In rather quiet and innocuous fashion I learned on Facebook this Monday that an associate had had a heart attack. He sent a note on his birthday saying he was glad to be alive. Judging from the outpouring of messages, I was hardly the only one to learn the news that way.

In the past year I learned someone was getting married the same way. A young couple I know announced on Twitter that they were having a baby. Another couple—yes, both of them-tweeted through the labor that produced their son before using TwitPic to post photos of their newborn.

Meanwhile, I find myself keeping up with my son by following his twitter feed while staying in touch with my daughter via text message. Crazy world.

It’s a challenge for all of us in communications to keep up with all this. It seems prophetic now that the first Interactive programmer I ever hired had a sign by his office saying, “Keeping up with the Internet is a full-time job. You already have a full-time job.” Despite the challenges, I think both our Reputation Management and Integrated Marketing groups at Charleston/Orwig are doing well keeping up. We and our clients continue to push ahead.

I just have one major frustration: Try as I might, I am unable to become Mayor of Charleston/Orwig on FourSquare. The darn Interactive guys have that wrapped up. They know a secret, it seems.