When did the web become social? A history
12 May
Cross posted from Superchooha blog by Ralston D’ Souza.
It is very difficult to track the beginning or the end of Social media accurately. It is a vast realm that is changing at all times. The first known socially interactive platform in the world emerged in 1979. It was called Usenet. Its inventors were two computer scientists by the names of Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis. In the interim of 1979 and the early 90’s, there were a number of platforms like BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) which were in some small abstract way an equivalent of social media today. IRC better known as Internet Relay Chat was in one sense the father of modern day chat platforms we have on almost every social networking website and mail client today. IRC’s were first used in order to share links and generally stay in touch. Also, ‘Leetspeak’ began at this juncture.
The comparison between modern Social media platforms and Usenet is based on the premise that both of them united people and contained the foremost essence or the crux of any social media platform: interaction emerging from common interests.
Over the years, marketing has adapted to social media and the fact that there is an increase in the presence of more and more people coming online and interacting. It is human tendency to trust people in a new medium of interaction. Cases in point being social media platforms like face book and twitter when they first emerged. Although niche, social media platforms are greater influencers as compared to television today because people get the missing dimension of interactivity which a TVC or a print commercial cannot give. Secondly, the user can choose who to interact with.
The clue train manifesto is a set of 95 theses regarding new market places. These theses are a call to action for businesses in the new market place. An instance of one such new market place is the internet. The manifesto goes on to say, that ‘a powerful global conversation has begun. Owing to a marketplace, which is more informed, and share relevant knowledge at a blinding speed, the stress is on having a conversation with people. So the more informed you are, the better the relevance and hence, better will be the quality of your conversations.
In social media, there is one paradigm of engagement only:
Attention ——> Relevance
As a newcomer to social media, I have realized that the online audience is smart. More so, they seek relevance. “What’s in it for me?” is generally their first and foremost question before they join your community or interact with you. Taking a patronizing tone with an audience this sharp, is the equivalent of social media suicide.
Although not all of them have what Daniel Goleman calls EQ, they can find out if the information is accurate, just in case you are taking the high ground by Pfaffing.
Why is it ‘Social’ Media?
The word ‘Social’ in its most basic sense refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary. Social Media is media meant to be disseminated through the use of the internet. Now this broad definition of Social Media can include Microblogging, Social networking (which is distinct from Social media), Social bookmarking, Blogging, Social network aggregation, Photo/video sharing and so much more.
Heraclitus wrote once, that you cannot enter the same river twice. For a beginner in Social Media all I can say is that there are many aspects of it that I have not completely discovered as yet and by the time I discover them, the river is not quite the same anymore!
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