Connectivity is poverty?

I thought it would be appropriate to start off my blog with a few thoughts on social media and what it says about us, its users. I came across an article by Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times recently in which she poses the interesting idea that "connectivity is poverty."

What she is getting at is that privacy and real intimacy are luxuries that only the rich can afford. The rest of us have 700 Facebook 'friends' and look anxiously at our Twitter follower numbers because we need these networks. The poor need the community to survive.

The timing of the article is pretty interesting considering that Oprah joined Twitter just this week. However, even when the largest of celebrities join these networks it is pretty clear that they don't really need them or are that interested in engaging in conversations with us little people. Most celebrities on Twitter seem to follow a handful of other celebrities and not their legions of following fans. It's another medium for them to shout their message, not to converse with the masses. They're not all that interested in what we have to say.

At last count, Oprah was following 10 people while being followed by over 300,000.

Money and power mean the freedom to unplug. The rest of us have to worry about keeping up with the latest Web 2.0 developments or risk being left behind by our careers and our networks.

I'm not sure if I would abandon my online networks if I were rich. But on second thought, with that much money, I could probably find something better to do with my time. Right now I'm just one of the hoi polloi blogging my life away.