The reasons behind being what could be called “semi-social” are varied, and include:

• Desire to be different
• Fear of (using) technology
• Not enough desire to socialize online
• Not enough time to socialize online – information overload
• Most friends or relatives not using online social websites
• Desire to cut back on online social activities

So, your choices on how to handle these miscreants – um, miscellaneous users – include:

• Acknowledge them – Show that you know that not everyone “gets” it and tone down the geeky/chic-y plug-ins and social media campaigns
• Help them – Provide work-arounds so that semi-socials can partake of your website’s offerings
• Ignore them – Don’t slow down the speed at which you use every possible social media tool to expand your reach, while risking alienating people who are semi-social.
• Invite them to socialize – Take a chance that you may find their moment to start socializing via one of your preferred methods. (This invitation can happen along with the first bullet point above – after acknowledging them.)

We’re all semi-social and even non-social during the course of a given day. So, it is easy to understand the mindset of someone who is routinely less social online. That is, if you can stop posting for a moment and ponder about them.

Times Square, New York City (2009), slightly altered. © 2009 ChiefSocialOfficer.com

Stripping away the more mystical aspects, one could assume that the current path of technology is to create an actual akashic record of all events of our world – everything that can be recorded. Road traffic, transactions, conversations, and with microblogging all the rage… apparently every thought (as in, tweets on Twitter.com and updates on sites such as facebook.com and myspace.com).

What about recording thoughts from within the brain? Possible, as EEG (electroencephalography) and MEG have shown. And this development will continue to develop, as who would not want to control a computer – and thus other mechanical devices – with their brains, as shown in the video below about the Neurosky controller:

Assuming technology will evolve and refine thought-reading further, then it also will allow thought-recording. Initially it would be a stream of simple commands such as “move mouse up”.

But how about the future? Less than 40 years ago the large computers that filled an entire room contained less information than fits on a CD or on a memory card for a camera or mobile phone. Today’s personal computers are 100 times smaller, and 1000 times cheaper, and run laps around their ancestors in terms of speed & performance.

So by one stretch – and it is a stretch – the crude EEG game controllers of today will evolve in 20 or 30 years to devices that will read and extract our ideas and concepts. And there will be storage media to record this brain activity, and likely also record a 3-D representation of real events, continuously. These events would include human activity, and nature, weather, etc. While we may not be able to capture past events or the thoughts of someone like Shakespeare as he was writing, we have already started capturing this arguably permanent record of human consciousness.

Going back to the definition of akashic, it contains: “…adherents describe the existence of various akashic records (e.g., human, animal, plant, mineral, etc.) that in their summation encompass all possible knowledge.” There is a counter-balance in that “the akashic records have been rejected by the scientific community, due to a lack of any independently verifiable evidence.”

Evidence lacking, that is, until the scientific community creates it. Or, actually, as we all create it.

My own online social interaction has always had a strong connection to the physical (real) world.  My instant messaging was always with people I had met physically, until it wasn’t.  My email messages were always exchanged with people I had met physically, until (quickly) they weren’t. 

And now, years later, there is a growing churning sea of connection with people I will never meet.  And organizations whose offices or stores I won’t get to visit. Online social has exploded, and offline social can expect to continue to reap the benefits of connections that start online.  Tomorrow I’m attending an event that I learned of through online social networking, because people I had met in the real world were also going.  But, curiously, I met those people because of an event organized via a different online social networking site. 

That type of synergy is perfect, in a way, to illustrate what will hopefully be more than just this short snippet today.  For me, online social works only because it has positively affected my real world.  The same way that I enjoyed going to sites that focused on my interests, such as filmmaking, I now belong to groups with people local to me who want to get together to share those interests.  

But, that’s for a person.  Organizations are different.  They seem to like to aloof, online available via toll-free numbers, email, and occasionally online chat (but only via their chat).  

Should online social campaigns just be virtual?  Having benefited from the friendships that come from online social groups that meet in the real world, and vice versa, I can say “no, bring them into the real world.”  Brands and organizations looking to to use social media may be slow to understand that while everyone won’t be able to connect in the physical world, it can be invaluable to try.  Mostly they should abandon the thought that a social campaign can be all done at arms-keyboard length. 

Recently I spoke with a new media executive from a major league sports team, and this person was specifically interested in making online social work in close connection with offline acitivities & events.  Right on.  It takes more effort and surely can’t be 100 percent automated, but it also will build lasting involvement.  A sports team understand fans, but other businesses are coming around to an understanding of fans, conversations, and participation. 

This is likely part one of a multi-part series, as I have yet to organize the rest of what I’d prepared – a list of positive ideas and bad ideas for getting the offline and online worlds to mix.  I’d write more now but there is an offline event starting shortly… one where I’m looking to meet some people who are at this point only virtual people I’ve found via activities such as Twitter tweets and online message exchanges.

[for now I'm here on twitter]