A recent lunch discussion among the Sinclair & Co. crew led to the observation that social networking has not been used much in recent mainstream movies.  Considering the role it plays in our day-to-day communications, it seems like Hollywood has some catching up to do.

Since that conversation, I’ve been thinking about how some of my favorite movies from my teens would be different if social networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube were part of the story.  With a nod to John Hughes:

save-ferris

Imagine getting a text message saying “Save Ferris! Donate $5 now by texting “Ferris” to 12345.”  Or consider how much more complicated Ferris’s cover-up would have to be if his Danke Schoen performance were a YouTube sensation?

It certainly would have been nice for Grandpa Howard to Tweet that Long Duk Dong was coming to Jenny’s wedding in Sixteen Candles so Sam could have been prepared.  Farmer Ted’s FaceBook page would have hundreds of out-of-focus pictures of the prom queen in a Rolls Royce.

If Clark W. Griswold had been following the Wally World Twitter feed, he would have known about their scheduled maintenance before hauling the family truckster across the country.

Besides being an entertaining thought, it’s made me see how much social media is changing the story of our lives.  It’s not about Farmville or tweeting which breakfast cereal you chose today.  It’s about sharing bits of ourselves to make connections to help each other out — and isn’t that what marketing is all about?