Blogging and Social Networking: What a Laugh –
At least that’s what I thought a few years back when the phenomenon first arose. There was something vaguely uncomfortable about it – something that reminded me too much of the bubbly predictions about the dot com world a few years prior. The job that I lost as a writer for an online webcast financial news service had taught me that placing billions of dollars on flimsy speculative ventures, on new ideas written on old cocktail napkins, on companies with loads of employees and no revenue, was an exercise in stupidity. It had happened because we were suckers for our own technology; we were so enamored with our own image reflected in the enchanted mirror we created that we made long-term financial assumptions that were extremely foolish and ultimately deadly. Some of the people who made those assumptions were renowned financial professionals, bankers, venture capitalists who were experts in investing. So the idea of another at bat after the ignominious strikeout did not sit well.
The very name -- Web 2.0 -- raised the little hairs on the back of my neck. What a world: no more software to buy because it’s all available online; no more IT techs because maintenance is free on the net; no more upgrades to buy; no more massive marketing campaigns because information about products will be shared by affinity groups. Would investors really put their money behind another ill-defined online concept that presumes it can generate future revenue by creating tools to target what people say they are interested in at the moment? Then it dawned on me: what are the elements common to human experience that define our drive to communicate? We all want to connect with those of like mind and argue with those who have different opinions; we all want to know that someone will listen to what we think and consider what we have to say; we all want to be heard.
Now we have learned that a global social network exists in support of those fighting for democratic freedoms half-way around the world in Iran. The tools of social media are weapons vastly more powerful than those of smoke and steel. It seems that the revolution is only just beginning… and it is no laughing matter.
At least that’s what I thought a few years back when the phenomenon first arose. There was something vaguely uncomfortable about it – something that reminded me too much of the bubbly predictions about the dot com world a few years prior. The job that I lost as a writer for an online webcast financial news service had taught me that placing billions of dollars on flimsy speculative ventures, on new ideas written on old cocktail napkins, on companies with loads of employees and no revenue, was an exercise in stupidity. It had happened because we were suckers for our own technology; we were so enamored with our own image reflected in the enchanted mirror we created that we made long-term financial assumptions that were extremely foolish and ultimately deadly. Some of the people who made those assumptions were renowned financial professionals, bankers, venture capitalists who were experts in investing. So the idea of another at bat after the ignominious strikeout did not sit well.
The very name -- Web 2.0 -- raised the little hairs on the back of my neck. What a world: no more software to buy because it’s all available online; no more IT techs because maintenance is free on the net; no more upgrades to buy; no more massive marketing campaigns because information about products will be shared by affinity groups. Would investors really put their money behind another ill-defined online concept that presumes it can generate future revenue by creating tools to target what people say they are interested in at the moment? Then it dawned on me: what are the elements common to human experience that define our drive to communicate? We all want to connect with those of like mind and argue with those who have different opinions; we all want to know that someone will listen to what we think and consider what we have to say; we all want to be heard.
Now we have learned that a global social network exists in support of those fighting for democratic freedoms half-way around the world in Iran. The tools of social media are weapons vastly more powerful than those of smoke and steel. It seems that the revolution is only just beginning… and it is no laughing matter.
Comments