I know at 39, I could be regarded as a techno luddite – and whilst I know I am not up to date with all the comings and goings of life – I’m not dead yet, and when you compare me to people like Andy, I’m positively Steve Jobsesque.
Anyway the reason I say this is because I’ve found myself in a couple of situations where I’ve heard some very young digital gurus go on and on about the power of social networking.
Like most people in this field – they were extremely smart, had a very strong and relevant viewpoint and a generally good grasp of what is going on in the heads of the people that regard digital as ‘life support’ – however the bit they seemed to fail to grasp is that social networking is not a new phenomenon, it’s just one that technology has aided in its execution.
As much as I prefer face-to-face conversations, I cannot deny there are many social network sites and tools that have seemingly seamlessly integrated themselves into my life. To be honest, that shows how screwed up my life is rather than how techno connected I am – but all the same, there are elements within the current social networking hype that I have to admit has genuinely enhanced my life.
Do I think it is all good news?
Of course not, I still think Twitter is more about over-sharing and ego, just like I also believe – as I wrote here – that there are some potentially serious social ramifications in an over-reliance on technology based networking, but for all that, there’s a lot of good, great and excellent stuff that is going on, even if as a by-product, it is also adding a huge new layer of clutter and interruption.
So is the World better with all this advancement?
Yeah, probably … but we managed to live pretty well in the dark ol’ days pre-internet … and you could argue that society was maybe overall happier, but to be fair, that has sod all to do with technology and more to do with where the World and Government policies are at the moment.
But it’s the ‘dark ol’ days’ bit that I want to comment on.
As I said, over the last few weeks I’ve met some digital guru’s who regard social networking like it is the greatest gift to the planet since electricity [or Jerry Springer] but like I said at the Music Matters conference recently, social networking is not a new phenomenon, it’s just technology has made it easier to execute.
Hell, I live in a region where ‘networks’ have been keeping individuals World’s turning for thousands of years.
This is a place where ‘who you know’ is the currency of life. Of course technology has made that much easier to do now, but it’s not a new concept.
And my argument to the record companies was that they should stop looking at social networks as something bad for their business because not only will they be here to stay, but because ultimately they’ve been trading in this field for decades.
As most people know, I am a bit of a Queen fan.
I used to collect EVERYTHING to do with Freddie and the boys … from albums to t-shirts to concerts and everything inbetween.
Over the years – and thanks to their fan club – I was able to make contact with many sad fuckers like me and we would share information, thoughts, ideas as fast as our little pens would allow us to write them.
And then when you saw them live … OH MY GOD.
100,000 people crammed into a stadium, united by a common focus, feeling excited that for the next 7200 seconds, they’re going to be in the same ‘room’ as their heroes … breathing the same air, hearing the same noises, sharing the same moments.
As you waited for them to come on stage, you’d talk to the people around you … you’d give knowing nods to the guys wearing shirts that proved they’d seen the band on much earlier tours or in different countries … you’d swap stories and hear bits of information that would make you want to hear songs all over again … THAT IS ALSO SOCIAL NETWORKING and not a computer in sight.
I’ve written before that one of the problems I’ve always had with my industry is that in a bid for cred, they jump onto every ‘new thing’ and declare it the future of communication, business and life.
In many cases, like social networking, it’s not new – it’s just an evolution of an old and established system/process and even then it doesn’t mean everything else is redundant, because as much as some people like to claim otherwise, in terms of communication and advertising there is no one medium that can do it all, at least not till SKYNET launch their social network ad tool.