Has Social Computing Changed Us?

When the Internet started gaining momentum in the mid to late 90’s, many of us didn’t anticipate how big a part it would play in our lives in the near future. Many brushed it off as mere child’s play or even as something only the privileged few can afford to fiddle with.

The Internet then was a cesspool of information scattered in homepages that didn’t aspire to be as attractive as they were informative, or at least, hoped to be. Interconnectivity was almost impossible as search engines were inefficient and slow, trawling through the web and spewing out anything without much relevancy.

It was of no wonder the internet created little furore except amongst geeks around the world who craved little more than to leave their marks on the great information superhighway thus impressing their peers.

Then computers became more and more affordable and user-friendly; Google came along and revolutionized how we looked for information; more thought was put into the user experience of how we looked at the Internet, rather than simply churning out content. Push-button web publishing made blogging possible for almost everyone with a pc connected to the web. This was the beginning of the mass hysteria that is now termed “social computing”.

Everyone now has something to say and the space to say it. The Internet no longer belonged to only those with l337 HMTL and other coding skills. Web content belonged to everyone and everyone started to create more content that was more organized and attractive.

Enter Web 2.0.

Actually, long before it became known as “Web 2.0”, people were getting hyped up from being able to leave their footprints on sites that they go to in the form of opinions, comments and such. The high levels of interconnectivity and interaction were like a drug to some.

Web 2.0 crept into our consciousness like a slow and steady turtle. Before we knew what happened, we are hooked–We liked how we could contribute to the contents of the websites and get responses from web-owners. We loved it so much, we demanded more. And more came along.

Facebook, being the acid test that everyone who wants to recreate the next big thing in social computing continues to flourish and move at a pace most people didn’t expect. It has said to be the poster child of what constitutes the motivations behind Web 2.0 in order for it to be successful: worldwide connectivity, real-time responses and viral marketing. We all got sucked into Facebook and other social networking sites like never before.

I would say many Web 2.0 sites and applications are the by-products of the need to reconnect with the world than to be detached from it. Social networking sites are always revolving, almost as organic as an animal, however, at a much mind-blowing pace.

From the simple intention of connecting with everyone you know based on the theory of six degrees of separation, social computing and networking somehow grew out and managed to have more grip into our lives than we thought it would.

Some examples, among others:

• Facebook statuses being admissible as court evidence during divorce hearings.
• Law enforcement agencies tracking criminals and organized crime based on  facebook statuses.
• Microblogging (plurk.com and twitter.com) made blogging easier, allowing even kids to spew whatever’s on their minds at any time of the day even from their mobiles.
• Up-to-the-minute information on high impact events such as news of natural disasters direct from source areas.

Taking those points into question, the next set of questions I would like you to consider are:

• Has social computing affected your lives much?
• Is it merely a reflection, an extension of your lives?
• How much has it changed how you interact with your social networks?
• Are you dependent on any social networking sites? (Consider this seriously)

No matter what we may have to say of it, as much as some of us condemn and abhor it, one thing’s for sure– there’re ten times as many of us who absolutely love and couldn’t live without it.

Social computing is a force to be reckoned with. It is here to stay. And them some.

Resistance is indeed futile.:)