So, I’ll be starting mostly from scratch.

As it is with all discussions of innovation, it is important for me to provide you with a little perspective.  This comes courtesy a blog post by Clayton Bell, a fellow Tallahassee Blogger and Twitterphile.  It made me laugh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sometimes we forget that we should be gobsmacked by how amazing the times in which we live in actually are.

What I’m trying to do with Whatsnextnow.net is get those of you who grew up in my era, those who can remember the time of rotary phones, no microwave ovens, having to get off your butt to change the channel, etc., to realize that all of the new communication tools offered within the realm of  “social media”  should be considered and approached just like all the other innovations you have adopted in your lifetimes.  Didn’t you crave a TV with a remote once you knew they were available?  Of course you did.

Know this: If you have more than a couple years left before retirement,  this  social media stuff almost certainly is going to matter to your workplace and career in a very big way.  Yes, much of it is now going through the same sort of shake-out period that those of us who bought Betamax TV recorders learned was risky.  But I can guarantee you that several social media platforms are going to become standardized and widely adopted by business for and become part of routine communication functions.

Why I’m here is because I want you to be ready for it.   Conversational social media platforms are to “Business Communications 2009″ as the fax machine was to “Business Communications 1984″ and email was to “Business Communications 1994.”  A recent Pew Adult Social Media Use Study suggests that fewer than 15% of us online adults 45 and older have taken even the first baby steps into establishing a presence, a “social media footprint” so to speak, by creating their first on-line profile.  I’ll wager that more than half of us who have created profiles have done nothing with them.  It may be too soon for many to see the value in it, but unbeknownst to them “too soon” is heading past them like an Airbus (would have used “locomotive” but it’s just too danged old an analogy).

When I write here, I’ll try to keep in mind any age-related disconnects you might have.

Tropical Storm Fay flooded our home in Tallahassee on August 23 and we’re still recovering.  I hope to be back at this, making regular posts during the latter part of October.

Thanks for your kind notes and expressed concern.  We’ll be fine here.

Bob Finch

Whoa!  That got my attention!  I guy I respected in the business was talking about something I had dismissed out of hand.  What was I missing?

I’m an early-adopter who hates not being aware of all things new, so I decided to find out what was going on.  I joined Twitter.  And I posted. Mundane stuff.  At first I stuck to answering the question that Twitter suggests you ask yourself before posting: “What are you doing?”

Well, within a week or so, I was not only growing bored with sending out short, 140 character comments, but I was also getting a little peeved that nobody was following me (boo hoo).  Plus, my mind hadn’t made the proper connections to figure out how big this thing really is.  I also talked to several of my friends and learned none of them was using it… yet.

What was Zimmerman talking about?

“I’d better find out how people get followed, and figure out who I need to follow,” I thought.

And so I spent an hour or so Googling all things Twitter.  And gradually I saw the light.  This isn’t just kid stuff.  I’ve identified and follow several thought leaders I want to get to know, along with a small but growing cadre of Tallahassee Twitter Users.  Several of them are following me, too.

Having used it for a while, I know that for the uninitiated Twitter pretty much defies explanation. It just does. The only proof that I can offer is that I know the unique mode of communication that Twitter has tapped into is going to be something huge. Rather than try to explain why, here are three fictitious but already-have-happened business examples:

Example 1:

Joe has a little sandwich shop. One of his teenage employees spends her break time “tweeting” (Twitter posting) on her iPhone with friends. It comes up in conversation.

“All your friends are on it?” he asks.

“Yes, and I also follow my older brother who just graduated from college and all of his friends. It’s a great way to build relationships,” she says.

“Relationships?”  Joe asks.  “Tell me more.”

The next day Joe puts up a sign next to the cash register that says, “Follow Me on Twitter For Great Meal Deals” and includes his Twitter address. For the uninitiated, next to the sign he places a stack of instruction sheets explaining what Twitter is all about and how to sign up and follow him.

Soon, Joe has followers.  So, a couple days a week about an hour before lunch, he tweets out a daily special that begins: “Show this tweet for cheap eats!  Today’s special is…”

On rainy days, he sends out reminders about his delivery service.  Before holidays, he tweets about his party platters. Joe is a happy Twitterer.

Example 2:

Fred is in sales in a midsized Midwest town.  He reads blogs by the thought leaders in his industry.  He knows from experience about how long it takes for a new “next big thing” to work its way from New York or Boston or LA to his little burb.  Reading blogs has helped improve his sales but it’s also been very time-consuming.

One day he learns that some of his favorite bloggers are also using Twitter, so he gives it a try.  He starts following the people he’s been reading.  And then he starts following some of their followers.  Over a couple months, he builds a great base of social network friends in situations similar to his in different podunk towns across America and they all start sharing sales ideas that help him. While he didn’t comment often in the blogs, he finds it less difficult to initiate conversations with people who told him (and the rest of the world) what they had for breakfast.

Example 3:

Mary is the customer service manager for a large chain of small retail stores. Her son tells her that he was playing with Twitter search and put in her company name.  What people were saying mostly wasn’t very good.  So she sets up her own Twitter account, starts regularly searching for keywords related to her company, and when she learns of complaints she sends direct tweets to those with problems, takes the conversation off-line and resolves the issues.

The bottom line:

Twitter is about a lot more than just the everyday happenings in its users lives.  But it appears that those doses of personal texture and flavor facilitate types of connections among former strangers that don’t usually happen in the “real world.”

As for me, I’ll just have to get over not being like some of the hard core Twitterholics with ten gazillion followers… they’re in big cities.  I’m in the boonies.  My time will come.

Note: In later posts, I’ll cover some of the most popular Twitter web applications and real-life examples of how people are using Twitter to get wins in their businesses and careers.