6 pixels

I came across Mitch Joel and his 'Six Pixels of Separation' yesterday. Haven't looked at the book yet, as such, but was most intrigued by one of the promotional videos related to it. It has almost nothing in it except words and a voice (Joel's) on the soundtrack. But the words are used in a wonderfully inventive way - there's only one point where a paragraph is actually visible on screen as it would be in a book, but even then, as Joel reads, each word or two is highlighted, keeping up with his considerable pace of speaking. Otherwise words speed across the screen, enlarge, form boxes...in general, play. It's worth watching more than once just for the inventiveness of it all.



On his blog Joel also notes the fact that it's baby boomers (grandparent-type people, in other words) who are using Facebook primarily now. I'd heard this last year, but it's good to see it confirmed again. He quotes the Boomers and Social Media report which notes: "Creating and renewing personal connections online is the biggest draw for boomers... Their contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages."

So in other words, boomers - people of my age - are using Facebook as a way of keeping up contact not just with their peers, but with everyone amongst their family and friends.