You Don’t Need A Haircut in Cyburbia

Most of us can recall that saying / meme from the late 60′s that still percolates a bit today: “Get a haircut, get a job“. Remember that? George Thorogood sang the song.

That statement reflected an economic view of society that in order to be a participative citizen, you needed to have a decent job. So you could get married, build a family and consume products. Consumptive society. Capitalism. And yes, capitalism works very nicely.

But in Cyburbia, it’s not about  a haricut and getting a job. It’s becoming your Social Value. Valerie Maltoni discusses this in her Conversation Agent blog. How many services are giving out social rewards for participation…yes you too can become a mayor in FourSquare or get Karma points in Plurk.

In Cyburbia, it’s not the economic value of what you’re producing in terms of physical “goods” it’s how your participating. It’s what your contributing to the “social good.”

To those in the Boomer generation or front end of Gen X and the Lost Generation, that means just about nothing. To those generations such “Social Value” meant only having a few close friends, still does. Getting extra Karma or becoming Mayor of a location means very little. Social Value to these generations is measured in your economic or productive value to society. Not to Geny Y or Millenials though. That’s a shift. A big one.

We think, based on our research to date, that this is one of the first major societal shifts as a result of social technologies. One that will carry for a number of years. FourSquare may or may not last a long time, being mayor may be a short or longer trend, but the overall concept of your “Social Value”, however it is measured, will be important amongst Gen Y and Millenials.

(Author: G. Crouch, CEO)