Linked in Real Life

Stop being polite and start getting real -- newspapers were the original social networks. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg (and possibly those Winklevoss twins) thought he was coming up with something original, but the truth is that newspapers have been connecting human beings since the very first printing presses were built. Articles, columns, exposés, and photos go out. Press releases, op-eds, and letters come in. Technology has changed, of course, with blogs and comments replacing some of the old print staples, but the game remains the same -- communication. And where the readers have gone, so have the newspapers. New Times has a website, three blogs, a Twitter, a Facebook, a MySpace, a Digg, a Tumblr, and our own location network, Voice Places. But even newspapers, the inventors of the social networking, know that no network, no virtual platform, print or digital, can take the place of actual social contact. Ya know, meeting people IRL? And so, to bring it all full circle, New Times would like to invite its loyal readers to the New Times Link Up at the Downtowner Saloon (408 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale) from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday. Enjoy free appetizers and complimentary cocktails while interacting with other human life forms in a setting so real, it is actually reality. To join the real-world fun, just sign up at the New Times table or online at on.fb.me/qF8Kwc.
Fri., Sept. 23, 7 p.m., 2011