It can be easy to get caught up in social media, and there are some obvious reasons why. For starters, making a connection via social networks can be as exciting as flirting with someone you fancy (Why dating sites do well!), or drinking all night with a new friend, and discovering how much you have in common. It’s easy to see the value and excitement in just one connection, and forget that it doesn’t apply to everyone you meet online – just the same as in real life.
It’s also human nature to gather together, whether in family units, by location, or by area of interest. Loners are generally confined to outlaws, psychopaths and artists (Generally similar things!). So the prospect of having constant access to one or more of these groups, regardless of time or geography, is incredibly appealing. And it’s why it can be so frustrating if your group happens to all be offline for some reason when you’re dying to connect!
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t get excited, or promote these aspects of social media, but it’s important as it matures as a technology, and as a tool for greater communication between people, companies, and even governments, that we look at why it’s so enticing, and whether sometimes we fall into the trap of ignoring the downsides (How do you scale one relationship to 100 relationships? Or 150,000?), when we’re doing the vitally important work of sharing this new connectivity with friends, family and colleagues.
