About six months ago in the NY Times, Clive Thompson published "The Brave New World Of Digital Intimacy" – one of the most brilliant explorations of the cultural context of social media written to date (and well worth a read if you have not yet seen it). In the article, he talked about the idea of virtual connectedness and how our "ambient awareness" of all that our friends and family are doing is helping us to grow closer to one another, and perhaps become more self aware of ourselves in the process.
Among the more inspired parts of the article was when he described every piece of social information as "little snippets coalesce[ing] into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting." As each of us creates this painting, we are sharing the combination of information that helps anyone in our social network to know us better. The interesting extension of this idea is that we are also creating a "reverb" with all that we do.
A reverb (or reverberation) is typically used to describe sound – or more specifically the instance where a sound continues despite the original source of the sound being removed. Extended beyond sound, the idea of a social media reverb is that every action in social media is not just done, but also broadcast across a particular individual's social graph online. The newsfeed on Facebook is an example of this, as it not only announces life changes and hourly moods, but also whether someone is going to an event or not and what groups or causes someone supports. On Twitter, who you follow and retweeting posts are further examples of this concept. There are even tools like MyBlogLog that you can join in order to broadcast and share each time you visit and read a particular blog.
What does this mean for your brand? In social media marketers are often tempted to think in terms of absolutes … either a blogger writes about your campaign or cause – or they don't. What the social media reverb should teach you is that every action, from declining an event invite on Facebook (but still broadcasting it to your friends) to just visiting and reading your blog (without leaving a comment) has value. In a world where we are enjoying ambient awareness of one another's lives, one reason for any brand to engage with social media should be the opportunity to stand out as part of that ambiance.
I loved the Digital Intimacy post you shared, including your summation of what it all means. Great stuff!
Maria Reyes-McDavis
I like the way you expressed your idea of “Digital Intimacy”. It is always exciting to watch the reactions to new trends. Even more exciting to be able to participate within these digital resources, being made available, for the purpose of making social media connections. Social networks becoming a huge source of “The Brave New World of Social Intimacy” Check out determined2.com Social “value” Network. Encouraging interactivity that promotes successful pursuit of life goals.
Great post, but it also makes you wonder about how unsafe we are becoming. With the ability to basically construct someones life from all these pieces, what is next? Someone could essentially compile information about you and follow and track your movements. Just something to think about…
Excellent post. Clive Thompson has some interesting theories.
I like the concept of “social media reverb” – it is so true that no action in social media stands alone, but rather has a ripple effect. I think this shows how important it is to harness the potential associated in social media. I also think this extends out to other areas of the web, whether it be personalized online calendar builders as marketing strategies (https://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2009/04/marketing-to-the-social-media-reverb.html) or blogging.
It’s an exciting supposition and one that the social media team I am currently working with is very enamored of….the new and/or renewed contacts with friends and families. I will share this reverberation concept with them.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
https://besttoddler.com
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
https://besttoddler.com
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
https://besttoddler.com
Great site and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor
I agree with your comments re: social media marketers and our absolutes. “What if I’m not retweeted? Or if my blog gets no comments?” I think about the portraits I’ve constructed of hundreds of people I know but haven’t met, and I know they’ve done the same of me.
Great post!
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