It's early Sunday morning. I'm supposed to deliver a speech about something tomorrow but I can't remember the topic. And then I remembered that someone had written the topic for me on a piece of paper. I fish out the paper and look at it - but I can't make out what the topic is. I see something like "soc cha". I desperately try to make out what the topic is but the paper starts to shimmer and the letters fade away...
And then I woke up.
OK so it was an early morning dream. But as I lay awake in bed thinking about my dream I realized that my subconscious was impregnating me with subliminal messages (yes I know I make it sound a bit like an alien invasion of privacy) about something that is happening all around us - social change.
define:social change
Social change is a general term which refers to:
- change in social structure: the nature, the social institutions, the social behaviour or the social relations of a society, community of people, and so on.
- When behaviour pattern changes, in large numbers and is visible and sustained it results in a social change. Once there is a deviance from culturally inherited values, it may result in a rebellion against the established system, causing a change in the social order.
- any event or action that affects a group of individuals that have shared values or characteristics.
- acts of advocacy for the cause of changing society in a normative way (subjective).
(courtesy: Google search and Wikipedia)
This got me thinking and to this blog post.
Let me give a few examples before I tell you what exactly I was thinking about.
LeVar Burton asks Brent Spinner (they both acted in the "Star Trek - The Next Generation" series among other things) after Spinner signs up for Twitter: "@BrentSpinner Feel the Love? Over 5K follows in less than 24 hours!"
A lot of Facebook groups emerged after the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. These groups organized people from different parts of India (and the world) to come together for peace. So many of the users in these groups had never met each but came together (in the online world and later offline) to offer support and help.
Barack Obama created history becoming the first African American President of the USA and he used Twitter, Facebook and blogs (among other things) to spread his message and gather support.
So what am I driving at? Well, here's what.
I believe we are seeing a trend where more and more individuals (and institutions) moving closer to their constituency.
Gone are the days when celebrities had a "you can't come near me I have a bodyguard who can deliver a big punch" aura about them. They (like LeVar Burton, Brent Spinner and Shahrukh Khan) can now be followed on Twitter and they'll even reply to your silly direct messages.
Gone are the days when an attack would usually mean the victims suffer alone. They now have people from across the world (most of whom they have never met) coming together on Facebook, organizing candle light marches in their local cities and lobbying for change.
And gone are the days when the President of the USA thought a Blackberry was something you could eat.
So what's causing this trend of moving closer to the constituency?
I believe what is causing this trend is that a lot of people are rediscovering the benefits of one thing - social capital.
define: social capital
Social capital is a concept developed in sociology and also used in business, economics, organizational behaviour, political science, public health and natural resources management that refers to connections within and between social networks as well as connections among individuals. Though there are a variety of related definitions, which have been described as "something of a cure-all" for the problems of modern society, they tend to share the core idea "that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups".
(courtesy: Google search and Wikipedia)
Social capital is not something new. Man is a "social animal" and social capital has been around ever since the first cavemen banded together to go after that elusive mammoth. However since then society has been moving farther apart.
In a world where financial capital has already run out I believe the next coming will be with social capital. The more people you know, the more successful your venture will be. The more people you help, the more people will help you. The real value is in the connections you make with other people and not in the large amounts of money you can throw at something.
And driving this trend towards gathering more social capital are the various social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook which make it really easy to connect with people from around the world (you are probably reading this blog post because I posted a link to it from my Twitter and Facebook accounts).
So - enough said. My aim is not to preach but to impregnate your mind with sublimal messages that will make you think about social networks, building social capital, building social solidarity through social networks and bringing about social change. Just like I did one early Sunday morning.
