Two people, in the last week, have asked me to roll off a list to say what I think social media is. In the old days it was easy; there was stuff which was synchronous and stuff which you described as asynchronous. This reflected the fact that some things were slower than others and that was about it. The fast stuff (chatrooms, instant messaging)was perceived as ‘more dangerous’ than the slow stuff, so kids tended to use the fast stuff and the rest of us came to social media, usually, via the slow stuff (forums/message boards/bbs…call them what you will).
Now the rollcall includes the aforementioned plus social networks, immersive multiplayer gaming, virtual worlds, Twittering, blogs, meet ups, UGC galleries and distribution services….the edges are blurring. Then there’s things that are partly online and partly offline, like Wii and games using augmented reality (not in general usage, yet, I do admit), and treasure hunts which start online and end up in the real world with you planting something significant for others to find via their GPS-enabled phones.
David Brake and I had a good conversation about this (he’s the second person) this lunchtime. David’s thought was that particular social groups or types of people are attracted to particular types of social media. You could imagine a life-journey which began on something like Club Penguin, moved on to Habbo Hotel > Bebo (f.) or World of Warcraft (m.) > graduated to Facebook > Linked In > Terry Wogan’s Togs online community > ?
To complicate things further, some social media is sometimes now embedded within brands as part of the drive towards 360 degree content (ex-known as Martini Media). See the BBC and, aparently, from an insider, as the tabloid’s say, Channel Four’s plans for the future, for two.
The upshot of this is…is social media becoming part of the furniture of our lives? In once sense this makes it part of the everyday, people will need to be able to manage social media as part of their skillset. Exciting to hear plans by London South Bank University to - possibly - run a degree course in Social Technology; this would be good news.
David Brake’s point, which was interesting was that if the different social medias attract specific socio-economic types, you begin to get colonies of people who talk about the same things in a sort of never-ending self-congratulatory or self-abusing churn. You need radicals who come in and stir things up from time to time.
PS: The demo on augmented reality is truly fab. Turn your speakers up loud. Two Froggies doing their thing at a conference in 2004. Count me in for the next time round.
PPS: Three years later (March 2007) and the guys are back with another demo by the same company, Total Immersion; another conference. Forget PowerPoint, this is what you need. You can clearly see how things are moving on.
Social media are many and varied, as you say Lizzie. Our community network, now ten years in the making in the increasingly less leafy Richmond upon Thames (as they develop the gardens) is one manifestation, and an unusual one. It is, I think, unique as I haven’t found anything else like it. Talking of dangerous, it would seem the local councillors consider the polite (but influential) discussion forum is something to be feared! This medium is participatory with webpages for councillors (largely unused!), citizen journalists providing news and content, the aforementioned lively voxpop, campaign websites, photo features, election projects and much more - too much to talk about really. I get the feeling, however, that the local council wishes it hadn’t been in their borough. Every community could - and should - have a network like this, but only Richmond upon Thames does. Check out http://www.oncom.org.uk and see what you think. There’s an argument raging on the voxpop as we speak (10.10pm, 19 Feb) about councillors, communication and electoral registers. I am one of the CJs and a voxpop contributor when moved to write, which is quite often recently as it’s irresistible.
Perhaps this is more what the BBC needs to do instead of its Action Network because it is truly local, the community online where you live, and particular to where you live. With more support, less suspicion and, indeed, repression from leaders and decision-makers, it would flourish even more, but then Oncom’s reputation for independence is essential. I guess this is a grown-ups place for now, but it doesn’t need to be. There’s room for everyone and it’s infinitely adaptable.