First post for the year can just reflect how I feel this morning: a happy new year starts, a nice and quiet celebration last night and a profound transformation in the way I felt New Years Wishes are sent from person to person.  Social networks are very much shaping the way many of us interact with a broad audience both for business and leisure but never before I noticed this until these festive days.

Just 15 years ago post cards were sent before Xmas and New Year and then we would exchange wishes in person with people we were spending our NYE party.  About 10 years ago the popularity of mobile phones made possible connecting (if and when lines were free) with people that were not necessarily close to us.  Personally, until last year, this was the way I exchanged messages with friends and relatives.

Of course Emails was there along the way but they require being in front of the computer when you are partying, that is not necessarily very practical: various PDAs and more recently the iPhone made this a lot more accessible.

Somehow for me all this has changed quite dramatically this year: I have used Skype to have online toasts with relatives in both Italy and Hungary (as it worked well on Xmas eve and Xmas day) and, again, most wishes I received and sent, were via various social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

I am curious to see how this will influence this new decade that just started:  Happy New Year 2010 to everyone!