The first social experience I remember is play. It was not only about individuals, but also with friends around. After living in a society, the boundary was built naturally. There was a limit to the social experience of meeting people, including the so-called family, and myself, and the country. It was not easy to create a memorable social experience when everything was done within limited scope.
Here came a new wave of communication, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, and they make it easier to organize people’s networks than in the past. What makes a network with people different from the everyday Internet is that the Internet is a network of information, which may enhance the accessibility and utilization of knowledge, but it rarely changes life. By comparison, in the case of social media, when people’s motivations converge in a network, they naturally lead to some actions, social activity. The first social experience I met on my network was the BBS based club. The BBS service which became popular after the 1990s, had various clubs and played an important role in forming a new network. I joined the one of the club called “Semtle Sound,” a medium-sized music club. With this club, I bought a MIDI machine, recorded some songs in our community studio. If it weren’t for this club, it would have been difficult to act or experience like this.
Recently, social media services such as Facebook and Twitter have expanded their reach even further. Anyone can own personal Persona, social beings in virtual space, and connect with people. Especially, with many simple tools and associated services, countless people are experiencing various behavioral patterns on social networks.
Above all, it is encouraging to have digital infrastructure. Social experience permeates as part of life and is closely related to life. It means that the chances of having a happy experience have increased. There have been various factors of change in the meaning of living life. In the past, they had only thoughts and failed to act, but now that some people of the same will can gather and take various actions, their behavior has expanded on a personal level. The social impact of individuals has grown. This is possible because it is an era in which individuals become media.
Naturally, there will be problems, and there will be updates to eliminate these side effects from the system’s perspective, and a culture where people will be aware of and respond accordingly will be established. As human society always does, there are side effects of big changes. With natural agreement on rules and ethics between people, these new ecosystems will be on a stable track.
Connectivity or social networks connected through relationships are not unique. A caring mind is important, and you should be able to hear other opinions. The same is true of reaching an agreement. However, in order to have power on its own, the network must have diversity.
The biggest concern in social networks recently is excessive collectivity. They should cover the overall issues based on diversity, but they tend to listen only to what they want to hear and reject other opinions. This is an act that harms the social network’s original self-purification ability. It is important to have a critical view, to understand the context of social networks, and to create a social culture.
Personally, I believe that real social experience begins with an open mind. Efforts to open up and listen to as many people as possible and create value with them, balance and flexibility that do not lean to one side are needed.