On the need for higher-level, philosophical, theoretical social media discussions
I had a chance to meet this week with Gus Fosarolli, Nadia Nascimento and Shane Gibson. We had a couple of drinks at The Keg in Yaletown and, amongst other topics, we mentioned the need for higher-level, more philosophical/ethical/larger scale discussions in the social media world, and about topics on internet and society. I caught a Twitter conversation amongst Chris Mathieson, Tris Hussey, Cathy Browne and Steff Cameron along the same vein.
I’ve been invited to each and every one of the Gastown Dialogues on the Future of the Web (an event that Evan Leeson and Kevin Grandia have been organizing every few months), and I’m delighted to have been a participant, because at those events, we’ve had exactly those types of discussions – the large-scale, broad, questions. What are the ethics behind social media? Where are the ethical boundaries drawn? What type of best practices are taking place and how can we avoid faux pas? There are, I’m sure lots of other questions that can be thought of (the impact of Twitter on society, who will benefit from early adoption, the role of social networks in society).
Only caveat – I am NOT doing it on a Sunday. Nor a Saturday for that matter. For someone like me who is immersed in the social media space pretty much every day, at least one day should be dedicated to other things. In all seriousness these discussions should probably be hosted by local events (of the Meetup.com type, perhaps). And clearly, you all can go ahead and have these discussions over Sunday brunch. Give me a call when you take over the world 
Related posts:
- Social Media Club Vancouver launch
- On hand-wagging, scolding and other social media musings
- My recent Social Media Club Victoria talk: “Towards an Action-Focused Agenda for Social Change Using Social Media” (#smcvictoria) @smcvictoria
- Theoretical and empirical findings on the use of social media marketing
- On the relationship between mainsteam media, social media and academia 1: Mainstream media and social media’s complex relationship
I no particular order, the things I want to think about over the next few months re: social media:
- ethics of anonymity; what are the obligations of the viewer/reader towards an anonymous poster
- correspondence of law; how ought (rather than are) laws be correlated between physical and digital – should we even bother with this distinction?
- how does ontological security tie into social media, and in what ways (this is terribly broad, but develops on other work I’ve been doing for the past few years)
There are, of course, others but those are presently my ‘big three’.
Bah! Nothing like a little mental stimulation on a Sunday morning. What do you think the New York Times was made for, huh?
Has the Vancouver social media community considered starting a chapter of the Social Media Club? I know it’s “yet another thing” for many people, but its whole mission is to have these conversations, both in person and online. It has benefitted the Victoria community enormously for these reasons:
1) The larger organization is a wonderful space to share local discussions and “lessons learned”, and the arrangment is reciprocal, with wider discussions seeding the local level too.
2) It encompasses the full spectrum of social media – not just blogging, not just the “flavour of the month” – and many of our discussions are applicable across platforms.
3) It is becoming a recognized brand in itself. As a professional engaged in social media, I’d like to visit chapters in other towns. Are there great people visiting Vancouver who are missing connections because they don’t know where to look?
@ Christopher – I’ll make sure to integrate those on to a wiki page
@ Tris – um. No. You know me. My Sundays are sacred, FTW!
@ Catherine – Yes, actually we are in the process. I’m not spearheading (Colleen Coplick is) but I’m part of the group who is talking about it. That’s one of the steps we’re talking towards formalizing these discussions.
[...] Here’s a comment I posted to my friend Raul Pacheco-Vega’s blog, Hummingbird604. He was asking for some more opportunities for the Vancouver online community to discuss at a deeper level the many issues our evolving use of social media raises. I’ll comment a bit more, but here’s what I posted following his article. [...]
I just saw Catherine’s post which led me here.
I was quite astonished at how easy it was to set up an SMC meeting in Victoria. We had a location donated, and my company contributed coffee, water and the odd snacks (<$30/month), and we were off and running.
The quality of guest speaker (many from Vancouver, including yourself) has been excellent.
Feel free to give Colleen my contact info, and if there's anything I can do to help, I'd be happy to do so.
[...] started, or continued, a conversation on his blog that i think we should all take seriously (or let’s say, play with). he states there is a need [...]
Great post, sir!
Another area that we discussed was the idea of digital natives, immigrants and now to be included in the digital diaspora: “The emigrants.” There is a lot to discuss; what we need to do is find that group of impassioned people who want to ask the questions and take the risks in designing some answers.
Thanks for being one of them to push the conversation further.
-nn