On a recent trip to visit friends deep in the Italian countryside, I found my iPhone, and all its prowess, to be quite a focal point.

A close friend’s of mine’s Papá, Emilio Gentilini, now lives in his ancient family Umbrian mountain village of Montecchio. Emilio is a mysterious character who returned to his hometown after decades away, making a name for himself in the world of photography in NYC and throughout Italy. Emilio’s photography of Italian life is legion in his home country — his work is in some of the most prestigious Italian galleries and museums. His work in NYC is breathtaking, shown in galleries, and museums throughout Manhattan and the US. He’s famous the world over and recognized in Italy as a national treasure. Enter iPhone and olive oil…

I spent the day at Emilio’s with his daughter Yo, drinking coffee and perusing his work – photography, paintings, and huge pieces at times four meters by six. The town’s olive oil festival was being put together as we spoke, highlighting the local harvest (yum) but also the artistic return of the prodigal son at the village center, albeit he had been hidden in his villa for years unknown to the locals as to why.

While Yo got him running on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, I showed him my iPhone – taking high resolution shots of huge art pieces, abstract videos we put together in the moment, and uploading them real time. We printed out large photos of his work using the iPhone as a simple camera – the image quality astonished him – this famous photographer. “Fantastico!” was a common comment as the day went on. He was mesmerized at the detail and potential of this small device – this photographer far beyond my simple photographic talents.

As he played some ethereal music for coffee and cigarette ambience, I supplemented it with my iPhone Ocarina perfectly in sync. “Fantastico!” I don’t know what got into me at the moment but it was amazing. I got a roaming signal and it showed the world view of the Ocarina, with someone in New Zealand playing Amazing Grace, the visual representation flowing from the spinning iPhone planet Earth. Again, “Fantatsico!” The iPhone became the entertainment of the moment.

We got a WIFI signal at the local wine bar and got some Apple “face time” with an artist back in the states I knew. Real time communications went on for a while. “Fantastico!” he kept saying, in between rings of cigarette smoke.

We used his new laptop and the iPhone to put up content on his Facebook pages, both personal and professional. Within hours he had over 100 friends, acquaintances the world over. Twitter buzzed. As the festival was being put together outside, online communication buzzed, and what was a very small local festival was followed the world over – all within hours of saying “Ciao Emilio” that afternoon.

What does this have to do with the price of bread, or our world of digital marketing we live within so “nonchalantly”? Everything!

We pride ourselves on knowing so much about social media and the use of APIs to tie so many marketing campaigns and brands together in a common thread. We have the luxury of playing with new platforms, devices, open source libraries, augmented reality, mobile applications — and the cultural effect of all that is we take for granted.

The grid has become our way of life – remove it and we have withdrawal. Our world is smaller and our friends closer than ever. Let the doomsayers focus on apocalyptic visions of the end of days, the same as those did in years past with electricity, radio, TV, telephones, and moon shots. We are the tip of the spear when it comes to where our world will be in 50 years, or 5 years, or next year. It’s not a bad place.

The fruits of our labor will, in short time, permeate so many parts of our planet, bringing together people in ways unheard of even today. We also act as a filter for bad ideas, leaving the cream of the crop to be used by people the world over.

The next time you sit down and design a mobile or iPad app, manage the distribution of content across multiple channels and platforms, and help make that content pertinent to our clients, think of the future use of those same apps by Emilio. He’s online and listening, watching, and waiting, with his new 100 online friends… and theirs… and theirs…

– Tom Tully, Group Director, Technology, Organic, Inc.