Social media. A new way of communicating, it’s heralded. Changing the way the world works. Different. Interactive. Earthshaking. Gotta have it. Gotta do it.
This is a new medium and nothing ever like it before. Wow. I have a single word: NOT!
Social media have been available since the beginning of civilization. Cave drawings in France? Don’t try to tell me that’s not a social medium. If 100 people lived in the cave and Jacques did half the drawings and Vincent the other, they were socializing and passing their thoughts along visually. Best thing was nobody had to log on and enter a password to see them. They just walked past.
Hey, I wonder if the LWxPJ I carved in a tree on Hewitt Avenue is still there. Definitely using social media. And I’m pretty sure it could be called interactive because as I recall, ole PJ saw it and had her brother scratch it out.
No…the social media rage isn’t new. Just the medium is. And the medium makes for broader dissemination and allows more interaction. But the emotions remain the same. I’m sure if you posted something on the board in the post office (hey…any connection there?) back in 1490 that said, “Isabella is a witch for not giving me the money to sail,” you’d get a broad range of responses from sympathy to, well maybe one of the queen’s guards asking if anyone knows where that guy Chris lives.
So the emotions, the feelings have always been there so what else? Brevity? No. Remember the tree? Or check out a bathroom wall. The longest I’ve seen is the 5 lines of a limerick. How ‘bout anonymity. Don’t think so – or police wouldn’t spend time trying to track down taggers.
It’s gotta be the immediacy and the breadth of the distribution. My guess is that maybe 50 people knew that LW was sweet on PJ based on the number of people that walked down Hewitt Avenue and might have actually noticed. And it probably took weeks for them all to see it – if they even did, based on PJ’s rush to eradicate the posting.
Post it on the web and it’s out there NOW. Pretty much everywhere. Well, isn’t that special. The sarcasm is because I think that posters think that their words are the be all and end all…that the world hangs on them. They love the fact that the whole world can see their thoughts instantly. And somehow, that translates to a feeling of power. Of influence.
Well, as I write this, I know doggoned well that these words’ll be out there all right. But power? I don’t think so. Influence? Doubtful.
And why’s that? Well, one set of initials carved on one tree might get some attention. Carve 100 sets of initials on every tree on the block and what you get is, “Who cares?” And that’s where we are with social media.
Let me suggest that if you think your friends reeeeeally care that you just sat down with a bowl of ice cream and you’re tired, you’re wrong – unless you’re sharing the ice cream with Will-i-am or Angelina.
The “Marry Me” sign behind towed an airplane gets attention. Put one hundred of ‘em in the air (air traffic control be damned) and the meaning drops to nada.
So we’re all screaming as loud as possible, all vying for attention. And, given that we each have X hours a day for social activity, that means the more folks who enter the fray, the less time we have to spend with any one of them.
Let’s just take a different tack altogether. If you’ve read Robin Dunbar’s Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, you may recognize some similarities between his conclusions and the use of digital social media to broaden one’s trust of others. Yes, I can make that connection. If I have 1000 Facebook friends (I don’t. I once had someone offer to “friend” me because of the small number I did have), after a period of sharing info, posts and the digital equivalent of chatter, I begin to trust them and they begin to trust me. AND, I can weed out the ones that don’t live up to my expectations/needs or violate my trust.
Aha! Now we arrive at a reasonable explanation for the success of digital social media – building one’s circle of trust. That makes sense, certainly more sense than using the medium to outshout others on the topic de jour. An expansion of trust. An extension of the herd. McLuhan would be proud.
This is a new medium and nothing ever like it before. Wow. I have a single word: NOT!
Social media have been available since the beginning of civilization. Cave drawings in France? Don’t try to tell me that’s not a social medium. If 100 people lived in the cave and Jacques did half the drawings and Vincent the other, they were socializing and passing their thoughts along visually. Best thing was nobody had to log on and enter a password to see them. They just walked past.
Hey, I wonder if the LWxPJ I carved in a tree on Hewitt Avenue is still there. Definitely using social media. And I’m pretty sure it could be called interactive because as I recall, ole PJ saw it and had her brother scratch it out.
No…the social media rage isn’t new. Just the medium is. And the medium makes for broader dissemination and allows more interaction. But the emotions remain the same. I’m sure if you posted something on the board in the post office (hey…any connection there?) back in 1490 that said, “Isabella is a witch for not giving me the money to sail,” you’d get a broad range of responses from sympathy to, well maybe one of the queen’s guards asking if anyone knows where that guy Chris lives.
So the emotions, the feelings have always been there so what else? Brevity? No. Remember the tree? Or check out a bathroom wall. The longest I’ve seen is the 5 lines of a limerick. How ‘bout anonymity. Don’t think so – or police wouldn’t spend time trying to track down taggers.
It’s gotta be the immediacy and the breadth of the distribution. My guess is that maybe 50 people knew that LW was sweet on PJ based on the number of people that walked down Hewitt Avenue and might have actually noticed. And it probably took weeks for them all to see it – if they even did, based on PJ’s rush to eradicate the posting.
Post it on the web and it’s out there NOW. Pretty much everywhere. Well, isn’t that special. The sarcasm is because I think that posters think that their words are the be all and end all…that the world hangs on them. They love the fact that the whole world can see their thoughts instantly. And somehow, that translates to a feeling of power. Of influence.
Well, as I write this, I know doggoned well that these words’ll be out there all right. But power? I don’t think so. Influence? Doubtful.
And why’s that? Well, one set of initials carved on one tree might get some attention. Carve 100 sets of initials on every tree on the block and what you get is, “Who cares?” And that’s where we are with social media.
Let me suggest that if you think your friends reeeeeally care that you just sat down with a bowl of ice cream and you’re tired, you’re wrong – unless you’re sharing the ice cream with Will-i-am or Angelina.
The “Marry Me” sign behind towed an airplane gets attention. Put one hundred of ‘em in the air (air traffic control be damned) and the meaning drops to nada.
So we’re all screaming as loud as possible, all vying for attention. And, given that we each have X hours a day for social activity, that means the more folks who enter the fray, the less time we have to spend with any one of them.
Let’s just take a different tack altogether. If you’ve read Robin Dunbar’s Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, you may recognize some similarities between his conclusions and the use of digital social media to broaden one’s trust of others. Yes, I can make that connection. If I have 1000 Facebook friends (I don’t. I once had someone offer to “friend” me because of the small number I did have), after a period of sharing info, posts and the digital equivalent of chatter, I begin to trust them and they begin to trust me. AND, I can weed out the ones that don’t live up to my expectations/needs or violate my trust.
Aha! Now we arrive at a reasonable explanation for the success of digital social media – building one’s circle of trust. That makes sense, certainly more sense than using the medium to outshout others on the topic de jour. An expansion of trust. An extension of the herd. McLuhan would be proud.
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