Yesterday Stephen Haywood live-streamed the birth of his daughter, Samantha Marie, on uStream (the camera was turned off during actually delivery). The “event” first reported on Mashable sparked a heated discussion in the comments - was Haywood’s action appropriate, did this take technology too far, etc.

In response, Haywood wrote: “You didn’t know the situation. My parents, Mother, Father, Brother, Sister, Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles live 6 hours away and could not be here for the conception. Therefore I spoke with my wife and she agreed this would be the next best thing.”

Although I’m not sure I’d do the same, it’s not hard to appreciate Stephen’s reasoning. In fact, connecting distant families is one of the main reasons why we built TotSpot.  We believe that nothing can compare to face-to-face contact, to being “in the room,” or to see a grandchild, niece, or nephew in person. But for many families, this is easier said than done. Travel is time-consuming and increasingly expensive. The web can never substitute for “real” contact but it can be the “next best thing.”

I was born in Philadephia at a time when most of my family lived in New York. If I were growing up today, instead of 20+ years ago, my parents could build a TotSpot page, broadcast live videos on uStream, video chat on Skype, etc. Back then, the best we could do was talk on the telephone. Social media tools enable people to do a lot of cool things (Twitter meetups at Shake Shack, viral political videos on YouTube) but few are as meaningful as those things that help families stay connected. We’re proud to do our small part :).