My World, Your World, The World and Social Media

As we research social media use across continents and cultural groups, we of course are also always looking to understand how social media technologies can make an impact on our world. Both positive and negative. Listening to Devdutt Pattanaik speaking on mythologies and how we view our world, once can translate that into how social technologies can and are bringing our global community together.

If global trade (finance, exporting/importing, global corporations etc.) are enabling the movement of physical goods and the tumbling of walls into nation states that reflected so much of 20th century, then social media technologies are where people are first developing the relationships through sharing of content and ideas.

As people, we all need an “identity” and that is both a personal identity then social then cultural and finally a nation-state sense of identity. That identity and how we behave is through social activities (meetings, cultural broadcast on TV, radio…the Web) and behaviours. This is arrived at entirely through dialog. You can not form a company or a nation without other people (well, you could, but it would be awfully small and collapse when you die.)

My World: In social media terms, this is the sites and services you engage in to view content on the Web and view what other people have created or said. It’s more singular in nature and based on your behaviour.

Your World: That’s how “my world” see’s anothers world. It is the opening of the conversation or the relationship in the social web. In Cyburbia.

The World: This is reality. This is all the tools and the relative state of the Web as it stands today, globally. This is “the” world of Cyburbia. It is the result of my world and your world coming together.

What I believe we’re starting to see is the use of social media technologies to bring our world together. Here’s some examples I think that help make the case.

Smoking Boy: In Vietnam the father who let’s his 2 year old smoke 40 cigarettes a day. Because this hit YouTube it went around the world. Not only through social technologies, but news media. News media around the world. Prior to the web we likely never would have seen that story outside Vietnam.

Iranian Elections ’09: Agressive, planned and consistent use of social technologies such as YouTube and Flickr kept the Iranian election front and centre globally and provided people with an insight into Iran and that there are many there who want proper democracy and human rights.

Playing for Change: The global awareness on poverty project that saw people around the world playing stand by me in various cultures (among other songs) uses that universal translator, music, to bridge between cultures.

That’s just three examples. What do you think? Are we going to be able to better understand one anothers cultures better through social technologies? Can we call this the opening phase of Global Aculturalisation?