Web 2.0 and the USCG

Despite my blogging about how much I adore holiday greeting cards and the messages written within, I do rely on my near-constant connection to friends thanks to the world of Web 2.0. Through these blogs, I update loved ones of our adventures. Through online networks I connect with fellow alumni and friends. Through LinkedIn, I connect with colleagues and get recruited for new positions far and wide. And through Facebook, I stay connected with family, friends, and coworkers.

On long calls, I review people's recent photos, laugh at funny status messages, and wish a friend well/happy birthday/congrats, or whatever else this user-friendly site prompts me to do. On Facebook, I am friends with several of this site's authors and other coast guard spouses and friends.

At the recent CG Expo, my colleagues and graduates of USCGA in the early 1970s, were all aflutter about Facebook and the desire to connect, brag about grandchildren, and scan and tag pictures of days gone by. What a riot to see these men, whose entire education included barely a calculator, now harnessing this technology to catch up in their years of retirement.

And just this morning, I read in the Bulletin (Don't laugh, I love reading alumni mags and catching up on gossip and new developments at not only my own alma maters but the hubby's, too), that the Editor composed an opening message asking fellow alumni to create an account on Facebook and use it to connect to the USCGA Alumni Association, who have their own group [within the site]. The editor uses RADM Allen's YouTube address to emphasize the importance of Web 2.0 Technologies.

What a world we live in. Just as I compose this blog entry, I am logged onto Facebook, where I received an instant message from a friend in England-- wishing my husband and me a "Merry Christmas." Near constant connection--and USCG approved.