.: Have We Met Before? :.

          Humanity is constantly devising new technologies to assist in the lives of millions of people while also making them more enjoyable. So, when asked to consider the most pioneering and significant technological advance of the last ten years, what would you say? If you guessed the ShamWow ®, then I’m afraid you’re wrong (nice try, though). But if you said the social networking website Facebook, then you are correct! This digital innovation is arguably the most influential (and ubiquitous) networking tool that modernity has seen to date. Originally created to connect individuals on the Harvard University campus, Facebook has exploded into a powerful social networking tool that has drastically redefined methods of human communication. 

          Not even Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, could not have foreseen the current level of cultural integration which Facebook has enjoyed over the past decade. Initially, Zuckerberg desired to create “an online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges” – a digital gathering space for people to keep track of others and socialize with friends. (Grossman, 2010) Fast forward 10 years and we have Facebook on our mobile smart phones, iPods and iPads, even on internet-connected televisions. Facebook is no longer ‘the future of human communication’ – it is human communication. More than that, its human communication built upon human networks, both digital and traditional. 

          In my previous writing, I expounded upon the fact that digital media and social networking could lead to the impersonalization of human communication as well as the misinterpretation of exchanged information. Although this remains a valid issue, it isn’t substantial enough to deter the growth of social networking or the adoption of this medium as a global means of interaction. In fact, as Zuckerberg discovered when creating Facebook, “people yearn not to be liberated from their daily lives but to be more deeply embedded in them…” (TIME MAG) We can already see the integration of technology into every aspect of our lives – Facebook could be the tool that will enhance this assimilation to wholly encompassing levels. 

          For example, imagine the marriage of three revolutionary elements: immersive virtual reality, like wearable VR glasses; digital auxiliary memory, such as a cranial implant; and Facebook. This digital trifecta would not only be able to virtually display immediate information about a new acquaintance or about a location in town, it could also alert you to people in your vicinity with whom you’ve interacted on Facebook. Other information, such as how you know these people and your common interests, could be accessed upon request. Information would then be relayed to your cranial implant to be archived for future reference. This prospect would literally allow you to take Facebook with you wherever you go while interacting with the world in an entirely new way: as a Mobile Social Network. 

          If you are slightly frightened at this point, brace yourself for more. In his book The Facebook Effect, author David Kirkpatrick takes this idea even further. He proposes that “the [Facebook] software could even start to make elementary decisions on your behalf.” As Kirkpatrick suggests, such software could be so intuitive that it knows who you are as well as your patterns: “Imagine I can get in my car and just say, ‘I want to go to David Kirkpatrick’s house.’ It knows who I am and can go inside Facebook, find out where David lives, and direct me there using GPS.” (Kirkpatrick, 2010) 

          This integration of technology, social networking, and our daily lives is the kind of progress that will entirely redefine human communication. To interact with the world on a physical, a social, and a digital level affords humanity an extraordinary opportunity to transform the future and employ new methods of interaction. Of course, serious issues will abound and could present problems, such as personal privacy and the value of physical human relationships. But seeing that Mr. Zuckerberg has gotten us this far, perhaps we can once again trust him to lead us to the next level of social networking.


RESOURCES:

Grossman, Lev. (2010). Time Magazine. Person of the Year 2010: Mark Zuckerberg. Online publication. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183,00.html

Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect (pp. 287-333). New York: Simon & Schuster.