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This Is Not A Blog contains essays, short stories and poetry by Stephen B. Starr.
May 7, 2008
All the True Oaths
May 9, 2008
One Good Word
March 22, 2008
Reflections on launching a static website
Social networking for anti-social people?
Last night, the Chicago Creative Coalition hosted an expert speaker on “social networking for the creative professional.” She brought up two salient points that stuck with me. The first is the notion that social networking sites are facilitating a “perso-professional” presence. Those in the millennial generation have grown up using computers to make and nurture social contacts with little sense of a boundary between their personal and education/professional lives. Those in the baby boom generation have a bit more anxiety about mixing up these two spheres of life. What if my boss finds my blog and dislikes my political views? What if the in-laws see photos of me hoisting a beer with people they’ve never seen?
The idea that we can present ourselves in whatever fashion we choose calls us to authenticity. The dark side of web presence smacks of the celebrity who comes to live inside their own created image of themselves; a very small box indeed. The boundaries I create for myself on the web seem to be the cutting edge of a new social revolution. How much time will I spend on the web as opposed to face time with real people? If friendship is a goal, how deeply can I cultivate a friendship with someone who exists only as a series of profiles, hyperlinks and folksonomy tags? In my opinion, if I begin to believe I am only the results of my google search, my life has contracted too far.
The second point our speaker challenged us to was to “find your tribe” on the web. There are social networking sites that may offer little or nothing to one user or become the place where another wants to “hang out.” Finding your tribe has always been a fundamental part of being a human being. Back in the days when it was a subversive activity to be on the web finding newsgroups and chat rooms with like-minded people, I felt the exhilaration of finding others who shared my views. Now, web 2.0 makes connection ubiquitous and slightly less exhilarating. It takes some lurking in social sites to find your tribe… some hanging out to see what’s of value in this space or that.
Every one hanging out on the web, whether for professional gain or personal enrichment, will have to sort out their goals. When you’ve mindlessly spent an hour online and left with little sense of connection, maybe your mother’s advice about turning off the TV and going outside to play is in order. When you find a voice… a way to be authentic and join the discussion, your contribution to the social revolution, however small or large, has begun.
Stephen B. Starr, May 21, 2009
