I wanted to take a step back and look at the big picture of what social media is really accomplishing. You often hear about the new feature on Facebook or Twitter and what cool thing it is going to allow you to do. But it is not very often that we take a step back and look at how all these great tools are changing how we interact. I think it is very simple, increasing connectedness and making the world an easier place to live.
Social Media is Gutenberg’s printing press of our times. Think about it. With the creation of the printing press humans were able to connect through the written word, no longer having to meet face-to-face to share knowledge. Instead of the individual having to travel, the written word went on the journey. Masses of people could be organized around ideas and beliefs, people could be mobilized around calls to action. It helped bring about the scientific revolution and the renaissance, shifting the balance of power and influence away from the church. It had a major impact on improving the lives of people
Now I don’t know if social media will bring about revolutionary changes like the printing press brought about when Gutenberg first set type around 1440. But it is already having some major impacts. Twitter has emerged as a major information source, and organizational tool for protesters in Iran. It has allowed thousands of people to mobilize and make sure their voices are heard around the globe. Who knows? It may help bring about true democracy in Iran.
Facebook groups allow like minded people to unite, and share their interests. You can become ‘friends’ with someone you have never met, and have a real relationship, even if you never do meet. In short, social media is making the world a smaller place, connecting people from different corners of the world, increasing free speech, and uniting the world as Gutenberg’s press did centuries ago.
A comment we sometimes encounter at Rypple is “I like to give my feedback face-to-face so I’m not going to use Rypple”. I always found this to be an interesting concern. If you think about what Rypple really is, it’s a tool designed to help people help people. The internet, the printing press, social media are never going to replace face-to-face interaction, but are simply tools to make communicating easier. Any tool that introduces profound sociological change starts off by creating fear of that change in everyone but the earliest adopters. We expect the same for Rypple, since we’re shaking up the world of feedback and challenging many of the long held assumptions about the role it plays in productivity, interpersonal relationships, and the workplace.
“… the realm of the technical, as thus defined, is not to be considered as evil in itself; if we think of it in itself … a technique is rather something good, since it amounts to nothing more than a specific instance of our general application of our gift of reason to reality.” – Gabriel Marcel “Man Against Mass Society”
Tags: change, facebook, Feedback, twitter
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