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7.02.2008

Social media usage

Are there contexts where there's lots of satisfying usage of social media?
Of course the obvious example is contexts of users, sometimes also known as communities of practice. To be an insider, one needs to be making enough use of the tools to be having questions about fine points, to be discovering tips to share with others and to be using others as sounding boards for other possible approaches. The use of social media is mutually reinforcing. It pays to join in, contribute and be included in the spinoffs.

How does the Internet make user groups different from F2F contexts?
Connections to online users does free us of the physical constraints of being in the same place at the same time. Yet there is still the insider/outsider dynamic rewarding those active users. Insiders subscribe to each others' RSS feeds, bookmark their content, and contribute comments to the content they're generating. That happens pretty much the same regardless of whether the social media in use is blogs, wiki, Twitter, so-net sites like Facebook, or archived uploads like YouTube. Everyone becomes more agile, fluent and resourceful together. The advancements are contagious like the monkeys that catch on to washing the sand off their bananas before eating them. They didn't catch the memo on banana washing but got on board anyhow.

Can a satisfying user context be created or is it something that emerges only when the conditions are ripe?
There's lots of evidence that says they cannot be created by non-users, outsiders or expert users. It works to simply begin acting like an insider with genuine needs to interact with other users. The authentic involvement is prone to mutual reinforcement. Givers gain from their generosity and there's no end to the benefits from sharing, contributing and responding to others.

Is there potential for a contrived context to be become authentic, satisfying and self-reinforcing?
In situations involving physical proximity, it may be possible. The daily contact in time and space provokes interactions that could become more mutually beneficial. Online, there's no exposure to obligatory confinement, recurring contacts or casual encounters. Everyone is choosing what they subscribe to, visit, read, bookmark and contribute to. The self-directed freedom we're all experiencing online makes the imposition of policy changes or regulated contexts seem archaic and destined to fail.

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