The Physical Social Network That's Keeping it Real

The Physical Social Network That’s Keeping it Real

It started with a mysterious tweet asking me if I’d be interested in getting involved in a new social network. ‘Sure’ I said, tell me more. It turns out the social network involves sending actual bits of mail to a real-life address. My intrigue was huge, my interest large and indeed my curiosity colossal. Tick followed tock, emails between myself and this network they call ‘Real‘ flew back and forth and before I knew it, the rather wonderful package below arrived on my desk…

So you physically send stuff in?!?

Yes. You use the freepost envelopes to send items of your choice to the network. These items are then displayed within a ‘plot’ in a gallery in London. I am one of the 50 ‘founder members’ (I’m plot #67) and there are 100 plots in total. The plot owners can communicate with each other via mail – the people at Real collect and distribute the little cards with hand-written messages. The plots can be viewed online here or visited in real life. It’s all about the joy of mail and I must admit, when the weighty pack arrived, I was blooming well excited. I’ve now sent my first items to Real (Real supply plenty of postage paid envelopes) and there was indeed something special about sealing up the crisp white envelope and sending it on its merry way.

This is cool, very very cool and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.I’ll update you on the state of my plot #67 over the coming weeks. Visit the official site here or follow on Twitter here.

I happen to have an invite, if you want it, please leave a comment below telling me why you still love the Real and tangible aspects of life and I will pick my favourite. Of course, the invite will be sent via post!

What do you think about this project? Great idea? Not so much? Let me know in the comments below!

Mike McGrail

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JenniMaley

Oh my – I want in! I love it!
http://twitter.com/PaulMarnie Paul Marnie

This sounds pretty cool. I can think of many friends who would absolutely love this. It’s good to see the Royal Mail supporting Real and hopefully there’s an arrangement in place that will benefit both parties.

I’d be very interested to see what their long term plans are for the network and if it will always be free to use.

Any indications if Real would ever introduce a charge to use their network Mike?

http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

Hi Paul,

I’ve not heard of any plans to charge. Currently it is a time limited project.

http://www.contently-managed.com/blog Craig McGill

Brilliant concept – a bit ARG as well as gimmick but there’s good reasoning and method behind it, which ties into what the Royal Mail is all about. I often feel the Royal Mail has forgotten how to play to strengths in this digital age – there’s a lot of emotions that play into getting a letter or a parcel and they are different from when you get an email or ebook.

http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

Hi Craig,

I felt great when the pack arrived and even better posting my first update, which should appear on plot 67 tomorrow I hope!

http://quillcards.com/blog/ David Bennett

Saw it a while back –

I was turned off by the

“Can anyone join?Sure, but you have to prove you love real.”

I was even more turned off by the next stage:

“Fill in your details below, tell us why you love all things real, and you could have your very own plot in our physical network.”

And then, to cap it, the ‘to find out more’ link is to some address in London…

But then I saw your article and I understood it. So I am going to copy this snarky comment to your article and maybe I’ll get that invite.

Love real? – We are making greeting cards – that’s about as ‘Royal Mail’ real as you can get.

http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

Hi David,

Its a clever idea and I have to say I’m pretty taken by it!

johnwiththelens

Sounds intriguing – as a photographer I’ve been thinking more and more about the power of the object vs the virtual. I can remember the smell and surface of old family snaps and wonder if we give too much away by posting photographs on social networks and showing every image taken online. The subject of the photos (online) becomes the only thing of value and the fact that it is a creation with a maker seems to get forgotten. If you could only see the photo when it was a printed object, would it have more charm and value. Lately, I’ve been collecting old postcards, and the ones with stuff written on them are much more fun for people to look at, as it becomes an object of a particular moment time.

This project sounds like a good step towards appraising the things we share online, and the things we take more care to sharing physically.

Nice blog.

http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

Hi John,

Ah yes, the beauty of a real printed photo! I’m back in the habit of getting images printed and I love it. Love the postcard idea, do you buy them at antique fairs?

johnwiththelens

Hi Mike, yes, I’ve been to a couple of collectors fairs, although, perversely I prefer to take my time browsing on Ebay. That may just be enjoying my home comforts too much though! I started out doing research on a project, trying to source old images, but then got sucked into collecting them. When you read postcards from 1905 sent from Kelvingrove Park or Loch Lomond, you realise how little people have changed. People were twittering away nonsense back then, just not as much!

http://www.facebook.com/kaarendouglas Kaaren Douglas

This is an interesting notion. Our company provides a good blend of the virtual and real. Customers create a card virtually, (including photos if you want), the company prints and mails it in an envelope, and it arrives in the mail. The cards are beautiful, and much appreciated.