Social Networking’s Lie
March 27, 2009
Social networking is cronyism masked as business value. It has elevated the cult of ‘who you know’ to a different dimension but not necessarily a better one.
It claims interpersonal relationships of value. It gives inter-connected relationships, two dimension interactions that lack nuance, context and the dynamic subtlety of being together.
Like speed dating, if one does enough of it, chances for success show up. Quantity over quality. Has the old model of mass production been incorporated into the fabric of the internet to give us visibility without truly giving us exposure? ( as I write these words, the obvious irony of the statement stares at me: who but those with visibility to this medium will even know my thoughts?)
Traditional education seemed to teach (imply) that content - subject matter - was most important. It’s not.
Content has value in context.
So it is with networking. Simply twittering, texting, vexting (video sms messages), calling does add to the equation of value but I see far too many people choosing the wrong equations. They (we) have also believed that solving the simple equation of contact will lead to the ability to solve the complex equations of human interaction. False. The context of being personal requires much more than being social. What do you think?