I am fortunate enough to come from a long line of successful entrepreneurs. Most notably, my grandfather who is a pioneer in the trade show business and one of the founding partners of COMDEX, the world’s first ever premier computer trade show.
I mention this because from the time I was born until now I have gone to just about any type of event imaginable. Why am I telling you this? It’s because not once did I see anyone at any of these events whip out their iPhone4 to make a Tweet. Not once did I hear the phrase, “Facebook Me.” And not once did I ever hear, “let’s connect on LinkedIn.” More importantly, I certainly never heard anyone brag about how many friends, fans, or followers they have. They simply knew each other’s wives names, backgrounds and major life events.
Being by my grandfather’s side for all these years and seeing first-hand the level of knowledge everyone possesses about one another got me thinking: What if social networking crashed? Think about it for a moment before reading on. Would you still be able to remember everyone’s birthday? What happens if you forgot your friend’s wife’s or husband’s name? Do you actually know even half of the phone numbers saved in your phone? If Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter died how in the world would you be able to stay connected or keep up with what everyone’s doing? The answer is simple – we would actually have to work harder at remembering things. For some of us that might even mean taking notes – ON PAPER! Yes generation-x, as scary as this may sound it is possible to live in a world without online social networking sites.
Can we define Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others true social networking?
Now that I have you thinking about a world without online networking let’s explore the true intent of this post. Can we actually call sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, “social networking?” Or, are they just product tools that help us obtain the information we need for in-person interaction? Let’s use the Facebook event page as an example. An event organizer sets up an event on Facebook and invites their friends to RSVP. This provides everyone with insight on who’s attending the event. More importantly, it allows individuals to research one another before they attend the actual event.
The point I am trying to make here is that we have the luxury on calling upon Facebook when we need to obtain information – in this case people attending an event. Can we truly consider that social networking? What about the Facebook “Wall” or “Chat” features? Technically they are forms of communication, which is a core principle of “social networking.” Take a look at the posts on your wall or even your friend’s wall. Can we really consider a ‘like’ on a post or a quick comment in a ‘wall’ true social networking? Listen, I don’t have the answers to these questions. I am just tossing it out there as something for everyone to think about.
Recently, I did an in-depth analysis of my own social networking profiles. I wanted to see just how many people out of the 2,000 plus (Facebok + LinkedIn + Twitter) I actually conversed with in-person on a daily basis. When I did the math the exact calculation came to 0.010 percent (roughly 21 people). This is a pretty shocking number isn’t it? And for those of you who know me I am a pretty social guy. I hear so many people out there brag about the number of Twitter followers they have. I would hypothesize the larger the number of followers on Twitter an individual has the lower their percent of daily interaction amongst their followers will be. Kind of counter intuitive for a platform we consider to be social-networking right?
The point of this post is not to bash social networking – because I truly love it. It’s to raise an argument on how we define these so-called, “social networking” sites. Are they robust product tools that allow us to call upon information to enhance the true social experience, which is offline? Or are they platforms that foster a true enriched social networking experience in the place we call the Internet? Again, I don’t have the answers to these questions but my grandfather does. He states, “ You can’t ever replace the true value of human interaction and the importance of a handshake.”
Jeff, I agree with what you are proposing here and would like to expand on the following question you asked, “are they [social networking sites] just product tools that help us obtain the information we need for in-person interaction?” I specifically want to focus on the word ‘information’.
The reason that social networking has exploded is because it hits an evolutionary chord that defines us as humans. In fact, what we are calling social networking is just a continuation of the increasing ease and efficiency that make us different than every other species…the ability to transfer information. This is something I’ve thought about a lot and I’ve come up with a history of information sharing starting with earliest of humans.
1. Information was passed on by direct observation only. Information could only be passed only one generation at time.
2. Cave paintings allow information to be stored and possibly passed on to multiple generations. (Even our generation today is obtaining information from ancient cave paintings)
3. With oral language, information can be shared at a much lower cost much more quickly with one another. Storytelling is still used as a way to transfer information today.
4. With written language, information can be stored for many many generations….enter books. Mass production of books enables information to be duplicated many times over and can extend to farther reaches of the globe.
5. The telegraph, telephone, and radio allow information to be shared INSTANTANEOUSLY to practically anywhere on earth! Imagine that! This is a huge advancement from the previous step.
6. Enter the computer. The storage of information no longer has any limits. Every book ever written can be stored on just a few computers. The cost to duplicate that information is next to zero making information that much easier to spread around.
7. The internet (really just step 5 plus step 6). Information can not only be stored forever, but it can be accessible to anyone on the planet at any instant. But, Information is beginning to be overwhelming, too much, how do we find what we need? What is credible information and what is not? (thanks google, thanks wikipedia, thanks yelp, thanks…..
8. Social media. Organization of communities with similar interests share information at an accelerated rate regardless of global location. Who is the best at filtering mountains of information and providing only what each person wants to see? Facebook.
9. Cloud storage. Any type of information can be accessed at any time, at any location on the planet, from anyone. How fucking awesome is that?
We’ve always been information seeking beings. and we’ve sure come pretty far from storytelling. The fun part is trying to think about what comes next…
Thanks for the thoughtful response. Much appreciated!
Jeffrey,
I know that those under 30 may believe that social media is new to the world and they invented it. Well, it’s not and they didn’t. Your grandfather, dad and my dad were socially networking in various forms well before us as were their grandfathers and so on. They networked in different manners, using different mechanisms and technologies, but it was social networking just the same.
Back in the 70′s their was this technology called a citizens band radio. Every trucker had one to do business and others had them in their home for communication and socializing. They would broadcast statements, engage with others and meet up in person from time to time. Sound familiar? The radius and reach was much less than Twitter, but it was a social media technology just the same.
The principles of all we do in social media are pretty similar, it’s the technology that has evolved. The new technology needs to be embraced and adopted, yet we all must be ready for change to occur again, as soon as today. If there happens to be a total technological failure ~ we will once again adapt and overcome. Some will be lost, some will flourish. Survival of the fittest still being the nature of the beast.
Keep pushing and keep soaring.
My best,
Lou
Hi Lou,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated! Everyone should definitely check out http://www.louimbriano.com
Jeff – you and Dan should write a piece together. Your discussion points with Dan’s “information” point of view is worth it. To Dan’s information bullets, I belong to a group that has been around a long time … and so have their members. When I joined a few years ago and looked for information online, there wasn’t any available. When I asked for information, they looked at me like I was crazy (one woman once told me to “calm down” when I was asking a few questions). But they are having issues with finding the next generation of members. So I designed websites and a Facebook Page for them. The result is each meeting has more and more younger (than 50 years old) people joining. I found it interesting that we need information to trust and those tools provide the information to get there. Sure – we could survive without the tools. But now that we have them (Dan’s steps 6-9), it seems from my observation we must have information and resources available. I don’t think we could go back to trust without the information back-up..
Hi Trish,
Dan and I will definitely have to come up with something
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Nice post Jeff!
You do need to be careful just looking at this through a business lens though. One could argue this evolution has given people and cultures (outside of business circles) a more unified voice. The market applications of these social networks is so much deeper than personalized rolodexes or event planners. They ultimately unite people across the globe giving everyone the chance to be heard/found for a multitude of reasons/causes.
I totally agree. I was looking at this from a personal relationship level opposed to taking a business point of view. But looking at it from a business perspective even if you unite online isn’t the ultimate goal to meet and build a relationship offline? If so, do you use the networks to collect more information about the person you are connecting with? Kinda gives you a leg up in the conversation/first meeting, right? Just trying to see where everyone thinks the true “social networking” happens. Not trying to be argumentative….just something that was brought up in a business school class and I have been thinking about.