Image: http://bloggerstop.net/2009_11_01_archive.html
Some might think the new world currency is a stock market of Facebook friends. That’s close, but not quite it. It’s the knowledge and experiences you contribute to the world, largely online, that is quickly replacing your savings account as the world’s measure of your net worth. Let’s call it your social quotient.
Your social quotient is measured in everything from friend counts, posts, traffic stats, tweets, followers, badges, and even lowercase “i”s. It’s built, blogged, located and tweeted hundreds of times a day, and you don’t even have to count it all – it’s done for you by the thousands of systems lumped together under the banner of social media.
In the early days of networked computing, before the internet, computers could connect to a central hub known as a BBS or bulletin board system. Once connected, users could share files and chat with the BBS operator and even with other users. Those who dialed in to download files but didn’t contribute were termed “leeches”. The BBS systems evolved to limit the access of those who didn’t contribute and reward those who did.
I don’t think anyone today is intentionally ostracized like the leeches of the past for not contributing – at least not yet. But there is a new class system forming among those who are involved in social media and contribute regularly and those who are aloof or actively shun sharing. As a digital marketing strategist, I commonly advise experts to “give” away their knowledge because those contributions become currency in a world where not sharing is equated with a lack of knowledge.
However, that kind of thinking has lead to an arms race to share more than the person next to you. It started with knowledge on blogs and has now digressed to tweeting about the @pizza you’re #eating with Gowalla or Foursquare. I do believe these new types of connections will ultimately change our society for the better in ways that we can’t dream of now, but there is a danger. No, it’s not that someone will break into your house after you tweet that you are eating a pretzel at the Twist and Shout; the danger is in a new kind of snobbery – a digital elitism if you will.
The digital divide is widening. Rural access to high-speed internet, poverty and the lack of access to a quality education are real barriers that are undermining this brave new world of connection. We must all keep in mind that just because someone didn’t tweet it or campaign against it on Facebook, their ideas are still just as valuable. It’s important to understand that just like monetary wealth which can be frittered away, this new social equity may turn out to be a bad investment if it makes us forget that we are all valuable to someone. If nothing else, keep in mind that time waits for no one, and if you aren’t careful you could easily become a digital pariah yourself. Then would you consider your contributions to be any less valuable?
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