April 27th, 2010
by internationalmanofmystery
A fabulous phenomenon is taking place globally. Humanity is creating a collective journal about its past, present and future. This “journal” is highly visible, accessible and trackable. A mash-up of various media, this journal is complete enough to be packaged and sent to our neighboring solar systems for introduction and entertainment. At once a history, a film, a song, a poem, a user’s manual, and a thousand other forms, the journal provides an eye into the human spirit — and through self-guided search one may choose where to direct his/her eye.
PhD student Theresa Sauter, from the Queensland University of Technology, is examining how social-networking websites help people form their own identity.
“Social-networking sites, blogs, online discussion forums and online journals represent modern arenas for individuals to write themselves into being,” the Courier Mail quotes Sauter as saying.
“A lot of people see social networking as a new way for people to interact but I’m interested in examining it as a way to form an identity and understand ourselves,” she adds.
“The ancient Greek philosophers used a reflective notebook to write down what they had read and their thoughts on it,” she said.
Sauter’s comments and project strike at the heart of what is going on through social networking: humanity is becoming conscious of itself in a way never seen in prior history. Humans now have the opportunity to become aware together of one common thought on a global level, collectively. Through projects like Pepsi Refresh, users, working with brands, are voting their solutions into place. Cause-related marketing is a GIANT aspect of our present and future in social networks. GIVEO is a perfect example of the democratization of causes and giving.
On the individual level, we have networks within which to give and receive. Our status updates reveal us to our network. A fabulous result of the increasing transparency taking place IS the revealing of humanity’s spiritual and emotional eco-system. This spiritual and emotional eco-system is the same environment that has yielded all of our inventions through time. The chronicling of movement through status updates, tweets, vlogging, blog posts, and many other forms of online social communication, has reached the minutest of shades. Every single step of one’s life may be visualized and then re-mashed into a multitude of configurations.
One might ask, What is humanity up to right now? What does this all mean? Many old paradigms are in shambles, yet at the same time so many new channels have opened up that no-one seems to mind, at least in some communities. Concepts critical to the previous infrastructure have disappeared overnight, quickly replaced by fantastic new methods of relating to and communicating with one another, finding information and finding ourselves.
So what are we up to? In the face of economic (and thus personal) crisis, humans are circling together and seeing one another (in some cases for the first time). Virtual nations have been birthed within weeks, virtual economies have flowered within months, virtual relationship is a red-hot experience and commodity (and may become physical as quickly as you like with your favorite people).
What is humanity up to through social networks? Humanity is tapping into its greatest resource: It’s heart. What humanity decides to do with its heart, who to give it to, where to be, how to live, is the project of our current times — and this is happening from the individual (read: your Facebook profile OR cool new enterprises like Brandkarma) to the enterprise level.
Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:
- The Psyche and Social Networks: How the Myth of Psyche and Eros IS a template for Social Engagement
- Use social networks to grow your heart and spirit
- HOW TO MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM OUTER TO INNER REALITY, FROM EARTH TO CYBERSPACE
- Soul Monitoring: Peering into the Collective for Meaningful Connections
uberVU - social comments
(April 27th, 2010 at 12:58 pm)
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(April 27th, 2010 at 1:06 pm)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lorrie Thomas, Wei Wang, Wild Web Women, Pamela Sherman, Wild Web Women and others. Wild Web Women said: Social networks: the collective human journal: A fabulous phenomenon is taking place globally. Humanity is creatin… http://bit.ly/bTkHj1 [...]
internationalmanofmystery
(April 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm)
Whether intentionally or not, humanity is writing a story, a his-story, her-story, our-story, their-story, through status updates, video and blogs world-wide. A true renaissance in collective story-telling is currently underway. ~ Nathaniel Hansen
Social Networks – list of social networks | Know Marketing Blog
(April 27th, 2010 at 10:33 pm)
[...] Web Marketing Therapy » Blog Archive » Social networks: the …10 hours ago by internationalmanofmystery Sauter's comments and project strike at the heart of what is going on through social networking: humanity is becoming conscious of itself in a way never seen in prior history. Humans now have the opportunity to become aware together of … [...]
Pamela Sherman
(April 28th, 2010 at 12:02 pm)
Thanks “International Man of Mystery”!
Love your post!!! So true and fascinating…
This ‘NEW COLLECTIVE HUMAN JOURNALING’ is being taken so seriously that even the “LIBRARY OF CONGRESS” is using it as a brand new means of recording ‘history’, or as you say ‘our-story’. The Library has even forged a relationship with ‘Twitter’ to collect and record our human journaling/posts for posterity! –Many historians are very excited about how transforming this is… alleviating some of the bias and elitism that’s existed in our ‘history’ for centuries. (If you’re interested a link to ‘The Library’ story is in my last WMT blog post regarding ‘Twitter’s Growth’).
Thanks again & ciao!
p
Twitter – Micro-blogging Social Network
(April 28th, 2010 at 1:10 pm)
[...] Web Marketing Therapy » Blog Archive » Social networks: the … [...]