In an article on Mashable, Adario Strange introduced me to the word "cloud pulse." (He may have invented it.) Updating your activities in social media is not just a method for connecting or promoting yourself. In a strange way, it's a way of demonstrating that you are alive… as in, 'I have a cloud pulse.'

Mashable: Why 'Her' Is the Best Movie Ever Made About the Singularity, 2014-Jan-15 by Adario Strange

If you are reading this, then you are probably already a part of the cloud pulse, the invisible real-time fabric of people-powered data facilitated by social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Through these networks, the habit of continuous partial attention has been transformed from a rude vice to a badge of cultural aptitude that tells the world you are connected, informed and alive.

…most are expected swim upstream and evolve to accept that the cloud pulse is a new muscle broadening our awareness and not the intimacy-hindering nuisance some believe it to be.