Observed at [re]think Hawaii Part 2

Actually, I forgot some observations in my first post Observed at [re]think Hawaii, so here’s a follow on post.

Safari Top Sites

I talked about the Apple love at [re]think Hawaii, but what I also noticed from over-the-shoulder observations is Safari’s Top Sites as a user’s home page. Instead of having a singular traditional home page, Safari can display a wall of your top sites as your home. Those in the crowd and even presenters would display Top Sites when opening a new Safari window.

I just changed my Safari preferences to show Top Sites for new windows and tabs, and yes, I like it. I get an immediate display of sites I frequent, making it very easy to jump to one.

Extreme Multitaskers

Another over-the-shoulder observation I saw was the multitasking abilities of the crowd. Many at [re]think Hawaii were armed with laptops and while presentations were occurring, attendees were listening in, asking questions, checking email (lots of Gmail users), posting Facebook updates, tweeting, uploading pictures to Flickr, and so much more. Talk about extreme multitasking!

I sat there, listened, and jotted notes in my analog notebook. Okay, okay, I used my iPhone to multitask at times too. 🙂

Social Media Means Be Social

One last point about social media that is in the obvious-but-not-so-obvious category. With all the digital interactions we have using social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, a goal of social media is to be social in real life. All these tools help expose you to a wider audience and start conversations, but that’s where they end. To really cement partnerships and friendships, you need to take the online social activity into the real world. The [re]thinkers in attendance understood this and really took advantage of what Hawaii has to offer with group excursions to Waikiki, our beaches, and other various sights. It’s these real life social  interactions that made [re]think Hawaii unforgettable.

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