What is it that draws us to online Social Media Networks ?
For thousands of years we have formed tribes to meet our security needs and now we study why.
Most Studies done by reputable tribes show that friendships and other social relationships tend to have a powerful effect on physical and mental health. This relationship had been noticed and talked about for many years until about the mid to late 1970’s. This was when other tribes turned to this issue to study it.
One study done in California around about 1979 showed a relationship between those who had a lot of contacts and those who had only a few. People who lacked tribes , tended to die sooner. In 1982 in Michigan, another study showed a similar association for women, but not men. About the same time similar results were reported between older men and women.
What this means is that your tribe consists of individuals drawn together by a variable such as age , sex , work or family. This is not to say that only these variables are used, though. In fact, one variable that has been proposed in the past is the number of contacts. You have to have about a hundred to a hundred and fifty, to be a social network.
One variable that has changed is that there is a whole new paradigm to include a company’s employees or even a politicians venue. You should be able to relate this to your target market.
Some have opined that its not really social unless the users can interact with one another. That it needs to be more that just an ability to generate content. That this piece of the puzzle has so far been missing from the platforms that are available today.
Part of the problem here is that Social Media Networking has changed the definition of friends and tribes. You will always have your best friends and much trusted business associates to still back you up, only now you can cast a wider net for contacts . This includes business contacts as well as personal contacts. This system is still evolving and expanding for the better, we hope.
If you could leverage social media networking to help drive business relationships and possibly other relationship, why wouldn’t you? Social Media is helping us to engage a much broader Universe of possibilities.
There are those out there that think that defining Social media is difficult because tribes get confused because of the implications of the thing itself. One definition is that Social media is simply content generated by the content view themselves. Of course, and you know this, its a huge implication. From here we can jump off into viral marketing , the masses influencing their tribes and other tribes. Even the Dissemination of information will become easier.
The Social Media Phenomenon seems to be mostly confined to the internet right now , but is it possible that this won’t always be the case? It’s possible to me , at least, that some new outrageous technology will allow social media in other dimensions.
I would love to get some feedback on that one. There’s a reply form on the bottom of the page. What are your thoughts about social media in other realms or platforms. What would those other dimensions be?