Monday, August 08, 2011

The end of social interactions?

Today the WSJ published another article prizing the immense success that Google+ has had so far (up to date 20 million visits in just a month since its launch!).

The article also states that the new Google+ social network in build so well and it adds so many innovative applications, that this social network has been redefined: "Real-life sharing, rethought for the Web". Apparently interactions in Google+ increasingly try to emulated offline social interactions in life.

The question is: how successfully? Is this platform combining exchange with friends and companies through diverse media really and offering games and other applications really going to replace our the social interactions that used to be so close to our hearts?

I think that this replacement will never occur: on the contrary I see social media taking the place of non-interactive passive media, not of social life! Social media only boost our networks expanding its horizons to new continents and to people that share our interest.

1 comment:

Ida said...

I think Google+ personifies the social interaction as you have in the real world, while providing easy-to-customize privacy settings. Circles translate to groups of friends, and are also an easy way to filter which information goes to whom. It is a bit scary that some social interactions are affecting real world interactions. For example, I've heard handfuls of horror stories of couples broke up on Facebook and the fallout was far worse than the actual breakup in real life... or what about texting someone, with no response, but seeing that they Tweeted? Personally, it's because of hearing so many of these horror stories that I've chosen to stay away from putting a lot of weight on social media use. I guess I'd be classified as a spectator. Regardless, maybe it is true that the gravity behind social interactions are beginning to outweigh life interactions.