Social Media vs the Age of Enlightenment

Readers of this blog will know that we do point out every so often that Social Media has a downside, a dark force as well as a utopian one. It does seem hard to do that sometimes, given the seemingly continual torrent of unadulterated Good News, unless of course you believe that the people shouting it out are somewhat invested in its growth (Surely not )

Which makes the following article fascinating - it is a downside article, and a pretty good one:

The idea of social technologies as a liberating force echoes the Enlightenment language and, just as with the original, there are good reasons to view this discourse with some skepticism. This knowledge about the value and meaning of social technologies comes from industry champions (Cisco’s Human Network), industry analysts and corporate consultants. This discourse is good for business - I know because I speak regularly on the topic in boardrooms and at conferences. Proponents have a personal stake in seeing the positive side of the equation (and there is a positive side) and encourage participation as a means of personal empowerment (“the customer is now in charge” “the end of command and control hierarchy” etc.).

Social media is cloaked in this language of liberation while the corporate sponsors (Facebook, Google et al ) are progressing towards ever more refined and effective means of manipulating individual behavior (behavioral targeting of ads, recommendation systems, reputation management systems etc.). As with the enlightenment the tactics of control are shielded by a rhetoric of emancipation. Let's not forget that the output of all of this social participation is massive dossiers on individual behavior (your social network profiles, photos, location, status updates, searches etc.) and social activity.

Its a good article in that it shows similar hypocrisy occurred in the Age of The Enlightenment (and many other Utopianist movements of course). In fact, we were having a discussion at Tuttle the other day and one thought was that much of Social Media, owing to its focus on passion and emotional engagement rather than rationality, was in some ways a force rolling back the Age of Reason. Discuss....

But its not saying anything that others (including us) have said before

No, what makes this post extremely fascinating is that it comes from the O'Reilly Radar, which - in my experience anyway - have tended to be on the "cup overfloweth" side of the New New Social Thing, never mind a Glass Half Full - so this Glass Half Empty article - the first, it seems, of a series, is a rather fascinating shift of tenor, methinks.

You may be interested to see that the second essay is trailed as:

The next post, Captivity of the Commons will explore the risks associated with personal data being collected at the behest of corporations whose main motivation is not in service of “customer empowerment” but on the traditional goals of manipulating behavior to grow their share of wallet.

Which rings very similar to a paper we wrote about a year ago with the title Data is Free, but everywhere in Chains.

I note a similar style of article went up on today on Business Week as well. Is this the start of the Retreat from Social Media, the Recanting of the Religion? (In other words the start of its slide into the Slough of Despond on the Hype Curve, and no doubt the decanting of it's old whine into new bottles in a few months time )

Update - really good article on this by Ian Delaney over at TwopointOuch.