Viral of the wrong sort – consumed by colds!

My son has only just started going to nursery, but has already picked up the first of the inevitable stream of colds he’ll get over the next year or so – and not only is he suffering, but he’s kindly passed it to both parents!

Hence a bit of a lack of blogging, but some interesting conversations with his mum about how how we think he’ll consume information and entertainment in the future.

For instance, her belief that children’s books in print will be just as prevalent in 5 years time because he’s already turning the pages of his books.

My belief that might not be the case, because he might not be ‘turning the page of a book’, but simply trying to interact with something in front of him.

I’m not suggesting either of us is necessarily right – but it’s interesting comparing the different views – me as the web geek who spends his work and spare time talking about blogs and Twitter, and her as the more practical mother who only gets a few minutes each day to catch up with friends via Facebook and a couple of mothering messageboards.

When the likes of Oprah recommend something like a Kindle, there’s definitely big changes coming, whether or not the eventual mass-adopted solution looks anything like what’s out there.

Having said that, I’m currently indulging in more dead treee reading – re-reading Communities Dominate Brands: Business and Marketing Challenges for the 21st Century and thinking about smartphones and convergence. If you haven’t read the book, it’s worth catching up with the blog as well, at Communities Dominate Brands.

Right, back to the group huddled on the sofa sniffling…

Someone Really Simple Being Syndicated.

While the chaps over at Friendfeed might be proposing we augment RSS with Simple Update Protocol, there’s  a slightly more basic (from my side) bit of syndicated going on, which I’m calling ‘SRSBS’ (Someone Really Simple Being Syndicated).

What this means is that I’m now one of the bloggers being syndicated onto the Socially Minded group blog. And interestingly, the idea is to group together all of the social media/technology types in the charming county of Cambridgeshire – tying together similar ideas, but also forming a loose collective to be able to meet in real life and share ideas.

Aside from myself, there’s also Matthew Brazil of 6Consulting, my Bauer Media colleague David Cushman, Alan Moore of Communities Dominate Brands fame, and Rebecca Caroe of Creative Agency Secrets. Plus two resident bloggers outside of Cambridgeshire, Gennefer Snowfield, and  Ian Hendry.

More Cambridgeshire people are welcome – and in fact it’s already led me to discover one of the contacts I keep meaning to meet in London actually commutes from within about 15 miles of my house! Matthew Brazil is coordinating everything, so he’s your man to be added.

I think I’m the only person on the list special enough to have two blogs on the list – this place, and 140char.com. I just hope people don’t stop coming to visit my natural environment and contributing to the millions * I earn from Adsense

*millions may be a lie to portray myself as a rich, successful make money blogger. I may, in fact, not actually make very much at all. But that’s not really the point of this blog…