Virtual Networks and Likes
First it started with a social network called Orkut. He used his creative 20% of his time in Google to develop this social network and it was launched in 2004. They were increasing the popularity of it through real world contacts of the people as they started allowing people to join the network through invites sent by the people who had earlier joined it. It was around year 2007-8 and people like me with new access to computers were super excited to find their old times buddies and in some cases sweethearts as well.
Just a year after joining Orkut, a friend, who had settled in US, suggested everybody in her network on Orkut to connect with her on facebook. I refrained from joining facebook since it was going to be too much of effort to handle two social networks since mobile phone in my hand was still dumb then and I was accessing internet from office and the cyber cafes. In 2010 I went to Ghana for a year. After seeing my new colleagues, mostly from UK, US and Netherlands, actively using facebook, I also started on it. Joining facebook was a great pleasure to connect with relatives and friends who were placed distantly.
Back home in 2011, things had changed rapidly. The facebook had become extra smart. People were fervently sharing their stories around. The response to these stories was being measured in terms of likes and comments. Every other medium like blogs, YouTube, online newspapers had started exhibiting these features of social networks. I had also become part of this flow while actively sharing photographs, writings, thoughts and feelings of the moment. Like most of the members, it used to be a pleasure moment when somebody hit the like button underneath the posts and the count increased. It could also be a sad moment when somebody posted some nasty comment or was ignored by people, in spite of drawing special attention on the medium. The every small bit on this platform was being stored in the brain and was being recalled whether you wanted it or not.
There was also other side to it as people started understanding how the medium was being used to influence their opinions and real life choices. It was actively being used by politicians, businesses for promoting their causes. I had also created a facebook page and was trying to promote my own products on it. I was spending lot of time posting my stories and responding and liking stories by others but until the moment of truth occurred that I was having less connect with the reality around me compared to the connect I was having on this virtual platform. Above all that, facebook was using its smart algorithms about what I could see and how much others could see about me. It had not remained the pure medium of remaining connected but was exerting control at the subliminal level over the lives of the users.
Not just facebook but every other social media in this world has made a fundamental change in the way people think and we need to rethink about that. These apps, websites and search engines providing free virtual spaces do come at the cost and that is paid in terms of getting influenced in your own physical world decisions about what you buy, whom do you vote and the likewise.
It is worth to recall how you started on these social media in first place. Your real world contacts had drawn you into this virtual world. If you are losing touch with that physical reality, it is always going to be a great problem. In this world it is not possible to shun the virtual reality anymore but it helps a bit to refrain from them for sometime.
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Just a year after joining Orkut, a friend, who had settled in US, suggested everybody in her network on Orkut to connect with her on facebook. I refrained from joining facebook since it was going to be too much of effort to handle two social networks since mobile phone in my hand was still dumb then and I was accessing internet from office and the cyber cafes. In 2010 I went to Ghana for a year. After seeing my new colleagues, mostly from UK, US and Netherlands, actively using facebook, I also started on it. Joining facebook was a great pleasure to connect with relatives and friends who were placed distantly.
Back home in 2011, things had changed rapidly. The facebook had become extra smart. People were fervently sharing their stories around. The response to these stories was being measured in terms of likes and comments. Every other medium like blogs, YouTube, online newspapers had started exhibiting these features of social networks. I had also become part of this flow while actively sharing photographs, writings, thoughts and feelings of the moment. Like most of the members, it used to be a pleasure moment when somebody hit the like button underneath the posts and the count increased. It could also be a sad moment when somebody posted some nasty comment or was ignored by people, in spite of drawing special attention on the medium. The every small bit on this platform was being stored in the brain and was being recalled whether you wanted it or not.
There was also other side to it as people started understanding how the medium was being used to influence their opinions and real life choices. It was actively being used by politicians, businesses for promoting their causes. I had also created a facebook page and was trying to promote my own products on it. I was spending lot of time posting my stories and responding and liking stories by others but until the moment of truth occurred that I was having less connect with the reality around me compared to the connect I was having on this virtual platform. Above all that, facebook was using its smart algorithms about what I could see and how much others could see about me. It had not remained the pure medium of remaining connected but was exerting control at the subliminal level over the lives of the users.
Not just facebook but every other social media in this world has made a fundamental change in the way people think and we need to rethink about that. These apps, websites and search engines providing free virtual spaces do come at the cost and that is paid in terms of getting influenced in your own physical world decisions about what you buy, whom do you vote and the likewise.
It is worth to recall how you started on these social media in first place. Your real world contacts had drawn you into this virtual world. If you are losing touch with that physical reality, it is always going to be a great problem. In this world it is not possible to shun the virtual reality anymore but it helps a bit to refrain from them for sometime.
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