Peggy Noonan’s column in the WSJ today got me thinking about where social media and virtual goods fit into the rapid shift of economic and social priorities that anyone with a pulse can feel. Mindless bling - fun and frothy, to be sure - has long been ascendant in our popular culture. It is suddenly beating a hasty retreat in the face of what might be called the new modesty, the new seriousness. People are choosing time with their families and relaxation over conspicuous consumption and workaholism. In many cases, these choices are being forced on people through unemployment or financial overextension, but they’re taking place all the same.

We see it at work, where expense accounts receive extra scrutiny. We see it at home, where a family car trip to the Grand Canyon replaces a family trip to Paris. We see it, to be sure, in the popular culture, where overnight Internet sensation Susan Boyle - who embodies modesty, self-sacrifice, and grace in the face of hardship - has caused people to watch and watch and watch again, tears streaming down their faces. She has touched something important. She is real.

My first question is: how long will this really last? My personal jury is out. There was a great deal of civic soul-searching in the wake of 9/11, when the President made an oft-derided plea for Americans to bounce back from the event with shopping that would keep the economy afloat. While much civic piety and thoughtfulness was on display in late 2001 and 2002, just a couple of years later fun and froth and bling seemed to be back front and center. And frankly, for me, that was a relief, a sense of normalcy. But among others, I suspect, it rankled. There are those who decry consumerism for green reasons, and others for more philosophical ones - it deadens or distorts our connections to one another, the connections that Susan Boyle seems to have awakened so dramatically.

Back to business: social media and virtual goods. If the new modesty and the new seriousness actually last, I think we stand to do well. People with more leisure time consume more media - even if they seek content with more serious themes. Social networks will provide venues for people to meet and express their new idealism and engagement; the Obama campaign is a great example. Facebook neighborhood and cause based groups could thrive, deepening and widening real-life relationships rather than replacing them.

Virtual goods are a great and inexpensive way for people to express affinity for a cause, and to deliver gifts to one another at a very modest cost. The pixels associated with virtual gifts are easier on the planet than gifts made out of petrochemicals and moved around in fuel-burning ships, trains, and trucks.

And then there’s the other side of the coin: fast-forward to 2012. Kickstarted by the effects of a gazillion dollars of global stimulus, the economy is roaring and a tidal wave of inflation is just over the horizon. Indians and South Africans are buying all the Audis and Tag-Heuers they can get their hands on. Oil is at $130/barrel. You can perform in High School Musical virtually for $1/hour (via an MMPOG). Celebutantes wear $50,000 dresses to global warming benefits at sparkling new concert halls in Moscow. Back to normal - fun, frothy, superficial.

I know which outcome I see as likely. Can you guess? But either is just fine with me.

Writing in the wake of Facebook’s recent reversal of its Terms of Service update, Adweek’s Mike Shields quoted Reuben on how these kinds of negative reactions in online communities can be avoided.

Reuben urged platform operators to avoid presenting users with policy changes as faits accompli - people generally don’t like being caught by surprise in such matters.

Quick thing - in the course of an interview with Wine Enthusiast this morning (more to come on that front), our in-house oenophile Chris talked about the Twitter Taste Live phenomenon.

Are you participating? Do you think there are similar social experiences that are particularly suitable or unsuitable for bringing to Twitter in this way?

We talk a lot about building online movements around here, so this piece on the Times of London’s tech blog caught my eye. Facebook protest movements have been easily parodied as “passive” - but we’re all aware of the role that social networks played in the election of Barack Obama.

The Times’ Murat Ahmed, once an intern at Westminster himself, seems prepared to give some credence to online protests, at least to their ability to make UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (or her poor interns) miserable with a deluge of email. A Facebook group - comprised of those unhappy with proposed new legislation on expanding internet surveillance - is urging its members to cc: Smith on every piece of email they send. The cleverly passive-aggressive subtext: “you want to see our emails? Ok then, here they are!”

Reuben explored this question in his most recent AdAge guest blog post…and given the complexity of the issue, it’s just a start.

We’ve got a lot of highly skilled and enthusiastic gamers around here, but we need to set our sights on the big leagues: top-tier competitive gamers are now attracting major brand sponsors. The New York Times’ Stephanie Clifford recently highlighted Dr Pepper’s plans to place a professional gamer on bottles that will be distributed nationwide. The player in question is Tom Taylor, a 21-year-old who has a three-year, $250,000 contract to play video games, particularly Halo 3. Taylor, aka Tsquared, will appear on about 175 million bottles from January to April. “Dr Pepper struck the deal with Major League Gaming, a New York City company that organizes teams and competitions.

This year, the league has 50 professional teams, each specializing in one of five multiplayer games, including Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.” Taylor is one of several players with these increasingly lucrative deals.