds – pharmacies will provide direct-message reminders when to take your medication, to refill your prescriptions,  allow you to refill by reply and notify you when your prescription is ready for pick-up
• Way out there – Google maps will correspond with your calendar and your mobile device to send you alerts when you may be too far away to make it to that meeting on  time

We’re not quite the Jetsons yet, but it isn’t for a lack of trying.

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