My question was not really for us, it was for the majority of people who still don't really engage in social media because they see the benefit of connecting to others (even those who share their interests and values) around the world less interesting than knowing what their neighbors are up to.

Social media will get better at helping us shift between different contexts. We'll still have to do the work of figuring out what context we want to be in.

that said, I was recently thinking that the irony of geotility apps is that they ultimately make us friendlier to the guy at the next table at the pizzeria, as long as he has similar interests or is a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend on Latitude or some other geoapp du jour. the irony being: we usually think of communication technologies as enabling us to communicate with people across long distances. but now they're enabling us to (have an excuse to) be friendly with the folks right under our nose.

and because the original intention of communication technologies was to enable communication across long distances, it's understandable that we explored the remote realm first, and are only now exploring using these same technologies for the local realm. also understandable that in doing so, we'll find new and different benefits.

we're returning to the glory days of local: same season, different year.

But I think what's really different with Twitter is an evolution from static to real-time content that, due to its growing scale and relative simplicity, few others (including Vine) will be able to match.

A Google search for “Pease Park” and “Pease Park events” was of no help at all. I eventually would have found the event by searching local listings, but the real-time search that Twitter makes possible is enormously powerful and nowhere is it more relevant than on the local level.