When we use a Gmail address then can we get better help from our community?

Notice that I said 'Gmail address' and not 'email address'.
And, when I use the term community above then I mean both our physical community and our virtual community. 

The short answer to the above question is, "Yes."  But, why?

1.  Our school districts and universities already have set Gmail as the 'defacto standard' for our community.  Click here to see how.

2.  Our city uses Google Maps.  Click here to see how.

3.  Our library uses Google Maps.  Click here to see how.

But, the above is only a small start -- if we want to become a highly attractive community to new potential community members with high skill levels.

Our real future begins to unfold when we, as community members, can carry on a constructive conversation  about our community using the best tools on the planet -- at this time.  At the moment the tools of preferred choice must prioritize the Google tools.  That could change at some point in the future.  But, for the next five years, our risk of loss is low -- if we prioritize Gmail and all of the other free tools in Google.

When all of our community members prioritize the use of Gmail then we can start to help each other learn how to use all of the Google tools better.  And, then we can help each other communicate better.  We can increase the quality of service by our key public information organizations and we can reduce their costs and our taxes. 

Thus, the above patterns of action are relatively simple.  The part of transforming our community to higher levels of productivitiy run into resistance when we must embrace the people who are unwilling or unable to join our virtual community.

Next time:  Why are some people unwilling and unable to ... ?