Web 2.0 Culture: What Twitters in Silicon Valley Stays in Silicon Valley
by
on April 28, 2008,
I'm back in New York now after my week in San Francisco last week and am still adjusting to the cultural shift. Not only am I back in the suburbs where I have to drive everywhere, but how I use Web 2.0 apps is in stark contrast to how I used them last week, and it isn't just the difference between being at a conference and being back home and my regular work schedule.
The first thing I noticed in San Francisco was the walking: everyone had a to-go cup of coffee in one hand and some type of cellular device in the other, texting, browsing, or Tweeting away as they walk. And while I've seen some of the Twitter interactions that take place in the Valley in the timeline, I honestly couldn't see myself doing it until I was actually there. It was nothing to pull out my phone, check Fireball, then check Tweetscan, see where people were or were going to be, and change plans on the fly.
However, as RSSmeme creator Benjamin Golub notes in my image above, that doesn't fly in most areas of the country. I am sure that if I pulled out my cell and started Twittering when I was out with friends, they'd have absolutely no trouble slapping my cell right out of my hand. I probably used the Internet access more on my cell last week than I have in the past six months, when it usually gets used to look up information or test an app for review.
The resulting culture shock makes me wonder what the overall impact of Web 2.0 really is. There are definitely many facets of it that have become widespread, like user-generated content, but when it comes to apps like Brightkite and Fireball that may see heavy use in the Valley, will they really have that much of an impact outside of the tech epicenter? Silicon Valley's tech populace can't support all of these apps alone, and their continued success and usage will depend on more widespread adoption. So what will change, application development or the culture?
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Svetlana Gladkova
Opensource 
Michael Fidler 
Imagine that, Silicon Valley navel-gazing and thinking that what’s important to them is what’s important to everyone else… It’s called “Head Up Ass” syndrome, and it’s epidemic in the valley… I think we should cordon off the whole place and put them on quarantine for a year or two… It would look like the South Park episode, with VC’s hitching up their gear on their hybrids and heading out “looking for the internet” while comically trying to text and twitter on their now defunct crackberries. It would be a laugh riot…
Many of us with a foot both inside and outside the Valley are aware of this issue. Trying to navigate the rift is an ongoing challenge.
I try to judge the “new hotness” not just by how trendy it is in the Valley, but also but whether it solves actual problems for me and/or for folks who don’t live in the Bay Area tech bubble. If it doesn’t, I won’t use it (Friendfeed would be a good example of this).
@Grendel So I’m guessing you aren’t interested in an invitation for Brightkite?
@lux I agree, and it’s hard to sort that out. There are too many apps in general, as well as too many apps that are really features and not really apps, that are only useful for the loud 2% of users in the Valley. I try to approach apps from both my personal perspective as well as that of the SV high-end web user, but you are right, they don’t always mesh.
I did get a real eye-opener when I saw the personal electronics; the number of iPhones was astounding. No wonder Steve Jobs is convinced he can sell a slew of them; I think the entire U.S. stock of iPhones has made its way into the Valley, and Steve still has 49 other States plus 2/3 of California full of people who haven’t even touched one yet. That has to have an impact on what’s being designed for mobile as well.