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| BRINGING PEOPLE CLOSER |
Back in the 1990s, technology was about bringing people together was grossly at odds with the prevailing social view that technology was for geeks who were isolated from society. Few would argue that it is a good thing that grandchildren and grandparents separated by long distances can keep in touch with each other far better than ever before, and that we can maintain relationships with friends from through our life who previously we frequently lost touch with. Technologies are used and abused, and for some social technologies are used as an alternative rather than complement to enduring face-to-face relationships.
Today social networking has made brands my “friends” but it was non-committal, none offered me something that seemed worth it at the time. This begs the question: To what extent does it prove to be an effective means of mass communication?
If you have befriended your mother on Facebook, or your teacher follows your tweets, you want to be careful about what you post. I understand that. But if I’m hungry, and for some reason decide to post that on Facebook, do I really want McDonald’s to know? I can’t help but feel that in the same way we don’t want our parents to know how much we may have enjoyed, we also don’t want brands to necessarily know what we feel like buying or what we are recommending to our friends. Let us not explore from a perspective of possibility how powerful a force for good social technologies can be, and not turn away from them. As the human race, we need to discover and get better at what it is to be far more richly connected and interdependent than ever before.
If you have befriended your mother on Facebook, or your teacher follows your tweets, you want to be careful about what you post. I understand that. But if I’m hungry, and for some reason decide to post that on Facebook, do I really want McDonald’s to know? I can’t help but feel that in the same way we don’t want our parents to know how much we may have enjoyed, we also don’t want brands to necessarily know what we feel like buying or what we are recommending to our friends. Let us not explore from a perspective of possibility how powerful a force for good social technologies can be, and not turn away from them. As the human race, we need to discover and get better at what it is to be far more richly connected and interdependent than ever before.
Puja Banerjee
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