The social life of information.

With Web 2.0 any body with access to an internet connection can now create, publish, disseminate, discuss, promote content on line and measure their campaign success.  Once we have published our content it is out there for all time. The story takes on a life of its own as it passes from author to reader to be manufactured or spread as an idea to others and even acted upon by others.

One such demonstration of creating, distributing, discussing and calling for action was the Arab Spring in the Middle East. Click to listen to ABC's PM - Social Media and the Arab Spring. This demonstrated the power social media has in spreading ideas or memes and people's ability to take action as a group or society. While the call for democracy in countries with limited self determination is positive outcome and shows that large groups of people working together via a common communication medium. Using social media this way can also have negative consequences for society as demonstrated by the Birmingham riots in August 2011. See: Birmingham riots encouraged by internet campaign on social media.

It is this collaboration and the speed of which it happens that makes social media a unique when compared to other communication channels. No where can you ask a question of a large body of people and get an answer on a local, national and international scale. This crowd sourcing today is happening on a larger scale than it was possible twenty years ago due to the advances in technology. Examples of using the power of the crowd include - Free open source software (FOSS) projects such as Open Suse (www.opensuse.org) a viable computer operating system alternative to Microsoft and Garmz  now Lookk.com a website allowing customers to vote new apparel designed by up coming fashion talent and have the winning garment produced. See: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/garmz-helps-young-design-talent-produce-garments-through-crowdsourcing


However, just as there is crowd sourcing, being part of  or following a particular community can also be limiting. As your community filters the information  and ideas it wishes to hear about so members of this community including you potentially miss out on news that could be beneficial. For example  Ellison, Steinfield and Lamp [2009] cites Sunstien in their article - Social networking sites and society: Current trends and possibilities, saying:

That Internet [social networks] use will allow people to increasingly exclude viewpoints that conflict with their own, creating a bubble of information in which individuals are exposed only to  data that reinforces their current opinions "


So we could say that information has a life of it's own once it is released via any social networking tool. How long this information is useful before it pass into history depends on the currency of the information, it's value to the network, the opinions community members have of it and  whether it is promoted in other networks.   You could liken the social life of information to a river, its start gently as a stream, the stream grows as more volume of water is added to it. A river sometimes has tributaries that branch off and become eddies and the water in the eddies become lost. Eventually the main tributary comes to the coast and empties out in to the ocean.  Just like a river so too is the social life of information.

References:

Britton, N. (2011). Birmingham hit by riots as internet campaign encourages violence. The Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690273/Birmingham-hit-by-riots-as-internet-campaign-encourages-violence.html

Coglin, M. [Presenter]. (2012, March 15). PM - Social media and the Arab spring. [Radio Broadcast]. Sydney. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.   Retrieved from:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3454535.htm

Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., & Steinfield, C. (2009). FEATURE Social network sites and society: current trends and future possibilities. interactions, 16(1), 6-9. Retrieved from: https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/EllisonLampeSteinfield2009.pdf

 

Garmz helps young designer talent produce garments through crowd sourcing. [N.D.] Retrieved from: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/garmz-helps-young-design-talent-produce-garments-through-crowdsourcing