Social media makes the world a smaller place

As some of you know, I’ve been in Vietnam for the last 2 weeks working with the Lift9 research team. Vietnam is a fantastic place and our wonderful team has really made me feel welcome.

During my visit, I’ve been able to keep in touch with friends and family using all of the social media tools.  Once I got accustomed to the International Date Line and being a day ahead, the tools of social media have enabled me to continue conversations as if I was still at my desk.  Using Twitter, I’ve been able to keep in touch with friends, wherever they are.  For example, Seattle friends Paolo Tosolini and Eric Weaver have also been away at the same time; Paolo in Italy and Eric in Mumbai. Yet, as Paolo said, “We are on the opposite side of the world, yet tweeting like normal. very cool.”

It’s been pretty interesting to participate on Twitter in such a different timezone than I am accustomed to. Not only am I getting up when people I’m used to seeing are going to sleep, but it’s been cool to tweet live with friends in Asia, Australia and Europe.

I haven’t been as creative as Paolo and Eric in taking video of their trips, but I have been updating trip photos to Twitter, Facebook, and Posterous.  Most of my photos have been food related, showing exotic meals and street food, but I’ve also taken photos of some unique scenes like this one of a man and his son at an outdoor cafe.

I’ve only been using my iphone to take photos, but I’ve been pretty excited about the results. Of course, using tools like FlashforFree and Photoshop Mobile have helped dramatically.

In addition to the Twitter and the photos, I’ve used Skype to keep in touch with family and the office. Once my wife figured out how to use it, it’s been a godsend.

We’ve all talked about how social media has made the world a smaller place.  This trip, I have experienced it first hand.