Is Social Media really social?

It has been over a year since i blogged. Just lazy i guess. Start of the new year kindled the need to blog. So here i am.
I was listening to the CNN program "Future fast forward" hosted by Campbell Brown. One of the "futurist" on the program talked about how social media brings distant friends together while making close friends go apart. This really got me thinking. It is true, thanks to Linkedin and Facebook i have now managed to get in touch with so many of my friends from school and college. Without social media i am not sure i would have done that. What about the comment on diluting close relationships? I disagree on that. I still do call my close friends on their birthdays to wish them. I just do not post a comment on their facebook.
Maybe it is starting to happen... As they say water water everywhere not a drop to drink.. we may just reach a point where we have friends friends everywhere not a single true friend to help.
Let us just hope and pray that i am wrong (really the CNN commentator was wrong). I want to start this year on a very positive note. Good Luck everyone.!!

Tragedy of the Commons

I am reading a book "Here comes Everybody" by Clay Shirky. A great book that explores one of the fascinating trends of our times - technology enabling human beings to connect,create and collaborate thereby shattering current models/ways of doing things.


I want to talk about one interesting point highlighted in this book. - Tragedy of Commons. It is a phrase to describe situations when the individuals have an incentive to damage the common good. It is very thought provoking and has implications in everything we do. Let me paraphrase Clay Shirky's comments on this concept. A pasture is jointly owned by a group of shepherds. They let the sheep graze on this pasture. It is in every one's interest to keep the pasture healthy and not to let the sheep overgraze. As long as no one is greedy everyone benefits. Here is the problem though - the individual shepherd's incentive is to minimise the cost of feeding the sheep while raising a fattest possible sheep. If one shepherd lets the sheep graze for one hour longer he benefits but the others will be subsidising his costs and not sharing his gains. One of the most popular responses in these situations is to retaliate by letting their sheep graze longer thereby damaging the pasture (the common good). Clay Shirky goes on to discuss how we go about resolving this issue.



As i read this several situations came to my mind. Organisations and shared resources, apartment/community living, joint/umbrella families ......

It is interesting to explore how we manage this conflict in various situations. I am now researching this conflict and solutions. Will write about when i come up with more news on this and happy to hear from anyone who reads this post as well.

Express Yourself

When I was a young boy, I used to express how i felt through my poems. I did not write them for the world but only to give vent to my feelings. But as i grew up i seemed to hold back and debate my thoughts in my mind. I dont know why, but after all these years i suddenly had the urge to express my thoughts. I want to talk about all those ideas and thoughts; I want to discuss them with other people.
Today i am turning a new page; closing the chapters of bottled emotions and opening the new chapter of unbridled ideas and thoughts. I plan to write about one interesting topic every week and look forward to hearing your views and perspectives.