All Media Is Social
“…in reality, none of these behaviors are new. If you think about all of the social tools and behaviors happening today, in almost every case there is an equivalent comparison to activities in the past.”
I am the founder of Beer and Blog. I love the Internet, drums, socializing, and a good Scotch. I like go karts, R/C helicopters, and snowboarding. My wife, Christine, and I have two cute dogs and we all live in Portland, OR. We think Portland is awesome.
Comments
I’m going to disagree. And the examples on the original post leave out a lot of what makes current “social media” have the social aspect.
This comment is an example of it… a comment. Having a blog where one can broadcast their voice to all that choose to listen isn’t inherently social. One could make an analogy to a television or radio broadcast (public access?) where someone could get on a soapbox and preach his message. What was missing was the feedback. I can’t leave a comment on a TV show (at least not in any fashion where it becomes part of that TV show). But I’m leaving this comment on this blog post, and it now becomes part of the package… folks reading your post will be able to read my comment. Others can come along and agree, or tell me I’m off my rocker.
The feedback (and accessibility of said feedback) is what makes it social. I’d argue that a blog without comments isn’t social media at all.
I like what you’re saying there, Aaron. If the medium doesn’t support dialogue, it’s not social.
@justin
The semantic difference is whether you’re talking about a social medium (the tool, e.g. wordpress, online video, cable tv, air) or the social artifact (a tv show, a sound wave, a blog post). The latter is colloquially known as “content”.
So is a a blog post without comments an example of a social artifact? I’d say yes, but that’s because I think that anything produced by a tool that qualifies as “social media” is inherently social (because it wouldn’t otherwise be produced). That post has a link, you can email that around to millions of people without it costing you a dime.
If a blog’s commenting system doesn’t work b/c of a software bug, does that mean it’s not social media anymore? What about old blog posts whose comments are “closed”? Are they all of the sudden not social media anymore?
etc
Yes a blog with a broken commenting system is anti-social
semantic insight of the day:
some people think that “interacting” means that they themselves get to “say” something and other people can/have to listen (e.g. comment on a blog post). “give feedback” was used in the convo here…
others (me) might say that “interacting” really encompasses made possible by the plasticity of digital/social media (take a URL and email it; remix; copy ‘n paste; blog about it myself; etc)