I really enjoy appearing on the TV Ontario show The Agenda, in part because the conversation led by host Steve Paikin is always top notch, taking the guests and audience into new territory. Steve has this way of simultaneously understanding where the conversation is going while also keeping it grounded in language and concepts that are as accessible as possible. This type of intellectual populism is precisely what I think enables engaging television.

Last night's panel was on the subject of "Socializing Online", it was produced by celebrity TVO producer Mike Miner, and my fellow guests were Nancy Baym from the AoIR, Maggie Fox of the Social Media Group, and Will Pate, community evangelist and host of commandN. While there wasn't as much debate or disagreement compared to past shows, we were able to really build off of each other's comments and insights to reach a high level of discourse.

This morning as I was shoveling the latest dump of snow, I kept coming back to a question Steve asked me on-air, regarding what we get out of engaging in immersive and continuous online socializing. While I gave an answer that addressed his question, I realize in hindsight I missed an opportunity to tie in another insight I made earlier in the show with regard to space.

I feel that once you reach a certain point of saturation when it comes to using the Internet, the barrier or distinction between the "real" and the "virtual" starts to dissolve. At any time you may be communicating with someone physically in the same room with you, or on the other side of the planet. Last night on the show I described a "technological milieu" that surrounds each of us and within this space exists anyone we are currently, or may potentially, communicate with.

Jeff Pulver likes to refer to this as a "social media living room" and my new friend Elizabeth Estes-Cooper describes social media as a type of front porch (or veranda as many Torontonians refer to it). I really like Elizabeth's example, as growing up in Toronto one of the dominant social activities for many families is to sit on the porch and watch the world go by, while discussing anything and everything under the sun.

The key difference of course in the online world is that the capacity of that porch is far greater than what we're used to. You can have hundreds, even thousands of people with you hanging out. Now imagine that social space existing around you at all times. When your friends do things, you know about it, when they have insights or issues, you find out.

Ever have that feeling that someone is writing you an email and then a few moments later it arrives? Perhaps when typing the message they were there with you, in a virtual sense, hanging out on the porch, composing their thoughts.

Another important distinction between traditional social interaction and the open society fostered by online interaction, is that you are no longer limited by family or geography. Last night Steve asked me who I was friends with and I blurted out Yoko Ono, but it's more than just this particularly inspiring artist.

I'm "friends" with lots of people who I'd otherwise have never had the chance to meet, let alone have hanging out on my porch. Some of these people might be business or political leaders, artists, comedians, and people from all walks of life, some who I've sought out, and others who have found me.

Including all of these people in my social space allows me to be exposed to ideas and perspectives that I would otherwise be without, and this diversity not only makes me stronger, but also has a network effect in benefiting all of us hanging out here on my porch.

A number of times during last night's episode I brought up the issue of speed, and the rapid rate of technological change. Rather than think of Facebook as a fad, as some would like to, it makes more sense to reflect on how quickly Facebook has risen from nowhere to become a part of mainstream culture. Google has also grown in a decade to become one of the largest companies in the world.

So my question, or rather warning, is to expect the next thing to come even quicker. That's the real story. That social change is being pushed by rapid and accelerating technological change. Our fetishization of the future is creating a blind spot to changes that are happening in the present.

Of course, that is exactly why I love TVO, public broadcasting, and shows like The Agenda. They really are the front line in providing a space for the understanding and exploration of the present and pervasive social impacts of technology.

I'll update this post with a link to the online video copy of this episode once it is published by TV Ontario.

Shout out to Manuel Castells for his writing on the space of flows, and Barry Wellman, the godfather of online social networking.

Update: TVO has posted the video of the episode online.