I’ve talked about the effectiveness of Collaboration in the past and more users of social media are coming to that conclusion as well. A perfect example of this is the growing use of real time messaging from platforms like Meerkat, Snapchat, Periscope and now Blab. The current podcast episode looks at how it could change how you make friends or do business.
We have all messaged, posted, and selfied across social media in an effort to be more connected, but several studies have indicated that rather than feeling connected, we actually feel depressed and more isolated. What I have begun to realize with real time platforms is that people mention over and over that they feel a sense of connectedness from seeing a face and hearing a voice rather than a carefully crafted photo or update.
I’ve also noticed that by posting updates and photos people give off a sense of being perfect, which may be part of what causes that sense of depression in others trying to measure up to what appears to be amazingly perfect lives. With these real time services, and especially the new platform blab, people are no longer able to hide behind carefully doctored or photo shopped images but appear as themselves. I found it refreshing that people are casually normal with bad hair days, odd faces, and real imperfect bodies that the people involved in the encounters don’t seem to mind at all because the person on screen is surprisingly like them.
People walk into these encounters being able to see in real time and comment or just make observations with a host that creates a scenario of them working together to share 
ideas, jokes, or just enjoyment, This is especially true on Blab where 4 people can interact at once with an audience on the side. I’ve seen all manner of events from an online book club complete with wine one night, to the buy my stuff person.
From a marketing standpoint these platforms mean that anyone now has a chance to broadcast and find an audience all over the world. Being able to answer questions or reply to comments from your audience means you are able to get feedback instantly on what they’re interested in. And, the broadcaster doesn’t feel so alone like you would when doing public speaking. True, it does require practice to get the hang of all the bells and whistles of presenting your content and watching your audience feed, but I guess you could say that comes with the territory. Like anything it requires developing a level of comfort but again, you are not alone and people will collaborate with you in developing an idea.
Another part of the connectedness is that an event can cross time zones. Depending on how late you want to stay up the East Coast group begins to fade and the rest of the country from St Louis to Los Angeles comes on. In no time you have covered the country and never left your home. Pretty neat huh?
These platforms might just be the next new shiny thing but I think they have truly hit on something. Being part of one of these live events is sort of like a watching TV show that combines the elements of America’s Got Talent and just hanging out to see what others are doing. I’ll warn you, it can become addictive. Try it you just might like it.
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