--- title: "Technology and Associations: Why You Need to Keep Up" id: "13313" type: "post" slug: "technology-and-associations-why-you-need-to-keep-up" published_at: "2012-09-18T11:58:13+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-17T17:12:33+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/09/18/technology-and-associations-why-you-need-to-keep-up/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/09/18/technology-and-associations-why-you-need-to-keep-up.md" excerpt: "In the past ten years, technology, including in the world of associations, has evolved numerous times over. Adapting to these changes isn’t optional." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "digital tools" - "Technology" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Technology and Associations: Why You Need to Keep Up Here’s an idea of how fast technology moves: > The opportunity to build great relationships and reach further with these tools is only expanding. **Ten years ago,** the ideal way to look at a potential employee’s business credentials was to get their resume via email, or for some organizations, on paper. Now, LinkedIn has revolutionized the form so substantially that they’re [hitting new highs on the stock market (opens in a new tab)](http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=LNKD) — and business cards could [become the next target for creative destruction (opens in a new tab)](http://theweek.com/article/index/224945/is-the-business-card-dead) . **Nine years ago,** Mark Zuckerberg was still a student at Harvard. Now, the Facebook creator is the world’s second-youngest billionaire ([after one of his co-founders (opens in a new tab)](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/10/forbess-youngest-billionaire-facebook-co-founder-dustin-moskovitz-edges-out-mark-zuckerberg/) ), and a Facebook page is a fact of life for organizations looking to keep tabs on (and engage with) their members. **Six years ago,** Twitter was just a hatchling that hadn’t even made [its first big splash at SXSW (opens in a new tab)](http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=LNKD) . Now, if it goes down, it’s [a news story with business consequences (opens in a new tab)](http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html) , and conferences are locked at the hip with hashtags. **Three years ago,** iPads were just [a really good yarn (opens in a new tab)](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57480825-93/the-cost-of-twitter-downtime/) you heard about on an Apple rumor site. Now, given the right organization, a staff meeting where *everyone* is using an iPad to take notes is downright common. **Just a little over one year ago,** Pinterest, still in private beta, had roughly a million unique visitors in a month. Now [it has more than 20 times that (opens in a new tab)](http://articles.cnn.com/2012-08-15/tech/tech_mobile_pinterest-mobile-apps-android-ipad_1_pinterest-android-app-iphone-app/2) — and it’s open to everyone. **And just recently,** technology research firm IDC claimed that usage of public cloud computing services — not that long ago a niche part of the information technology pie — will be a $40 billion business in 2012. Crazy, right? Well, in four years, they expect that number [to reach $100 billion (opens in a new tab)](http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Public-Private-Cloud-Markets-Set-to-Soar-as-Enterprise-Adoption-Grows-586161/) . Use Dropbox to keep your files in order? You aren’t alone. [50 million other people (opens in a new tab)](https://www.dropbox.com/static/docs/DropboxFactSheet.pdf) use the service, too. All this stuff is going to have a huge effect on how we keep organized, reach out, engage and deal with the people around us. The opportunity to build great relationships and reach further with these tools is only expanding. And associations, always looking to grow efficiently, should find nothing but opportunity here. There’s a chance you’re reading this on your phone. If you are, you’re seeing another example of this — AssociationsNow.com was snazzily designed to resize based on the device you use. They call it responsive design, and it’s pretty cool. It wasn’t a thing five years ago. All of this is to say that associations can’t rest on their laurels. Technology, simply put, is a moving target. If you don’t move along with that target, you might miss your target entirely. [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#digital tools](https://associationsnow.com/tag/digital-tools/) [#Technology](https://associationsnow.com/tag/technology/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [VideoAdobeMarketo Demo 1 26 2021February 8, 2021](https://associationsnow.com/2021/02/08/adobemarketo-demo-1-26-2021/) - [VideoClickDimensions Demo 1 26 2021February 1, 2021](https://associationsnow.com/2021/02/01/clickdimensions-demo-1-26-2021/) - [PodcastAssociations NOW Presents: More Than Marketing: The Power of Strategic CommunicationsJuly 30, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/30/associations-now-presents-more-than-marketing-the-power-of-strategic-communications/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2012%2F09%2F18%2Ftechnology-and-associations-why-you-need-to-keep-up%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !