Ok, so all pun intended if you twitter are you a twit? I suspect if you are reading this blog then you are not but there are a lot of tweeters out there who don’t seem to be the full tweet. Twittering has received both good and bad press – and it’s possible to point to the worst and also some of the best in twittering. However, each to his own opinion.

Here at GIPS we tweet because it’s no longer enough to rely on distribution through traditional media. There are more channels to reach out to both businesses and consumers. Naked Pizza (if the health benefits are true) is one shining example of how twitter can really add value to business – stay twittered, I’m sure it’s going to be a big hit.

One of our goals at GIPS is to continue educating people on the value of HD voice. Twitter is another channel in which we reach out to people because there is a real opportunity for communication to be vastly improved. Along with HD Connect – an industry consortium that GIPS is a founding member of – GIPS is actively engaged in spreading the word, or perhaps I should say (HD) voice!

Earlier this week, Communications Daily, a Washington DC staple for policy wonks, wrote about HD Voice. While Washington will always have two-sides to an argument, there is an indomitable force within industry pushing HD voice. As In-Stat analyst, Keith Nissen said in this recent article, “the market for HD Voice phones could reach $3 billion annually within five years, with the U.S. market starting to take off this year.” The HD connect group is pushing for the White House to be HD Voice enabled – wouldn’t that be a great thing if President Obama wasn’t looking for a source of cheese! (This slide was borrowed from Polycom CTO’s Jeff Rodman’s presentation at the last HD Communications summit.)

HD voice really can be a force for change, so try it. If you really want to experience it now, try googletalk, Nimbuzz, Yahoo instant messenger, AIM or Gadu-Gadu and perhaps you can pass on the message that you too can hear the difference.

How do you get President Obama, Michael Jackson and Iranian elections to fit on one page? It may sound like the start of a joke but in fact it’s simple: real-time communication.

As witnessed by the last few weeks Twitter, facebook and instant messenger applications like AIM have been especially active on the latter two topics – not just in the US and Iran but around the globe. While Mr. Jackson nearly brought twitter to a crashing halt yesterday, internet searches did come pretty close to slowing down the worldwide web.

As a society, communication has progressed in recent history from the letter, telegram, telephone, instant messaging and now video calls. What’s profoundly interesting is that the use of real-time communication software is becoming less and less the domain of technology-nerds and is rapidly migrating to general users. This is also evident in the workplace as unified communications grows. The younger generation entering the workplace is also comfortable using their real-time skills in a business environment as well as at home. It’s not just personal computers that house real-time communication platforms; it’s also prevalent on mobile phones.

This shift may seem obvious within the industry but it’s events like the death of a world-renowned musician, the true will of the Iranian people or the results of the US voting masses that highlight this change for me. The real-time communication environment will dramatically shift the way society works and operates. From making a VoIP call from a computer, to sending an instant message to a friend 12,000 miles away or waving hello on a video chat. We’re no longer going to be tethered to the dumb pipe of the PSTN as the IP network is allowing a whole range of software possibilities.

Moving on, I’m excited to read that Google Voice will be launched soon. While some of my colleagues are already using it (they were previously Grand Central customers) I’m awaiting my email invitation. However, I doubt it will solve my pet peeve that many people don’t answer their office telephone when it rings.

I’ve been reading Nicholas Carr‘s blog recently. He’s a critic of technological utopianism – and as such appears to abhor everything from Wikipedia, twitter, blogs, facebook etc…

If you have ever watched ‘American Idol’ or ‘Britain’s Got Talent,’ you will know who Simon Cowell is; Carr is technology’s equivalent of Cowell.  A controversial obnoxious, harsh critic and like Cowell he’s fun to watch or read, as his comments sometimes ring true.

“With artfully kitschy services like Twitter we’re allowed to both indulge our self-absorption and distance ourselves from it by acknowledging, with a coy digital wink, its essential emptiness. I love me! Just kidding! The great paradox of ‘social networking’ is that it uses narcissism as the glue for ‘community.’ Being online means being alone, and being in an online community means being alone together,” said Carr in a recent post.

That said, I’ve lived in half a dozen countries and Facebook has reconnected and kept me in touch with friends where a postcard and letter would not suffice. It’s not narcissism to communicate and update friends on what’s happening in your life – especially if you don’t see them often. Granted, I really don’t care, or want to know, what a friends’ first 5 cars they owned’  were but in the overall scheme I’m glad to know they are still in my life – albeit virtually.

From a work perspective, twitter, LinkedIn and Google Talk have all kept me connected with people I’ve worked with in the past, present and will help me connect with others in the future.

While social and business networks do have narcissistic tendencies, it does not mean they are always used in that way.

That’s why the phone or a video call make all the difference – it’s true there is nothing like connecting with someone in person and the best way to maintain that friendship or connection is via the telephone or video – social networks. Now, if I could just find that antiquated pen, perhaps I can start writing my Christmas cards to Cowell and Carr.